Search - Crosby Stills & Nash :: Carry on

Take it for what it is.

Howie | Arkansas | 03/03/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While good in its' own right, you have to look at this item for what it really is... A "Greatest Hits" of sorts that was manufactured for the European and Australian markets with many of the tracks represented by outtake versions and alternate mixes. If you already have the CSN box set (the "box") there's nothing much for you here unless you are a completist. If you don't own the "box", aren't a completist, or are a "casual fan" there are better choices.



If you are a "casual fan" you'll want both So Far AND Greatest Hits as there are no tracks with Neil Young performing with the group on "The Greatest Hits" and "So Far" is one of the few CDs with "Ohio" among the track list.



Most others would be satisfied with Crosby, Stills & Nash (1st Album, Expanded and Remastered), Deja Vu, CSN (1977 release - not the box set), and this set for its' handful of rarities, unless you can't stand "alternate tracks".



If you want alternate/rare/unreleased tracks to go with your collection the Crosby Stills & Nash "box" is a better choice.



If all you are looking for is the studio version of "Chicago/We Can Change the World" then it's this, Crosby Stills & Nash (the CSN Box set), Reflections (Graham Nash box set), or The '60s: Original NBC Motion Picture Soundtrack (which is OOP but typically available from marketplace vendors) as this song was only released as a single and currently appears nowhere else on CD.



If you are a completist just order it."

Good But Deceiving

jansley | Vernon, Texas | 01/21/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I grew up with this band and was 16 when their first album was released in 1969. They are one of my favorites and no doubt their music (not their drug-laden personal lives) has influenced my lifelong perspectives on relationships, politics, etc. I would dearly love to have a 2 CD set of their best ORIGINAL songs that are remastered, but sadly this 2-CD set does not come close to fitting the bill because of all the alternate versions.



If I were marketing a 2-CD best of I'd have dedicated Disc 1 to their first 2 albums - 1969's CS&N and 1970's CSN&Y. If you include all but "Pre-Road Downs", "Country Girl" and "Everybody I love You", the other 17 songs from these first 2 albums would easily fit onto 1 CD with several minutes left over. Throw in "Ohio", the shorter acoustic version of "Cowgirl in the Sand" and "Find the Cost of Freedom" from the 4-Way Street album and you've got an incredible first CD.



The second CD can be devoted to the best from the other CSN albums, as well as some solo or duo efforts from the rest of their works. Musts would be "Just a Song Before I Go", "Dark Star", and "Cathedral" (from CS&N 1977), "Southern Cross", "Wasted On the Way", "Daylight Again" and "Delta" (from 1982's Daylight Again), "Got It Made" and "Soldiers of Peace" (from 1988's American Dream), and "Yours and Mine", "Haven't We Lost Enough", and "After the Dolphin" (from 1990's Live It Up). Live It Up was not a very good CD but these 3 songs are fantastic.



I'd add some of the better solo songs of each artist including Crosby's "Laughing", "Music Is Love", and "Tracks In The Dust", Still's "Change Partners", "Love the One You're With", and "Dear Mr. Fantasy", and Nash's "Chicago/Change the World", "Wild Tales", and "Immigration Man". I'd end it with the studio version of "Find the Cost of Freedom" that is on this current 2 CD set.



There you'd have an incredible 2-CD collection with NO ALTERNATE VERSIONS! Now why can't the marketers release something like this? It's a no-brainer and is what I suspect most who are intersted in this group would want. The new 1 CD greatest hits (2005) partially accomplishes this but this group is too great to have only a 1 CD compilation (I have the same gripe about Neil Young's new 1 CD greatest).



But I'm just the idiot customer that will now probably buy the remastered version of all the original albums so I can make my own 2-CD compilation. And that's just what they want me to do!!



This CD, with all the alternate versions, is interesting for those who might have all the originals, but is woefully inadequate if you only want one definitive 2-CD collection of their best. For that reason, I can't give it more than 3 stars."