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Thursday, May 06, 2021

REVIEW: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Déjà Vu Debut Celebrates 50 Years With An Expansive 4-CD/1-LP Collection Featuring The Original Album Remastered on May 14th | Harvey Kubernik

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
w/ Dallas Taylor & Greg Reeves - Aug. 1969
photo by Henry Diltz - Courtesy of Rhino Records
(See  'Deja Vu' 50th Anniversary Reissue w/ 38 Bonus Tracks - Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young )

 

Here is a  review of the upcoming 'Deja Vu' 50th Anniversary Reissue by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. 
 
With permission from author Harvey Kubernik. Also, excerpted with permission from the May/June issue of "Record Collector News" magazine.

 

Outtake from the #DejaVu album cover photo shoot 
by Tom O'Neal via Stephen Stills Official
Courtesy of Rhino Records

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Déjà Vu Debut Celebrates 50 Years With An Expansive 4-CD/1-LP Collection Featuring The Original Album Remastered on May 14th

By Harvey Kubernik - Copyright 2021

 

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Déjà Vu was the most-anticipated new album in America in 1970. More than 50 years later, it’s one of the most famous albums in rock history with legendary songs, including “Carry On” and “Teach Your Children,” that still resonate today.

Rhino will honor the intense creative journey that led to this milestone album with an expansive 4-CD/1-LP collection that includes a pristine version of the original album on both 180-gram vinyl and CD, plus hours of rare and unreleased studio recordings that provide incredible insight into the making of the record.

DÉJÀ VU: 50TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION will be available from Rhino on May 14 for $99.98. Presented in a 12 x 12 hardcover book, the collection comes illustrated with rarely seen photos from the era and annotated by writer/filmmaker Cameron Crowe, whose revealing liner notes recount the making of the album through stories told by the people who were there, including David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young.

In the new anniversary edition, the album’s original 10 tracks are joined by 38 more to add nearly two-and-a-half hours of music that includes demos, outtakes, and alternate takes – most of which are previously unreleased. Among them is “Know You Got To Run,” the first song the quartet recorded during its first session on July 15 at the house Stills was renting from Peter Tork in Studio City.

Other unreleased highlights include the demo for Crosby’s “Almost Cut My Hair”; Stills’ outtake for “Bluebird Revisited”; and Young’s alternate version of “Helpless” featuring harmonica. Also making its debut on the set is a version of “Our House” that features Nash singing with the song’s inspiration, Joni Mitchell.

In April 2021 Gram Nash spoke to me about the 50th anniversary edition of Déjà Vu. “The technology is much better now and you can hear the impact of it on this. You can hear the magic. It’s a great piece of music.”

He also gave insight on working with estranged bandmates in preparing this 2021 retail item. Nash, as usual, applied his workmanlike-approach to the restorative process and results in the new Déjà Vu configuration.


“Let’s get it done the best way we can. I’ve always been that person.”

In August 1969 my brother Kenny and I attended the debut of CSN&Y at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. It was a groovy event.

Actor/musician Bill Mumy also caught CSN&Y at the venue opening night. In April 2021 I asked him about the show.

“What a year. 1969. I got my first car. I was in a good band and we were gigging in real clubs for the first time. There was a Hippie glow permeating everything in Los Angeles that hadn’t fully dissipated yet and on a warm summer night… Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young with Joni Mitchell played the Greek Theater.

“My bandmate and songwriting partner Paul Gordon and I were there and it was truly an amazing evening of fresh, great, live music. The tall trees surrounding the Greek Theater were packed with kids who couldn’t get tickets to the sold out show and so they watched and listened like owls from the tall branches. Weed was of course illegal, but it was passed around like gossip.

“One very important thing people forget these days is what a great acoustic instrument really sounds like when there’s a microphone placed in front of it instead of a pickup inside it. I am not one of those people. Crosby, Stills, Young and Ms Mitchell played amazing sounding Martin acoustic guitars that night and Nash played a stunningly good vintage black Epiphone. Ahh, the tones…

“They played together and they played separately and they played in various combinations. The blend of their voices, which were in amazing shape in 1969, was magical. One of the things that made it so cool was it wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t Don and Phil or Brian, Carl, Al and Mike perfect… It was loose because these bold artists were rehearsed and tight, but they were loose and cavalier at the same time. They jammed fearlessly. And… perhaps more importantly, cocaine hadn’t claimed their souls and voices yet. Sure it was there, after all, before Nash joined them Crosby and Stills had recorded and shared demos as ‘The Frozen Noses’… but in 1969, the drugs hadn’t done their eventual and inevitable damage yet.

“Joni was majestic. The Queen of the Scene. She swayed and played those amazing songs with a golden glow about her. She was enchanting. And when CSN&Y plugged in and played electric, with Neil and Stephen on their big-bodied Gretsch’s, feedback always on the edge of chaos, they really truly rocked hard.

“It was glorious and I am grateful I had pretty decent seats. But maybe those kids in the trees had the best seats.”
“It was a different band when Neil joined,” Graham Nash explained to me in a 2014 interview we conducted for Record Collector News.

“Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are a completely different band than CS&N. And not a lot of people understand that. They think it’s just an added voice. But it’s not. It’s an added attitude. Neil brings a sharper edge. I was gonna say a darker feeling but I don‘t mean that in a negative way. He brings this edge to us that we don’t have. And, of course, you have to take into account his ability to play lead guitar against and with Stephen.”

During the fall of 1969, CSN&Y navigated between the stage and the studio. They combined a US tour with the recording of their initial album as a quartet. Déjà Vu was issued in 1970 on March 11th 1970. It soared to the top of the charts.

Engineer Bill Halverson already had an established history with Atlantic Records before he did the Crosby, Stills & Nash album at Wally Heider’s studio in Hollywood and was subsequently enlisted for Déjà Vu.

In my April 2021 interview with Nash, he reflected about working with engineer Halverson both in Hollywood and San Francisco at the Wally Heider studios.

“I met Bill Halverson on the first day that we decided to start the Crosby, Stills and Nash record. We got in Crosby’s Volkswagen van, drove up to Wally Heider Studios, and brought our guitars and amps out and started to make the record. It was small, and it was funky. Stephen had worked with Bill once before I believe, so he kind of knew him. Stephen played guitar to try and get some sound and went back into the control room with Bill and we asked him to play back Stephen’s guitar.

“Bill had left the filters, and the EQ and everything on from a previous session. And he applied that to Stephen’s guitar which made it slightly distorted and harder and Stephen loved what Bill had done, even though it was a ‘mistake’ on Bill’s part.

“Halverson was great because he hardly said anything. He was an engineer who knew his way around the board perfectly and he was great to record and mix with.

“About a year ago I drove by past that studio in Hollywood on Cahuenga and Selma,” lamented Graham. “And right now you can get a check cashed there where ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’ was first recorded…”

“I was a big band guy and a vocal group guy who was in love with the Four Freshmen and the Hi-Lo’s, which really served me helping the Beach Boys and set me up for Crosby, Stills and Nash,” mentioned Halverson to me in a 2014 interview.

“In 1968, I engineered the Cream ‘Badge’ session at Heider 3 with [George] Harrison and [Eric] Clapton and everybody. So I had some real good history with Atlantic Records. I had done, to [that] point, a lot of sessions, but not a full album. So I asked the person at the booking office if I could put my name on the Crosby, Stills and Nash album. They said they’d get back to me, and they said okay.”

“We knew that we had fabulous songs,” added Nash in a 2014 interview. “When I first heard ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,’ I couldn’t believe it. As a songwriter and as a performer, I could not believe this song. It was stunning in its composition. Mama Cass sings on ‘Pre-Road Downs.’ We found a spot for her to join us on a vocal.”

“I was leaving Wally Heider’s and cleaning up,” recollected Halverson, “and [manager] Eliott Roberts walked in and said, ‘The guys have started their next album without you and really want you to come on up and be the engineer,” remembered Halverson in an interview we did earlier this century.

“The last day I was at Heider’s was on a Friday, and the following Monday I walked into a studio C Heider’s in San Francisco for the first time.

“About Crosby’s ‘Almost Cut My Hair.’ I had learned a trick when recording Cream in San Francisco with double stacks of Marshall amps where if I aim the mike right the amp actually acts as a baffle.

“Déjà Vu was a lot harder than the first one. For CS&N they rehearsed for three months and went ahead and recorded it. Neil is now in the band adding a new dynamic. A lot of ‘Woodstock’ was already recorded, some of Neil‘s stuff was already recorded when I got there. I did three weeks up in San Francisco and we moved to Hollywood at Heider’s. And then Neil would take the tapes, he didn’t like what we were doing, and he’d go to his house, or to Glendale to Whitney Studios to put that pipe organ on.

“I did some of the overdubs on ‘Helpless.’ We mixed Déjà Vu at Heiders. Neil didn’t like our mixes, ‘cause it was CSN vocals with Neil, and so he’d go mix them on his own, and you’d listen to ‘Helpless’ and ‘Country Girl’ and it sounds like Neil Young with background singers,” underscored Halverson.

“I got to know Neil a little bit during 4 Way Street. I recorded all of it,” volunteered Halverson. “We did a week at the Fillmore East. The first night at the Fillmore it wasn’t gonna happen ‘cause they’re fighting in the dressing room. We had done the sound check and had it all going right.

“The story I got was that Bill Graham said, ‘Dylan and the Band are in the audience.’ He said something to them to come down and get them to play. Heider’s truck was with ABC-TV in Nashville doing The Johnny Cash Show.

“When the show was over Heider sold the truck to the Record Plant in New York. I had done so much remote recording at Fillmore West and Winterland in San Francisco. We did Fillmore and then two nights in Chicago. Then we did the Forum in Inglewood.

“When you are doing live harmonies and lookin’ at each other on stage, you’re not on microphone and all of a sudden the vocals go away. It took ‘em a while to stay on mike when they were lookin’ around. Playing live Neil is wonderful. He makes Stephen better and Stephen makes Neil better. Crosby is probably one of the best rhythm guitar players I’ve ever recorded. Crosby is real underrated in all that. He’s just anchoring it with the bass and drums,” underscored Halverson.

In my 2021 chat with Graham, I inquired about the Joni Mitchell penned anthem “Woodstock.” She had just written the tune when CSN&Y first heard it.

“Joni was supposed to play the Woodstock [festival]. On the day of the show it was close to half a million people. Our managers had booked Joni for The Dick Cavett Show on the day after Woodstock. And they knew so many people had been there they were concerned about Joni getting out of Woodstock in time to do her first national television show in America. So she didn’t go.

“Joni and I were in the Carlisle Hotel and we had a suite there and there was a grand piano. And Joni watched what was going on at Woodstock on all three TV channel and wrote the song that became the song of Woodstock. And it was 95 percent finished by the time when we the three of us got home. And Joni said, ‘Hey. Listen to this.’ And she played us ‘Woodstock.’

“It was slightly more minor, slower but what recognized immediately what it could be. When she got to the end of the song for the first time, Stephen said, ‘Hey Joan. Can we have that song?’ And she looked at Stephen, kind of smiled, and said, ‘Well, I just finished it, but yes. Sure.’ It’s the genius of Stephen Stills that turned her song ‘Woodstock’ into the rock ‘n’ roll song ‘Woodstock’ that we did.”

“A lot of people were disappointed with Déjà Vu from their previous studio outing,” offered Dr. James Cushing, a former KEBF-FM deejay.

“Neil really wasn’t really collaborating or recording with the band. There was a dark cloud around that album as Graham Nash has discussed.

“And I also thought that Déjà Vu had a little bit of the Beatles White album syndrome in terms of it being much more individual peoples work than a group effort. I loved ‘Helpless.’ I loved how much of a true Neil Young song it was in the middle of the chaos of that group disc. It kind gave the lie to the group, you know, like it was supposed to be a unified group. It wasn’t. This was a Neil Young song on that album the way ‘Julia’ was a John Lennon song.

“Neil was never a team player and this is another example. From what I understand he did his own tracks away from the CS&N, down the hallway or in Northern California. You got the sense Neil was saving the best stuff for a solo album but this one leaked out.”

“He’s always had an agenda,” admitted Graham Nash. “When we were rehearsing the Deja Vu record at Stephen’s house in Laurel Canyon, at the bottom of Laurel Canyon there, he would leave rehearsals and go to the studio and he’d be recording After The Gold Rush.

“I always allowed people to do what the fuck they want. The only time that I ever got really upset with Neil was during the Deja Vu record and Neil would bring tapes in from his studio, we would put voices on, he would take them back to his studio, and he would mix them and it was all a separate thing.

“Neil’s songs on the Déjà Vu record were done by Neil and Neil’s studio when he got our voices and our instruments on at Wally Heider’s in San Francisco.

“At some point that and a bunch of other things, including too much cocaine, I ended up in the studio, and I said, ‘you know what, we’re fuckin’ blowing this. We are blowing this. We are so good and we have so many great songs and we are fucking blowing this.’

“Stills is in the studio until 6:00 every fuckin’ morning, you know, getting to the studio later and later. I was getting angry about it, don’t forget, I was not with Joan, Stephen was not with Judy [Collins], David had lost Christine [Hinton]. I just remember bursting out into tears. Because I felt we were completely blowing something. And the thing that we were blowing had been given to us by the Gods.”
In April 2021 I interviewed David Crosby about CSN&Y origins, the influence of jazz on his own songwriting, the impact of Neil Young joining CSN&Y for Déjà Vu and reflections on some of his tunes appearing in demo form on this 50th anniversary reissue.

“The greatest strength we had was as songwriters,” explained Crosby. “That was our main number one strength. And the trick that we had was that we had several. Now most bands had one. Some had two. What that gets you is that if you are painting a picture and you have a number of colors on your palate, if you are working with somebody else they have different colors on their palate. If they have six and they have nine, all of a sudden you have sixteen colors. It’s a better painting.

“Now, when you are making albums, the problem of having one writer is that he or she tends to write very similarly song to song. With the four of us we had four drastically different writing styles, four ways of conceiving a song. They were very different,” stressed David.

“Now I will go out on a limb and say Stills was the best of us. I think he was, without question, the best songwriter, the best singer and the best guitar player. All three. But I think all four of us had real skill as songwriters and our stuff was very different than each other. I think that’s one of the main reasons that it made it.”

Nash also discussed the songwriting relationship he had with David Crosby.

“We didn’t really write songs together. He would play me a piece of music and I would react to it and give my suggestions and then he would change it slightly. I think of what me and Crosby had was amazing. It’s one of the things I miss about our present circumstances. I do believe that me and David had something magical in our two part harmony songs.

“Obviously David is a brilliant musician and he is very experimental in terms of tuning his guitars and playing chords that way is quite jazz-oriented.

“For some reason, almost like Laurel & Hardy me and David kind of stuck together and realized what we could add to each other’s music and make it better.”
I asked Crosby about Neil Young joining the already established CS&N trio.

“I’ll tell you exactly. I was sittin’ in Joni’s driveway on Lookout Mountain Drive in Laurel Canyon. And Neil drove by and he saw me out there, turned around at the next stop and came back down and pulled in. Gets out of his car and pulls out a guitar.

“Now this is when we are considering asking him to be in the group. And he knows that. He knows that Nash is against it. And he knows I’m kind of on the fence, and he knows Stills is for it. That kind of makes me the decider. I didn’t say anything. That’s how it was, right? Neil sat down on the trunk of the car with me, the two of us, him with the guitar, and he sang ‘Helpless,’ ‘Country Girl’ and a few other things. And I said ‘I wanna work with this guy. This is too good.’ It was about the writing. It was all about those songs.

“He’s not as good as a guitar player as Stills,” suggested Crosby. “To this day he’s not as good as a guitar player as Stills. He’s very very good. Stills is very much better. We didn’t need him for that. We did need a guitar player when Stills was playing keyboard. And that was a big factor in what Stills said to us about bringing Neil in. But, for me, it was only about those songs. They were excellent. Excellent. And they were completely different from us and I knew what would happen when we add those Crosby, Stills, Nash vocal sound to a song like that. I knew what ‘Helpless’ would sound like. And I knew what we could do. It was irresistible. Of course I wanted to work with him.”

Crosby, a founding member of the Byrds, was very instrumental in arranging their vocal harmonies. In my 2008 interview with Byrds’ co-founder Roger McGuinn, he touted Crosby’s contributions to the band.

“David is an incredible singer for harmonies and he’s written some wonderful songs as well. I also really appreciated his rhythm guitar work. I thought he had a great command of the rhythm part of it and also finding interesting chords and progressions.

“We sang together well. I give the credit to Crosby. He was brilliant at devising these harmony parts that were not strict third, fourth or fifth improvisational combination of the three. That’s what makes the Byrds’ harmonies.”

In our 2021 conversation, Crosby discussed the influence of jazz and classical music on his songwriting and how horn players informed his choices of melodies and phrasing.

In 1963 Crosby witnessed a recital by saxophonist John Coltrane in Chicago at a venue named McKie’s. David was blown away by Coltrane’s intense sax solos not just on stage but also earlier in the club’s bathroom where Coltrane was readying for the show.

Miles Davis later recorded a version Crosby’s song “Guinnevere.” The Byrds and Davis shared a booking agent Benny Shapiro who also owned The Renaissance Club in Hollywood.

Davis also played a part in getting the Byrds inked to the Columbia Records label. During 1964-1965 Crosby and the Byrds had the good fortune to develop their unique sound with record producer and their co-manager Jim Dickson, spending many months honing their skills at World Pacific Studios on 3rd Street in Los Angeles, owned by Dick Bock, who issued seminal jazz albums on his Pacific Jazz label and LP’s in the US by Ravi Shankar.

In 1965, Aura, a subsidiary label of Bock’s company released three singles by jazz-fueled Rick and the Ravens in 1965, an outfit helmed by keyboardist Ray Manzarek. Crosby might have sung a background vocal on Rick and the Ravens’ “Henrietta.” The group eventually evolved into the Doors. The Byrds and Rick and the Ravens incubated at Bock’s jazz-soaked studio.

In a May 2017 Tweet, free speech advocate Crosby offered a highly controversial opinion on the musicianship of the recently departed Manzarek while dismissing Ray’s musical legacy. “I thought he was really unmusical and clumsy.”

During our 2021 interview, Crosby detailed and reinforced his relationship with jazz.

“I was a young folkie musician,” revealed David. “My brother played a lot of fifties jazz. I got turned on to jazz long before I got turned on to pop or rock ‘n’ roll. They played me Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Dave Brubeck, Bill Evans, all of those guys in the late fifties. And more obscure stuff like Cal Tjader. J.J. Johnson. All jazz.

“I get to a point where my head starts to open up a bit and I started playing guitar and getting more interesting on it. I’m starting to listen to pop music and I realized those chords that I really liked they were a little further along. And I started hearing some people using chords like that. And I wanted to go that direction.

“Later the minute that I heard Steely Dan I felt that was somebody else out there that hears the same shit that I do. The minute what I heard what Walter and Donald did. I was like their brother. I wanted to move next door and pitch a pup tent on their lawn, because that was very jazzy. Very strongly jazz influenced. And much more intense and sophisticated than the pop music I had grown up with.

“When we started the Byrds, man, there were other people around town. Paul Revere & the Raiders. We’re tallkin’ primitive shit, guys dancing on their amps in uniforms. I mean, come on. (Laughs). This is a different world. And I hear Steely Dan. Man do I wish I was in that band. And other bands came along as well as Michael Hedges. Another one. Strongly jazz influenced but strongly classically influenced too.

“And I gotta say that is really where it came from to me. I listened to a ton of classical music from my parents and folk music from my parents and jazz music from my brother. My parents played classical music every Sunday of my life. And that’s what did it. I knew those chords were out there and I was lookin’ for ‘em.

“The Weavers and folk singers who could really do it and really had something to say. Those people taught us a whole lot.”
Crosby’s recordings of “Laughing” and “Triad” are incorporated in the new Déjà Vu package. He commented about these tracks.

‘“Laughing.’ The Byrds went over to England in 1965. And, of course, our heroes were the Beatles. And they came to hear us and were really nice to us. They were friendly and very real and not at all star people. None of that. They drove us home from gigs and came to gigs more than once and had us over to houses for dinner and to parties. They were really nice cats.

“I was very taken with George. I liked him a lot. Always did, right from the start. Very sincere. Very friendly and trying hard to be a decent human being. And that appeals to me no end. I became friends with George. So, I had just been turned on to Ravi Shankar by a friend in the States. And I had an album by Ravi in my suitcase. I gave it to George,” he recalled.

“Now that had repercussions. George told me later that I turned him onto Indian music. I have trouble believing that. I think there were other people who helped do that. But, that’s what he told me. God bless me. George liked Indian music, got interested in it and wound up going to India. When he was in India he met a guru, a teacher that he liked.

“Later we were talking and he told me about this guy and he told me about this guy and said he found somebody who might know some of the answers. George was smitten. Well, I’m a very skeptical person about that, always have been. The minute someone tells me they have God’s phone number and address I kind of back off. I don’t believe in that. I wanted to say to George, ‘Oh man, come on, take it with a grain of salt. The guy may know something but don’t bet your whole month’s rent.’ I couldn’t do it. It was George…And I just couldn’t give him that kind of advice. And I said I I’ve thought that I thought that I knew what the answer was and the truth is the closest I came to it was laughing in the sun. And that was a song I wrote to George.”

Crosby’s “Triad,” a 1967 composition about a threesome and sexual freedom occurring at Crosby’s Beverly Glen home in Southern California is heard on the 2021 configuration of Déjà Vu.

Decades ago it was presented to the Byrds for inclusion on their LP The Notorious Byrd Brothers, recorded and rejected, later surfacing in 1971 on CSN&Y’s 4 Way Street. In 1968 Jefferson Airplane did a cover of it guided by Grace Slick’s haunting vocal on Crown of Creation. In 2006 the Byrds’ recording of “Triad” appeared on the Columbia/Legacy label’s There Is A Season box set.

“The reason the French call it manage a trois is they’ve been doing it for a long time,” he emphasized. “It’s not controversial. I think there are people who are very straight-laced, some of it for religious reasons and some of them because they are squares. And for them the idea of three people making love at the same time is not only strange but outrageous, terrible and offensive. I don’t feel that way. Those things are very deeply seeded, people’s reactions to sex and religions.”           

  NOTE: With permission of  Harvey Kubernik.  Also,  small portions of this article first appeared in the May/June issue of "Record Collector News" magazine.

 
(1 LP/4 CD boxed set @ $99.98)
(Please shop locally & independently. But if you can't, we appreciate your supporting Thrasher's Wheat by clicking this link . Thank you!!!) 

 

   (Harvey Kubernik is the author of 19 books, including Canyon Of Dreams: The Magic And The Music Of Laurel Canyon, Turn Up The Radio! Rock, Pop and Roll In Los Angeles 1956-1972 and a study on Neil Young, Heart of Gold.

     Sterling/Barnes and Noble in 2018 published Harvey and brother Kenneth Kubernik’s The Story Of The Band: From Big Pink To The Last Waltz.  For October 2021 they are writing and assembling a multi-narrative book on Jimi Hendrix for the same publisher.

    Otherworld Cottage Industries had just published Harvey Kubernik’s 500-page book, Docs That Rock, Music That Matters, featuring his  interviews with D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles, Murray Lerner, Morgan Neville, Henry Diltz, Graham Nash, Chris Hillman, Roger McGuinn, Mary Wilson, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Andrew Loog Oldham, John Ridley, Curtis Hanson, Dick Clark, Travis Pike, Allan Arkush, and David Leaf, among others.     

This century Harvey wrote the liner note booklets to the CD re-releases of Carole King’s Tapestry, Allen Ginsberg’s Kaddish, Elvis Presley The ’68 Comeback Special and The Ramones’ End of the Century. Kubernik and Andrew Loog Oldham wrote the liner essays to The Essential Carole King.      

  Kubernik, Henry Diltz and Gary Strobl collaborated with ABC-TV in 2013 for their Emmy-winning one hour Eye on L.A. Legends of Laurel Canyon hosted by Tina Malave.   In 2020 Harvey served as Consultant on Laurel Canyon: A Place In Time documentary directed by Alison Ellwood which debuted in May 2020 on the EPIX/MGM television channel. 

Kubernik was interviewed last decade by director/producer Neil Norman for his GNP Crescendo documentary, The Seeds: Pushin’ Too Hard. Jan Savage and Daryl Hooper original members of the Seeds participated along with Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys, Iggy Pop, Kim Fowley, Jim Salzer, the Bangles,  photographer Ed Caraeff,  Mark Weitz of the Strawberry Alarm Clock and Johnny Echols of Love. Miss Pamela Des Barres supplied the narration.

This decade Harvey was filmed for the currently in-production documentary about former Hollywood landmark Gold Star Recording Studio and co-owner/engineer Stan Ross produced and directed by Brad Ross and Jonathan Rosenberg. Brian Wilson, Herb Alpert, Richie Furay, Darlene Love, Mike Curb, Chris Montez, Bill Medley, Don Randi, Hal Blaine, Shel Talmy, Richard Sherman, Don Peake, Kim Fowley, Johnny Echols, Gloria Jones, Slim Jim Phantom, Paul Body, Bill Inglot, Carol Kaye, Melanie Vannem, Marky Ramone, David Kessel and Steven Van Zandt have been lensed).

Also, see ESSAY: 50th Anniversary of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Deja Vu" by Harvey Kubernik.


Deja Vu Photo Composites
via Susan Miller 
See 50th Anniversary of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Deja Vu" by Harvey Kubernik

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8 Comments:

At 5/06/2021 12:06:00 PM, Blogger Abner Snopes said...

"we are blowing this, we are blowing this." I believe Nash was entirely correct. Neil grasped, perhaps not concretely, just how much was at stake. He took his talent and protected it, which was just plain good sense. Forget "team player": there is no team.

 
At 5/06/2021 01:28:00 PM, Blogger Dan Swan said...

I certainly agree that Deja Vu is similar to the White Album in which it feels like a series of individual songs, but I love the White Album. Deja Vu is a remarkable record because of the songs. It is considered a classic for a reason, and it captures a time and place beautifully. All four songwriters were at their best at this stage of their careers and the results speak for themselves, and yes Neil was being carful what he allowed to include. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Each member was free to choose which of their songs were going on the record. There seems to be more emphasis on Neil because he kept the best songs for Gold Rush, but the other three went on to record great solo records as well, so I see it as a win win for the fans. Same thing happened with the Beatles, as we got more great music after they split up.

Lightning in a bottle only comes around once in a lifetime and CSN had it for one album, yet after that first album everything changed. And the people who were disappointed in Deja Vu simply projected their expectations on a record that didn’t match up for them. I love Deja Vu for what it is and I’m grateful for this upcoming release for a deeper look at its creation.

Peace 🙏

Peace 🙏

 
At 5/10/2021 06:25:00 PM, Blogger Alan said...

You nailed it. Alan in Seattle

 
At 5/10/2021 06:37:00 PM, Blogger Alan said...

Right on, Dan. The White album IS a classic, like Deja Vu. I am glad Neil had the sense to protect the goods. So much other great music still to come from Neil. I will let others speak about the music which came later from CSN. I don’t feel qualified. I am a Neil Young fanatic, not so for CSN. I love Hendrix, Dylan, The Beatles, The Doors, and a slew of other bands. Hendrix is up at the top. Neil carried the torch a lot longer. NY hold my interest. Barefoot Floors to me is more interesting than all of CSN’s stuff. So is For What it’s Worth. So is Ohio. I am skewed that way. There’s no accounting for taste. Alan in Seattle

 
At 5/10/2021 06:38:00 PM, Blogger Alan said...

“NY holds my interest.”

 
At 5/10/2021 06:39:00 PM, Blogger Alan said...

“NY holds my interest.”

 
At 5/10/2021 06:41:00 PM, Blogger Alan said...

A great read! Thanks Thrasher!

 
At 5/10/2021 06:42:00 PM, Blogger Alan said...

A great read! Thanks Thrasher!

 

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Willie for a Nobel!
#Willie4Nobel

Willie Nelson for Nobel Peace Prize
for Farm Aid and his work on
alternative fuels, and world peace initiatives.

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Farm Aid

Go Farmers Markets!


"In the >field< of opportunity
It's plowin' time again."

SUPPORTER
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Silverline Communications

(Home of the FarmAidians)
Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada
(519) 737-7979



This blog supports free speech!


Demand justice for Aaron:
Support "Aaron's Law" and inquiry into his prosecution

(... he didn't kill himself either...) #AaronDidntKillHimself

Induct Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame



Please Help Support Independent Media &
Non-Corporate Advertising
This Blog's For You!


The Hypocrisy of the Mainstream Media

It's Been Called The
"Missing Link" in the Ditch Trilogy

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Sign the Release "Time Fades Away" Petition
Join The 10,000+ Who Have Already Signed


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Neil Young Appreciation Society


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Sugar Mountain

Neil Young Setlists
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Rust Radio


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Bands Covering Neil Young songs


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LIVE MUSIC IS BETTER


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Official Neil Young News Site

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The Bridge School


The Bridge School Concerts
25th Anniversary Edition

**100% of Proceeds to Benefit Bridge School***

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The Essential Neil Young

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Fans Favorite Neil Albums

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Top 50 MP3
Neil Young Song Downloads


Top 10 Best Selling Neil Albums Today
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Support Thrasher's Wheat
via Purchases from:
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Canada - Amazon.ca canada.gif
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Germany - Amazon.de de.gif



Neil Young Songbook Project

In the fields of wheat

"Children of Destiny" will NOT be harvested
However, the chaff will be burned by unquenchable fire

Neil Young + Promise of the Real

Europe 2016 Tour Dates



2015 Rebel Content Tour


Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Alchemy Concert Tour Reviews

Fall 2012 N. America Tour
Spring 2013 Australia/New Zealand Tour
Summer 2013 Europe Tour

Europe Summer 2014 Concert Tour
Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Thrasher's Wheat Radio Supporters Go To Europe

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Neil Young Films

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2010 MusiCares Honors Neil Young

Features Elvis Costello, Crosby Stills & Nash, Sheryl Crow, Josh Groban, Ben Harper, Elton John, Norah Jones, Lady Antebellum, Dave Matthews, James Taylor, Keith Urban, and others.
Proceeds from sales go to MusiCares,
which helps musicians in need of
financial and medical assistance.

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"There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye"

#BigShift

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Neil Young FAQ:
Everything Left to Know About the Iconic and Mercurial Rocker
"an indispensable reference"

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Paul McCartney and Neil Young

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"You can make a difference
If you really a try"

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John Lennon and Neil Young


"hailed by fans as a wonderful read"

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young:
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The Supergroup of the 20th Century



Director Jonathan Demme's Exquisite film "Heart of Gold"

eddie & neil
Eddie Vedder and Neil Young

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Revisiting The Significance of
The Buffalo Springfield


"The revolution will not be televised"
... it will be blogged, streamed,
tweeted, shared and liked
The Embarrassment of Mainstream Media

Turn Off Your TV & Have A Life


"Everything Is Bullshit" +
"Turn Off The News"
Turn Off the News (Build a Garden)


Neil Young 2016 Year in Review:
The Year of The Wheat

Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain and Neil Young

Neil Young's Feedback:
An Acquired Taste?

Young Neil: The Sugar Mountain Years
by Rustie Sharry "Keepin' Jive Alive in T.O." Wilson

"the definitive source of Neil Young's formative childhood years in Canada"

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Joni Mitchell & Neil Young

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Bob and Neil

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So Who Really Was "The Godfather of Grunge"?


Four Dead in Ohio
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So What Really Happened at Kent State?


The Four Dead in Ohio



May The FOUR Be With You #MayThe4thBeWithYou

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dissent is not treason
Dissent is the highest form of patriotism

Rockin' In The Free World



Sing Truth to Power!
When Neil Young Speaks Truth To Power,
The World Listens

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Emmylou Harris and Neil Young

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Wilco and Neil Young

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Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young

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Elton John and Neil Young

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Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young

+

The Meaning of "Sweet Home Alabama" Lyrics


Neil Young Nation -
"The definitive Neil Young fan book"

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"Powderfinger"
What does the song mean?

Random Neil Young Link of the Moment
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Bonnie Raitt and Neil Young

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I'm Proud to Be A Union Man

UNITED WE STAND/DIVIDED WE FALL


When Neil Young is Playing,
You Shut the Fuck Up


Class War:
They Started It and We'll Finish It...
peacefully

A battle raged on the open page...
No Fear, No Surrender. Courage
WE WON'T BACK DOWN. NEVER STAND DOWN.

"What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees?"
Full Disclousre Now


"I've Got The Revolution Blues"

Willie Nelson & Neil Young
Willie Nelson for Nobel Peace Prize



John Mellencamp:
Why Willie Deserves a Nobel

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BOYCOTT HATE

Love and Only Love

"Thinking about what a friend had said,
I was hoping it was a lie"


We're All On
A Journey Through the Past

Neil Young's Moon Songs
Tell Us The F'n TRUTH
(we can handle it... try us)

Freedom:
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Does Anything Else Really Matter?

"Nobody's free until everybody's free."
~~ Fannie Lou Hamer

Here Comes "The Big Shift"
#BigShift

Maybe everything you think you know is wrong? NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS
"It's all illusion anyway."

Propaganda = Mind Control
NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS
Guess what?
"Symbols Rule the World, not Words or Laws."
... and symbolism will be their downfall...

Brighter Planet's 350 Challenge
Be The Rain, Be The Change

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the truth will set you free
This Machine Kills Fascists


"Children of Destiny" - THE Part of THE Solution

(Frame from Official Music Video)

war is not the answer
yet we are
Still Living With War

"greed is NOT good"
Hey Big Brother!
Stop Spying On Us!
Civic Duty Is Not Terrorism

The Achilles Heel
#NullifyNSA
Orwell (and Grandpa) Was Right
“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.”
~~ Bob Marley

The Essence of "The Doubters"



Yes, There's Definitely A Hole in The Sky


Even Though The Music Died 50+ Years Ago
,
Open Up the "Tired Eyes" & Wake up!
"consciousness is near"
What's So Funny About
Peace, Love, & Understanding & Music?

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Show Me A Sign

"Who is John Galt?"
To ask the question is to know the answer

"Whosoever shall give up his liberty for a temporary security
deserves neither liberty nor safety."

~~ Benjamin Franklin

Words

(Between the lines of age)


And in the end, the love you take
Is equal to the love you make

~~ John & Paul

the zen of neil
the power of rust
the karma of the wheat

~Om-Shanti.

Namaste