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Monday, June 02, 2014

Comment of the Moment: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - 1974 Live

David Crosby, Graham Nash, Neil Young and Stephen Stills
Oakland Coliseum, July 14, 1974
Photo by David Zimmer
(Click photo to enlarge)

Lots and lots of commentary on the upcoming Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's Live 1974 Box Set.

Although unreleased, unheard and more than a month away, opinions already seem to be forming based on 40 years of memories -- both good and bad, it would seem.

The Comment of the Moment on Neil Young News: Photo: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 1974-08-23, Tampa, Florida from Raincheck:
We should remember that AT THE TIME these shows were mostly received and reviewed very very well. They were long, varied, had a lot of new material from all four. Bootlegs, while often in sketchy quality, sound like good shows.

Later CSNY trashed the shows. But that had a lot to do with where they were in their lives, excesses offstage, strained relationships in the band, trying to play huge venues for the first time, etc.

I expect that a well curated and mixed set from these shows will be better than the reputation of this tour. If they had followed it up with a great album, it would be remembered differently. Instead it is remembered as a sort of failed reunion. In fact, it was musically very interesting. They all stopped pissing in the wind for a while and showed what CSNY could have been in the seventies.
Thanks Raincheck!

As for us? Well, we'll reserve our opinion until we actual listen to a few times. In the meantime, we're anticipating greatly and really looking forward to reliving the memories of that Summer of '74. We were there at the Virginia concert on August 17 at Forman Field.

And -- obviously (or maybe not?) -- it left quite an impression upon our young, delicate little mind. 40 years. 40 songs.

Believe us when we say that no matter what memories the box set brings back from 40 long years ago, nothing will ever change the impression that that day made upon us and the music that Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young delivered on that very long, hot sunny summer day.

It's been a long time comin',
It's goin' to be a long time gone.


Thoughts?


15 comments:

  1. Agree with raincheck how the band
    trashed the tour and the reasons why. i remember seeing them in NJ in 74 and they were great Ive preordered the 3 CD set and expect it to be very good. Whoever is in charge of marketing and packaging did not think thru their vinyl
    presentation. $499.00 is out of the planet. The shipping costs are also out of the planet because of how they configured the set. There's no need for the coffee table book which only adds to the shipping cost. I feel sorry for those in another country. The shipping of that vinyl set will be out of the universe plus there could be custom charges. Also according to csny.com
    a buyer will not get the finished product to 5 weeks after the july
    8th release. they will get a download card in the meantime. It seems like they waiting to see how many they sell before starting production on the
    vinyl box set. MY guess is the price will soon GO DOWN. A $99.00
    price for this product would be great and they would sell a hell of a lot more. With ALH vinyl boxset being $99.00 there is the problem. It will be the album of
    the year for me and make up for ALH.


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  2. STOP YOUR WHINGING,
    FOR THE LOVE OG GOD!

    ReplyDelete
  3. hey tom ill say whatever the hell i
    want. this is a forum for expressing one's opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  4. TrashersWheat please stop with the Anonymous crap. Every other site I go to you have to use twitter, facebook or google etc. to comment . This would stop some of these stupid comments.

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  5. I agree 100% $499 is just re-god-damn-dicolous. WTF are they thinking?
    give me vinyl w/o the bells & BS and don't ream my ahole too severely and you've got a deal. whining? NO.
    R-E-A-L-I-T-Y? Yep.
    Forever Younger.
    (btw I realise CSN do not have as many irons in the fire as Neil. should I / We pay for the diff in marketing prowess and strategy? I think not. the market will bear what the market will bear. I predict a vinyl only release in the VERY near future, once the powers that be come to their senses. a $99 price point on say, popmarket, sounds about right).

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Timothy - thanks for comment and being a registered user. Yes the anon trolling is rather boring.

    We'd like to upgrade the comment system at some point, but don't see that happening anytime soon.

    But we'll make a few tweaks in the meantime.

    Thanks for reading!
    peace

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  7. Thrasher:

    After 40 years of waiting for this package (and we didn't know to dream for a DVD), I am thrilled that we finally have a release date.

    I think it's very appropriate for this to be released just in time to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the CSNY Reunion Tour.

    The tour really was a fantastic succeess to all of us who truly loved these guys and had the greatest outdoor experience (even with all that rain at Atlantic City Racetrack on August 9). Remember, it was a reunion tour and we had missed them greatly!

    I also appreciate that it's available at different prices for different people so that we all may enjoy!

    Greatly anticipating....

    Marian M.

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  8. The very first anon post made a really good point and can't wait for the new record. Where was the "WHINGING"? I just don't get it around here sometimes. Registered users!? That's a joke. Anyone can register and still be anon. I've said it before but people around here need to lighten up. The differing opinions is what makes it interesting. Eliminate that element and you'll truly have "boring". And there's lots of valid points all around. The times they are a changin

    Old Neg

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  9. Old Neg, most people love a diverse conversation, and can tolerate differences in opinion when they are stated logically and respectfully. Humor always helps, too. The trouble is that so many people come here to this site- a Neil Young appreciation site- to gratuitously undermine what could otherwise be a good conversation among people who are predisposed to “appreciate” Neil because, you know, they’re Neil fans, and this is a Neil appreciation site. If people don’t like Neil and what he’s about, that’s cool, I don’t want to hold a gun to their head and force them to, but why are they coming here then? Most people enjoy wit and humor, even when their opinions are being countered, but it doesn't take a genius to recognize snark and ill intent. I think most of the complaints about Anon comments have more to do with that than anything else.

    If someone really loves CSNY, and is not just a troll trying to muddy the water, I don’t think it’s whining to express disappointment at high prices. I can tell you that I am extremely disappointed to not have been able to purchase Archives, or the last several releases, let alone this CSNY release, or to have had to pass up opportunities to see Neil in concert, due to lack of funds. But it doesn’t rock my boat. I know someday I’ll catch up on everything when the time is right. But neither do I fault anyone for being impatient, and wishing things were a little more accessible right here and now.

    Anyways, getting back to Anon comments, or any other ones for that matter, I wish people visiting this site were more consistently bigger than what passes for social media behavior these days. State your opinion respectfully, without attacking others in the process, and try to avoid painting things with a broad brush. Here’s a for instance that just drives me crazy, and this is the kind of thing that usually comes from an actual Neil fan: “A Letter Home sucks, I’ll wait for another release that doesn’t.” Excuse me, but what you really need to say, is “I don’t like A Letter Home, and I’ll pass on it.” Stop and think for just a moment: what are you saying about someone who likes A Letter Home? That they’re an idiot for flying in the face of what can only be your opinion, and not an objective fact?

    I could go on, but will just leave it at people should try to be a little more cool, and also not be offended by divergent opinions, as long as they are sincere and not designed to be disruptive. I agree that Anon 2:06 makes several good points, and made them in a reasonable way, and should not have been attacked for doing so. As long as comments are positioned this way, Thrasher shouldn’t have to ponder ways of containing conversations. Here’s hoping.

    A Friend Of Yours

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  10. I must say I agree with Old Neg on this.

    I do like Thrasher and I like his site also, hence why I read and post here. But this anti-anonymous thing that some of you have seems delusional, bordering on paranoia.

    I could understand it if there were still any harmful posts here. I remember back in 2010 there were a LOT of genuine trolls, swearing, insulting Thrasher etc. Get rid of them, by all means!

    But recently there has been none of this. Everyone has been pretty respectful I think. Show me these anonymous posts that are so troublesome. Where are they? Do they even exist? If they do, it should be easy enough to quote them.

    The few offensive posts I HAVE seen have not been by anonymous posters. They have been by people who can't tolerate the idea that other people have differing views.

    "Grandpa died like a hero, trying to be anonymous".

    The problem with censoring or deriding other people's opinions is that it hides you away from reality, from the real world. Much more than anonymity does.

    Flying Scotsman.





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  11. ...And I agree that the first anonymous above made a perfectly reasonable point. It's not at all fair to call that trolling, or a "stupid comment".

    Greg also makes some excellent points.

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  12. @ Greg - thanks buddy. We couldn't have said it better.

    @Flying Scotsman - thanks, as always, for the thoughts.

    We realize that you're completely aware of the entire commenting situation here @ TW as well as the larger Internets scene.

    We have nothing more to add than what we've stated previously in our Comments Policy.

    ubuntu

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  13. Thanks for the feedback Greg. But again, people should just lighten up. I wouldn't even think to try to tell people how to say things on here. If I just say A Letter Home sucks, that's clearly just my opinion. If I say A Letter Home sucks because

    1)It's hard to listen to
    2)It seems contrived
    3)You can call anything "art"
    4)It's a money grab. Especially that box set.

    Would that offend someone who likes it? Too bad I say. It's an opinion. I'll have to agree with Flying Scotsman and "Grandpa" on this one. You're all anonymous to me anyway, names or no names.

    The record business has changed. Artists have to come up with different means besides touring to generate revenue and we're seeing a lot of that. Didn't Neil even say that was one of the reasons he's writing books now?

    But money grabs do go against the whole "music is love" theory. But I think we all figured out that was just an empty dream, an empty hippie dream a long time ago. Today music is about making money. Plain and simple.

    But I'll take it. At least it's still real music and I still admire Neil for keeping us on our toes. I'll admire him more if he busts out a new Crazy Horse album for the European tour. If he plays the same setlist as 2012, not so much. We'll see. That's part of the fun.

    Peace.

    Old Neg (registered user)

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  14. I'm sure the setlist will have changed this year, Old Neg. Can't imagine Neil will go a third year with the same set. That would be very unusual.

    I liked the 2012/2013 setlist, some great shows, but I agree a change is now due: the set had started to run out of steam by the time they reached New Zealand. The Euro shows were pretty good, but not as good as the US/Aussie ones. I think Neil was aware of this. The inclusion of Sedan Delivery and Surfer Joe helped a bit, later in the tour.

    I hope they take some time to practise and get Cortez back into shape this time around (Billy said they had some troubles performing it well after such a long break). Likewise with Hurricane.

    But anyway, I'm really looking forward to hearing them again, whatever they play.

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  15. good post Old Neg...even if you had 100 reasons why something sucks, it's still just your opinion...

    ReplyDelete

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