"Looking Forward"

1999 Reprise

 

 

Musicians

Vocals: David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash & Neil Young

Guitars: David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash & Neil Young

PERSONAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

Well, eleven years of waiting and it's finally here, the third studio album from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.  Here in the UK we get our new releases on a Monday so my wife, Susan (Graham's not the only one with a beautiful wife of that name!) kindly went to out local record shop in North London to buy this long awaited CD of dreams.  She had listened to it four times before I got home from work!

Anyway, to the album...

With an album like this the expectations are going to be high, you want it to be so good that you don't want to listen to that review that appeared last week in Mojo but you can't help but be worried.  I had heard a couple of the Neil Young songs beforehand from bootleg performances recorded earlier this year, so I had some idea of what to expect.  But I was anxious to hear what the four of them sounded like after all this time.

Read on...

Track one.  Umm, as it starts up you're reminded of the sort of feel that run through Live it Up.  Written by Stephen it's a bouncy radio friendly sort of track, but if I'm honest, not my cup-of-tea at all.

Track two. Wow, wow and double wow!  What a beautiful song.  A true Neil Young song if ever there was one.  The addition of CSN make it a full blown CSNY number.

Track three. True Croz-Rock!  Another soon-to-be-Crosby-classic.  As it starts up it's very reminiscent of "It's all coming back to me know" from the brilliant CPR album.  When the others join in on the chorus it's pure magic!

Due I sound just a tad bias yet!!

Track four.  One on the most beautiful songs Graham has ever written.  David and Graham have always sounded great together and this song is no exception to the rule.

Track five. Now Mr. Stills has always been a blues boy, Mojo slagged this one off something rotten, but I think it brilliant! So what if it sounds like Subterranean Homesick Blues...it's supposed to it says so on the bloody cover!  Well done Stephen!

Track six. Slowpoke, my wife's favourite one!  Another typical Neil song (I don't mean that in a patronising way either!).   Nice, melodic, very much like something from Harvest Moon or Comes a Time.

Track seven. David Crosby sounds very at home with this jazzy feel that he's developed over the years.  That feel has always fitted in well with the music of CSN/Y and in more recent years CPR.  Again his and Graham's vocals blend like oils on a canvas.  This one would sound great on a summer's evening with a glass of wine!

Track eight.  Stills is in the house!  Forget Bad Boyz this is how to play rock'n'roll when you're recording a CSN/Y album!

This is fun!

Track nine. Another one of the Neil songs that I had previously heard.  Another tuneful Young composition.

Track ten. Graham Nash sounding just like Graham Nash!   And when the others join in on the vocals you're reminded of why these four guys started singing together in the first place!

Track eleven. Very weird.  Typically Neil trying out something new again.  On first play, I wasn't sure.  But now on my third listen to the album (I've only been home from work for two hours!) I like it.  It's different.  It's good.  It's Neil Young!

Track twelve. The one track on the album not written by any of them.  It finishes off the album nicely and I don't mean that in  a nasty way.  Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young have returned to the studio.  What can I say, a lovely song, sung and played beautify. 

In reflection...My favourite tracks would be Looking Forward, Stand and Be Counted, Heartland and No Tears Left.  As a life long fan (I'm 35 now and have been enjoying their music since I was 7, thanks to my Mother's great taste in music) I am, of course, going to be extremely bias to this long awaited event.  But I've always been able to be truthful with my views on their music [CSNY] and I am truthful when I say that this is a great record.  If someone reads this and wants to know whether they should or should buy it, then my advice is; If you like Neil Young, David Crosby, CSN and CPR then you'll love this.  If, on the other hand you're looking for Deja Vu 2 then forget it.  Time has moved on and so has Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.   To see them live is the next big one.  CSNY2K here I come!