CSN [Box Set]

RELEASE
October 15, 1991
LABEL
Atlantic
GENRES
Pop/Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Soft Rock, Folk-Rock, Album Rock, Contemporary Pop/Rock, Psychedelic

Album Review

This 77-track, four-CD set remains one of the best boxes devoted to a single music act that one can buy, covering the output of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young across 22 years, from 1968 until 1990. The first thing that becomes apparent, beyond the excellent sound (which was a revelation at the time, when only extant editions of the group's work were the early, substandard CD editions), is the sheer worth of the material. Crosby, Stills & Nash's reputation, based on their first four albums, can be taken as a given for anyone who would think of buying this set, and it does cover virtually every base that one could involving the trio, with an occasional Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cut included for completeness' sake. Disc one by itself should be worth the price of the set to serious fans, eight of its 18 tracks being previously unissued songs (including a version of the Beatles' "Blackbird") and unissued early demos, alternate takes, or variant mixes on songs from the Crosby, Stills & Nash or Déjà Vu albums, along with one Crosby & Nash outtake. Disc two is similarly filled with previously unheard songs and versions of songs, although here the rarities are more focused on material by Stephen Stills (including a Crosby, Stills & Young version of "Black Queen"), Graham Nash solo, and the Crosby & Nash duo. Disc three is devoted more to Manassas and Crosby & Nash, but does work in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Taken at All" and "See the Changes" from various attempts at doing albums. Disc four takes listeners up to 1990, with Stills, Nash, and Crosby solo material (including unissued live and studio cuts) of the '80s interspersed with released Crosby, Stills & Nash tracks and previously unissued Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young tracks. The accompanying booklet includes a sessionography and reminiscence about each track, and as most of this set is presented in chronological order, one not only gets a dazzling four-hour-plus song-by-song listening experience, but also what amounts to a montage/history of the group and their members across more than two decades.
Bruce Eder, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
  2. Helplessly Hoping
  3. You Don't Have to Cry
  4. Wooden Ships
  5. Guinnevere
  6. Marrakesh Express
  7. Long Time Gone
  8. Blackbird
  9. Lady of the Island
  10. Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)
  11. Almost Cut My Hair
  12. Teach Your Children
  13. Horses Through a Rainstorm
  14. Déjà Vu
  15. Helpless
  16. 4 + 20
  17. Laughing
  18. Carry On/Questions
  19. Woodstock
  20. Ohio
  21. Love the One You're With
  22. Our House
  23. Old Times Good Times
  24. The Lee Shore
  25. Music Is Love
  26. I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here
  27. Man in the Mirror
  28. Black Queen
  29. Military Madness
  30. Urge for Going
  31. I Used to Be a King
  32. Simple Man
  33. Southbound Train
  34. Change Partners
  35. My Love Is a Gentle Thing
  36. Word Game
  37. Johnny's Garden
  38. So Begins the Task
  39. Turn Back the Pages
  40. See the Changes
  41. It Doesn't Matter
  42. Immigration Man
  43. Chicago/We Can Change the World
  44. Homeward Through the Haze
  45. Where Will I Be?
  46. Page 43
  47. Carry Me
  48. Cowboy of Dreams
  49. Bittersweet
  50. To the Last Whale...A. Critical Mass B. Wind on the Water
  51. Critical Mass
  52. Wind on the Water
  53. Prison Song
  54. Another Sleep Song
  55. Taken at All
  56. In My Dreams
  57. Just a Song Before I Go
  58. Shadow Captain
  59. Dark Star
  60. Cathedral
  61. Wasted on the Way
  62. Barrel of Pain (Half-Life)
  63. Southern Cross
  64. Daylight Again
  65. Thoroughfare Gap
  66. Wild Tales [Live][#]
  67. Dear Mr. Fantasy [#]
  68. Cold Rain
  69. Got It Made [#]
  70. Tracks in the Dust
  71. As I Come of Age [#]
  72. 50/50
  73. Drive My Car
  74. Delta
  75. Soldiers of Peace [#]
  76. Yours and Mine
  77. Haven't We Lost Enough?
  78. After the Dolphin
  79. Find the Cost of Freedom