David Crosby’s Masterpiece

I just discovered that I never posted Album Of The Week #18 (which is is a real shame because it is one of my favorite albums ever).  I can’t believe that no one noticed….. I don’t think you guys have been paying attention 🙂

So….a few weeks late, tonight I present you with David Crosby’s first (and best) solo album If Only I Could Remember My Name.  Let’s listen…….

1. Music is Love

2. Cowboy Movie

3. Tamalpais High/At About 3

4. Laughing

5. What Are Their Names

6. Traction in the Rain

7. Song With No Words/Tree With No Leaves

8. Orleans

9. I’d Swear There Was Somebody Here

FYI – This is on my list of candidates for “my final playlist”

To provide you with some of the interesting details about this album and it’s recording, the Wikipedia article on the album is provided below.  The collection of musicians that played on this album is amazing so pay attention to the list of players on each track.

If I Could Only Remember My Name is the debut solo album by David Crosby, released in February 1971 on Atlantic Records. One of four high-profile albums released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their chart-topping Déjà Vu album, it peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200. It has been in print continuously since its initial release. The album gained new recognition in 2010 when it was listed second on the Vatican’s “Top 10 Pop Albums of All Time” as published in the official newspaper of the Holy See, L’Osservatore Romano.

A large grouping of prominent musicians from the era appear on the record, including Nash, Young, Joni Mitchell, members of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana. This ad-hoc ensemble was given the moniker of “The Great Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra” by longtime Crosby associate Paul Kantner; many of the same musicians appeared on the latter’s Blows Against The Empire, recorded concurrently with Crosby’s album. The album also features the only recorded appearance of David Crosby’s reclusive brother, Ethan Crosby.

Although the album garnered its share of detractors, including Crosby’s then-manager David Geffen and influential Village Voice rock critic Robert Christgau and only a lukewarm review from Lester Bangs in Rolling Stone, it was a modest commercial success, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. Two singles were taken from the album, “Music Is Love”, which was released in April 1971 and peaked at #95 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “Orleans” which was released in July 1971. The album has gained in critical appreciation since its release.

The album was released on compact disc on October 25, 1990, having been digitally remastered from the original master tapes, using the equipment and techniques of the day, by original engineer Stephen Barncard. A double-disc reissue appeared on November 6, 2006, with an audio disc remastered in HDCD, including a bonus track “Kids and Dogs,” and a second DVD Audio disc of the original album remixed for 5.1 digital Surround Sound. Reviews of the most recent reissue place the album in the same influential company as the more baroque works of Nick Drake and Fairport Convention.

Side one

1. “Music Is Love” (David Crosby, Graham Nash, Neil Young) – 3:16
   • Crosby – guitar, vocal; Nash – guitar, vocal; Young – guitar, bass, vibraphone, congas, vocal
2. “Cowboy Movie” (Crosby) – 8:02
   • Crosby – electric guitar, vocal; Jerry Garcia – electric guitar; Phil Lesh – bass; Mickey Hart – drums; Bill Kreutzmann – tambourine
3. “Tamalpais High (At About 3)” (Crosby) – 3:29
   • Crosby – electric guitar, vocals; Nash – vocals; Jorma Kaukonen – electric guitar; Garcia – electric guitar; Lesh – bass; Kreutzmann – drums
4. “Laughing” (Crosby) – 5:20
   • Crosby – guitars, vocal; Garcia – pedal steel guitar; Lesh – bass; Kreutzmann – drums; Nash, Joni Mitchell – vocals

Side two

1. “What Are Their Names” (Crosby, Garcia, Lesh, Michael Shrieve, Young) – 4:09
   • Crosby – electric guitar, vocal; Young – electric guitar, vocal; Garcia – electric guitar, vocal; Lesh – bass, vocal; Shrieve – drums; Nash, Mitchell, David Freiberg, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick – vocals
2. “Traction in the Rain” (Crosby) – 3:40
   • Crosby – guitar, vocal; Nash – vocal; Laura Allan – autoharp, vocal
3. “Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)” (Crosby) – 5:53
   • Crosby – electric guitar, vocals; Nash – vocals; Gregg Rolie – piano; Garcia – electric guitar; Kaukonen – electric guitar; Jack Casady – bass; Shrieve – drums
4. “Orleans” (traditional) – 1:56
   • Crosby – guitars, vocals
5. “I’d Swear There Was Somebody Here” (Crosby) – 1:19
   • Crosby – vocals