You're gonna want to buy a new playback system for this.
Today's news is Apple went lossless. Which Amazon has already done. And they both announced new, attractive price points, but Amazon Music can stream in Ultra HD, and the difference is between 16/44.1, i.e. CD quality, and 24/192, and you can hear it. But most people don't own systems good enough to properly feel and hear the incredibly enriching experience of full band audio. Sure, it sounds better even on crappy equipment, but when you fire up the good stuff and listen, you'll be AMAZED!
Come on, the hits of the classic rock era have been remastered so many times most have tuned out. Now the effort is to remix these LPs, which I believe is heresy, unless you're like Steven Wilson and trying to exactly replicate the original, which he does. Bottom line, we don't expect any more. But this "Déjà Vu" package delivers more, you feel like you're jetted right back to 1970, and it feels so good, even if you were never there! That's the power of classic rock, cut before the loudness wars, for vinyl.
To tell you the truth, I was more interested in the bonus tracks than the originals, which I know so well, so I scanned the track listing and clicked on the "4 + 20" demo...and I felt like Stephen Stills was sitting two feet away, and his voice was still intact, and the experience was so different from what we experience today, Stills paid his dues before he wrote this, even though he was then only 24.
"Four and twenty years ago
I come into this life"
That was in 1945, January 3rd in fact, technically Stills isn't even a baby boomer, the war was still raging, on both fronts, Europe and Japan.
"I walk the floor and want to know
Why am I so alone"
You could be lonely back in the last century. Yes, you can still be so today, but you have options, you can go online and try to find like-minded people, but in 1970 all you had was the telephone, there weren't even answering machines, you sat there, unable to sleep and at wit's end... Then you put on a record. And the pain of the performer resonated with the one inside you, and this connection allowed you to soldier on.
Another revelation is the demo for David Crosby's "Almost Cut My Hair." You'll listen to the guitar strum, repetitively, and then just over half a minute in Crosby starts to sing and you're snapped to attention, the hair on your arms stands straight up.
"Almost cut my hair
It happened just the other day"
This was when people in some burgs were just growing theirs long, even though the Beatles had broken through more than half a decade earlier. They couldn't take the risk. They needed everybody else to do it first. They didn't want the parental blowback. But David Crosby was a rock star, he was beholden to no one, and he could debate whether it had to go, but he wanted to let his freak flag fly. And over the ensuing decades, Crosby's rep has sunk. He's difficult, he's opinionated, but one thing is for sure, back then he sure could sing. And I was so enamored of the demo that I pulled up the original. And there's that exquisite winding Stephen Stills guitar intro and then Crosby starts to sing, and once again it's like you're in the studio with him, not in the control room, but sitting mere inches away as he sings into the mic. For eons people have thought "Almost Cut My Hair" was a dated curio, but here it's up front and center once again. Crosby's rep is instantly rescued, and Stills's is elevated, too much history has ensued since, but at the time Stills was a giant.
I wondered if all the original, remastered tracks were such a revelation. So I pulled up the overplayed, never disappearing "Woodstock."
Let's see, Joni Mitchell wrote it, connoisseurs will say her later released, slowed down less bombastic take is superior, the definitive statement. And Ian Matthews had an AM hit with a soft version of the song, but...this original is so powerful, so in your face, that it's UNDENIABLE! Stephen's guitar is spitting, the drums are pounding, you can feel them, and then Stills sings on top of it all and it's as if he's testifying, not self-conscious at all, as if he's live on stage singing for thousands and caught up in the moment.
"Said I'm going down to Yasgur's Farm
Gonna join in a rock and roll band
Got to get back to the land
And set my soul free"
There was only one Woodstock, it's never been replicated since. Because they had all the best acts and no one knew so many would come, that it would be a defining cultural event showing the power of the youth bookended not by Altamont but the Moratorium in D.C. in November. We had light before we had darkness. Our souls were nearly completely free, that's not even a goal anymore, now everybody wants to sell out and cash in, you'll sacrifice your credibility, your beliefs, anything for the buck, telling yourself everybody else is doing it so it's O.K. And "Woodstock" never weakens, when it fades at the end you want to run and catch up, you replay it, just to marinate in that joyous sound, which makes you come alive, you might have been passive before, but no more.
But the real thrill of this package is not only the demos but the originals that were never included, especially the Stills cuts that were ultimately released later. "Know You Got to Run" appears in two versions, the first a demo as exquisite as the one for "4 + 20," albeit louder, with less inherent intimacy. And it's sans the vocal mistakes we expect in the preparatory tracks, Stills could sing every note. And the 48th track, at the package's end, is a fully produced take, that didn't make the album, it's so interesting, it's electric and powerful instead of acoustic and quiet like the version on "Stephen Stills 2."
And there's even a demo of "So Begins the Task," which didn't come out until 1972, as part of the Manassas package.
"And I must learn to live without you now"
This is the flip side of today's music, where you kick them to the curb and crawl out of the wreckage into a brand new car, the rock stars of yore were three-dimensional, they could get hurt, they had pain, which is one of the reasons their works meant so much to us, they were living a life that we would soon experience, if we hadn't already.
All the hype has been about the demo for "Birds," which was soon released as part of "After the Gold Rush," which wouldn't have meant much if it weren't for "Déjà Vu." It's a ten, but we've been privy to so much of Young's vault. But the publicity is about it because Neil Young's credibility and stature are still intact, whereas what's left of the others' is in tatters. But, I must admit Graham Nash's background vocals here add another layer.
But there are all these Crosby cuts, the man who is seen as the lightweight of the act in retrospect, his guitar was unnecessary, and Nash wrote the hits. There's even a take of "Song With No Words," which appeared on his initial solo LP, which went straight into the dumper a year later and has been resuscitated in reputation recently, to a degree undeservedly, but this was one of its great cuts.
There's even a demo of "Laughing," another one of the really good cuts on "If I Could Only Remember My Name." The album was released in the dead of winter, I remember lying in the dark, stoned, listening with my headphones on, the demo is less polished, but even more intimate. Even better is the demo for "Triad," once again incredibly intimate.
And you'll want to listen to "Bluebird Revisited," for the guitar if nothing else, remember when we were into guitar players, argued about them, and it wasn't just how fast they played?
There's even a version of "Change Partners"!
I'll be honest I haven't listened to most of the Graham Nash stuff, but there is a demo of "Right Between the Eyes" which is less cutesy than the take on "Songs for Beginners," which for a long time I thought was the best initial solo album from the original three.
And then there are the alternate takes, the alternate mixes. Most are not especially gripping, but the alternate mix of the title track is especially interesting, the original didn't have the gravitas, the impact of other cuts on the album, but this version does, and be sure to listen to the demo.
And the truth is "Déjà Vu" was a disappointment, but no one could live up to that original Crosby, Stills & Nash LP, oftentimes people do their best work when no one is paying attention, when they've got something to prove. And in truth, the Neil Young songs don't really fit, even though "Helpless" is now considered a classic and I always liked "Country Girl," especially the last section, entitled "Country Girl (I Think You're Pretty)," I was living in the country, but I was no one's country man, that's for sure, any romance was in my head, triggered by these songs.
And the Crosby, Stills & Nash debut percolated slowly in the marketplace, it was like Led Zeppelin's debut, it built, and then when the second album was released everyone had to have it IMMEDIATELY!
I remember the day "Déjà Vu" came out, driving to a mall that no longer is used for retail to get it, with its faux-leather cover, and I got home and dropped the needle...
Now the funny thing is Graham Nash wrote the singles, the hits, but there was no doubt in anybody's mind that the star of the band was Stephen Stills. And the track that truly put the act over the transom, turned them into stars, was the opening one on the first LP, "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," a song embedded in every baby boomer's DNA which has not caught fire with the younger generations which cotton to the softer and the louder, James Taylor and Led Zeppelin, but in '69, even '70, Crosby, Stills, Nash (and sometimes Young), were bigger than either of those acts, and it was because of this one damn song.
Why was "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" so great? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS!
First and foremost it's a suite, it slowed down in the middle and gained further gravitas and then it accelerated once again, it needed all of its seven plus minutes.
Second there was the intro acoustic guitar, which people at home tried to replicate but no one seemed able to do.
Third, Stills's vocal. It's not about having the best voice, it's about having the most expressive voice, just ask Rod Stewart or Bob Dylan.
Fourth, there's the electric guitar dancing throughout this seemingly acoustic number.
Fifth, it's Stills's exclamation...oh-a-oh-a...just shy of ninety seconds in, it's so human!
Sixth, and most important...THE HARMONY VOCALS!
We'd never been exposed to something so rich, so perfect. Turns out they couldn't replicate the sound live, just listen to "4 Way Street," but at this point we did not know that, all we knew was these three meshing voices together sounded so transcendent that the end product seemed inhuman. So the question was...could CSN and now Y come up with another "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," a track that affected us so?
Of course not.
Then again, maybe...
It's the opening track that nobody talks about anymore.
But it's the best cut on "Déjà Vu," no matter what anybody says.
"One morning I woke up and I knew
You were really gone"
The sound was even BETTER than "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," I know, seemed impossible, but you couldn't deny it.
"A new day, a new way"
There was the acoustic guitar intro, but this time the vocals were amped up, you were drawn to them, you had to pay attention.
"The sky is clearing and the night
Has gone out"
There's that dancing electric guitar once again, but "Carry On" is not a remake whatsoever, it's its own damn song, but with nearly equal magic.
"Where are you going now my love
Where will you be tomorrow
Will you bring me happiness
Will you bring me sorrow"
Yes, after an instrumental interlude, the song completely changes, also akin to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," yet different.
"Oh the questions of a thousand dreams
What you do with what you see
Lover can you talk to me"
But the bottom line is overall there are fewer dynamics than "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," "Carry On" is more aggressive, less quiet, more demanding of attention, and therefore it's inferior to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"...BUT IT'S SO DAMN GOOD!
I'd wake up every morning and drop the needle, "Carry On" would get me amped up for school, I could drift through the halls with this sound in my head, no one could penetrate me, I was protected.
"Carry On" is not background, none of CSNY's music is, at least not on the first two LPs, this is not music for playlists, tracks cherry-picked to get you through your day at the office, they're statements, THEY'RE LIFE ITSELF!
And now you can get even closer.
I've got my original vinyl, which sounds different, but nowhere near as clean, here the steel wool has been scrubbed away, I used to be outside the building, now I'm in the studio with the band, it's a dream come true.
Now the truth is all four members have continued to carry on. With varying levels of artistic and commercial success. But there will come a day when you can no longer see them.
Crosby has been the most experimental, but Stills even went on tour with Judy Blue Eyes herself, he's taking risks, but they're all getting older by the minute, and they're a bit worse for wear. Furthermore, they all swear they'll never play together again, because of Crosby's mouth, some things should not be said, no matter what you think.
I've got the feeling I've been here before. But I haven't been here for so long, I thought the place evaporated. But then I pulled up this album and started listening and I was drawn through the vortex to a scene, an album, a feeling, a life, fifty years ago, as if it were yesterday.
I don't think newbies will feel quite the same. Then again, if you've never heard music like this, it's kinda like the English axemen discovering the Delta blues records.
But no one wants to put this kind of time in anymore. Everybody involved had paid a lot of dues, even had hit records, before they came together in this formation.
And they're top vocalists and players but the reason the rep remains is because of the SONGS! They're hard to write, but when you've got the skill we want to hear what you've got to say.
You'll be positively blown away when you hear how these tracks sound. They might even inspire you to upgrade your reproduction equipment, realizing you want to listen to music at the level you listen to TV, even better.
We are stardust, we are golden, we may have to shake off some rust but the roots are still there, we know where we came from, what we experienced, we felt. And at this late date the only thing left to do is get back to the garden.
Listen to the 50th Anniversary edition of "Déjà Vu" and your journey will begin. You will be optimistic instead of pessimistic. You'll think of the possibilities. You'll remember what once was and start to believe...maybe we can make it come back again. After all, we've now got the Dead Sea Scrolls. They're cleaned up, they're pristine, we can digest the message fully, we can't help but be overwhelmed and motivated. There's still time...
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