In 1974 I was the agent for The Beach Boys. Bill Graham was promoting the CSN&Y tour and made an offer
to the BBs to open six or seven of the shows.
I was at the first date in Milwaukee at County Stadiumand watched The Beach Boys kill. The audience of 50,000 was into it from the first notes of "Heroes and Villains". Thunderous response. I was bursting at the seams thinking that CSN&Y couldn't possibly follow them.
Crosby came out alone, with a guitar, played "Almost Cut My Hair" and it was like The Beach Boys never played.
Chip Rachlin
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This one is a desert Island fave. Still stands up! I wore this one out. The songwriting and vocals and the playing. Like no one else. Most people love the 1st album, as do I, BUT..Deja Vu.. every track is a classic!
CSNY was the shit.The interplay between Neil and Stephen is magic and the VOCALS- the writing..! Carry On, What an album starter !
They don't make albums like this anymore.. well most people are listening to clowns with a laptop and Garage band calling them selves ' musicians' or ' producers' lol
You plug the drum machine in and you are a writer. I know someone that overheard a kid on a plane telling someone ' I play the drum machine' .
These are the end times..
Back to Deja Vu. Where is anyone remotely TRYING to make music like this? And this is 50 years old??? Jeez I am old. haha
Where is the new Steely Dan, or any ORIGINAL sounding band?? Composition that make you go ' Holy shit how did they think of THAT?'
Yes spoken by an old guy .. one that has been making records and touring for 45 years but .. yeah I am old and thank GOD I lived the the golden age of rock n roll.
Steve Lukather
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I'm 56, which means 'Deja Vu' was one of the albums that was immediately prior to my generation, but it was ubiquitous, in every house, and certainly in my stepdad's record collection (he's 8 years younger than my mom).
'Deja Vu' is also part of one of my oddest and funniest rock and roll memories. We were in Donnie Ienner's fancy fancy office at 550 Madison Avenue. Columbia and Maverick/Warner were the two labels fighting to sign us in the home stretch. Donnie had just CRANKED "Lump" (album was already out on indie Pop Llama) at maybe 120 dB on his mega-stereo and told us about how much he liked our record and that he would put it out as-is on Columbia or let us remix or re-record if we wanted to...and then out of nowhere as were talking about music he sort of leaned back and wistfully spoke aloud what he was going to do that weekend, which was go out to his farm and listen to his favorite album, 'Deja Vu', which he went on to wax rhapsodic about for a few minutes.
That's what music is all about. Here's this big badass New York City gorilla of a guy, a human bulldozer who let nothing get in his way, but what was actually in his soul, and he couldn't express himself, was all the weirdness and sensitivity that CSNY captured in that album.
Nothing but mad respect for both of them, but I was pretty sure Guy O'Seary and Freddy DeMann weren't spending their Saturdays listening to 'Deja Vu.'
We signed to Columbia.
dave dederer
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Bob. Thank you. One of your best essays ever. So many great insights I can strongly relate to. Your praise for Carry On is also so right on. It always pumped me up also. I haven't listened to whole album but there is lots of magic there. Almost Cut My Hair and Country Girl really seemed sonically much better w better separation of voices and instruments. The acoustic guitar in right channel of Country Girl really came through.
One memory. I visited the Rock Hall of Fame for about three days in a row in 2000 during a 15 month RV trip w my then wife and they had a digital playback system and booths where one could dial in the entire catalog of artists. A hard disc early version of quasi streaming. And Suite Judy Blue Eyes had a loud drum track in the mix! It was so bizarre to hear this mix version! Loud pounding drum. Ahmet must have told that asshole dipshit poseur Wenner to tell his quislings sycophants to put that version of the song in there. It just did not fit at all. Maybe Ahmet thought it was too soft and needed pounding drums. Wonder if Stills knew in advance. I doubt it. Would love to hear story of that.
Everything else I heard was original recordings and I spent hours listening. It was such a great source to explore entire catalogs that we take for granted today w availability of streaming. Of course today so many the Rock Hall (Rap Hall?) inductees are a total fucking piece of shit joke though I love the museum itself and the displays and exhibits and programs etc and the staff does a great job. If I were relegated to Cleveland I'd be a docent. Sad that even the museum itself was subject to the music industry record label bullshit influence. He said naively!
Derek Morris
Santa Barbara
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How well I remember the anticipated release of Deja Vu. I was in college in a small town in Ohio with one record store and phoned the owner "Old Man Myers" every day until I was finally told a box of 25 LPs had arrived.
I lived off campus so I hiked the 2.5 miles into town, purchased the odd faux-leather covered album and hurried back to my apartment to enjoy.
When I placed the LP on my Garrard turntable I discovered the album was so warped that it would not play - the stylus jumped all over the tracks! I was so angry and disappointed that I immediately retraced my steps and asked for a new copy. Guess what? Every one of the 25 copies was as warped as mine. Apparently, I found out later, the combination of a still- warm vinyl LP stuffed into a cover that was already somewhat warped due to the weight of the front photo, caused the problem.
It was another two weeks before good copies arrived. In the end worth the wait but at the time it felt like the birthday present you really wanted, when opened, was crushed.
Ron Beales
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Excellent piece, Bob. Deja Vu is one of my favorite albums. I can't wait to hear it as you described. When I turned 4+20 in 2005, I made a point of learning to play that song and it culminated with me playing it solo on guitar on my birthday. However I changed some of the lyrics to:"/He was tired of being poor/He left my mother and ran off with a slightly masculine whore/" to better suit my situation. (That was a joke of course.) I also saw CSNY do Carry On live in the winter of 2000 and that was extremely powerful.
All the best,
Charlie Soste
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Every single thing you said below filled my heart. I got my copy of Déjà Vu the first day possible, at the Palm Beach Mall, along with some of my girlfriends. We had our 'leather album's and I believe I played it more than any other record of that time. Maybe Tea for the Tillerman is a close 2nd. And it really does hold up. Stills' voice, and Crosby's, just sublime.
Chris Schmidt
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Always especially loved Stills' Spanish conclusion to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" singing about the beauty of peaceful Cuba and his regrets that he could not visit...CSN (&Y) filled such a great niche in music of the era! Great 50th Anniversary collection. Thanks.
Anthony Napoli
Beacon, NY
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When I listen to "Déjà vu", it makes me daydream about a different, more pastoral/tangible life that would make more sense for me, if the world progressed in the ways people thought it would, a decade+ before I was born.
I've lost count of friends who would surely have different lives, too -- people who should be writers, working in the theater, painters, musicians, a few who'd have their own farms -- instead of whatever screen-based or service-based grind they're locked into. The 21st century has plenty of advantages over life as it was 50 years ago, it's true, but it's also true that things today are spiritually cruel in myriad ways that feel specifically designed to deaden the soul.
But a few weeks ago, I had a weird musical epiphany while listening to 'Déjà vu" on a drive, which is that you can do a quasi-"Dark Side of the Moon"/"Wizard of Oz" thing with "Déjà vu"/the arc of the pandemic. The songs seem to create that story and, somehow, actually really fit together. I know that sounds ridiculous, I have absolutely no idea why such a thing came to mind, and I guess it doesn't really matter. I just think it's incredibly cool, rare, and wonderful that a 50-year-old album can paint brand-new sonic pictures in my life as it is now. Wild and powerful music tends to be timeless, thank God.
Jennifer Carney
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It was far from a disappointment for me. The Deja Vu album had the 2nd most emotional impact of any album in my entire life. It was a truly lifting experience. Sgt. Pepper's takes first place only because it is both weird and wonderful, whereas Deja Vu is simply wonderful.
When I dropped the needle on that record, I was transported to some other place in the universe that I didn't know existed. A true transformation took play in my young mind. It was like I had been imbued with an extra sense to enjoy the world. How incredible is that? Music can resonate with your soul and put you in touch with the Heavens. I wanted more.
"Our House," "Almost Cut My Hair, " Woodstock," et al. It was an astounding musical accomplishment. A true gift to anyone who wanted to partake in a self-discovery tour. Listening to those lush vocals and wonderful harmonies was beyond anything I had yet encountered. Me, a young teenage boy in Melbourne, Australia, sitting alone in my blackened-out den with fluorescent hippie stickers adorning the ceiling with the ultraviolet light charging them up with radiation so that they glowed with the lights off. I felt like I was in heaven. Perhaps I was. Perhaps this is as close as it gets while still on Earth. Thank you CSNY for your timeless gift to humanity.
Best,
Pete Meehan
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God you just sent me down the itunes rabbit hole with this post.
Deja Vu was a seriously important album to me when I was a kid.
I clocked hours listening to that.
And Stephen Stills in particular.
Underrated vocalist IMO.
I was crazy about his work when I was younger..
Still holds up beautifully..
And even on my computer speakers the complexity of those sometimes intricate arrangements shines through.
What an era. There's great music being made today--
But listening to this and more reminds me once again that we grew up in a renaissance era.
Karen Gordon
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After my first listen, on Tidal hi/res, on Friday, I posted, "the
guitars were covered with gauze until this issue, it's been a long
time"
I upgraded my playback in January, the Kef LS50 Wireless II is a high
end streaming stereo system on it's own.
I've been listening to that era's recordings, in hi/res, daily for 4
months, this is the most sumptuous offering.
It's been a long time, it's better than ever.
Paul Zullo
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Bob, I've never stopped listening to Deja Vu which in my opinion is the greatest hippie rock album of all time. Listening to the 50th Anniversary Deluxe as i write this...but i still think that "Country Girl - I Think You're Pretty" is perhaps the best track on the album.. it sure as hell resonates with me. The imagery is fantastic . i wanna cry everytime i hear it..This album has been an incredible lasting influence on my approach to music throughout my career.
Randy Dawson
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I was seven when Déjà Vu was released. Would be seven more years before I listened to the album for the first time. I knew that day, It would not be my last.
Michael Murphy
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Love this album, one of the greats.
Though CS&N debut is hard to beat by any band, even if you add in Neil Young.
I also have a weak spot for the Graham Nash & David Crosby 1972 album, bit more patchy but tracks like Where Will I Be?, Page 43, Immigration Man, The Wall Song, Strangers Room, Girl Be On My Mind are up there with their best.
Add their solo works, I Miss You, There's Only One, Wounded Bird, Better Days, Traction In The Rain, Stephen Stills albums including Manassas, Crosby with If Only I Could Remember My Name……
All sheer genius and make up one of my favourite playlists "CN&S some Y", so called as the trio for me are untouchable.
So sad we are likely to never see the trio live again, as live their three voices come together to make a fourth voice that nobody else can match.
Regards
Robin Hill
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"It's not about having the best voice, it's about having the most expressive voice, just ask Rod Stewart or Bob Dylan."
Thank you,
Willie Nelson
Johnny Cash
Elvis
Joe Strummer
Warren Zevon
Mick Jagger
Waylon Jennings
Eric Burdon
Jerry Garcia
Dennis Pelowski
______________________________________
Bob,
Having heard it many times on the radio as a teen, I always thought it was "Sweet Judy Blue Eyes". Then I bought the album.
Cheers,
Tom Moore
Oxford, MI
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It seems that everything I need to know I learn from you. Thank you.
Steven Okin
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