Boston's Alternative Source!
     
Feedback


[Live & On Record]

CROSBY, STILLS & NASH
OLD FAITHFULS

There was a time when Crosby, Stills & Nash seemed hopelessly out of date because they were old, Woodstock-era hippies. Nowadays they seem more than a little refreshing, in part because they’re old, Woodstock-era hippies — their show at the FleetBoston Pavilion a week ago Wednesday marked the first time I’ve ever seen members of a rock group brag about being over 60. There’s something to be said for sticking to your guns, and yesterday’s boring old farts can be today’s venerable warhorses.

The sold-out show was mostly about the staying power of CSN’s late-’60s/early-’70s catalogue, because that’s about all they played. There was one new song (by Graham Nash, a rocker about early-’20s race riots) and two from the recent CSNY album Looking Forward; that was it for the past two decades. But the late ’60s really was their moment — all three had just exited great bands (respectively the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and the Hollies), and they recognized that, with Hendrix still alive and the Beatles nearly dead, vocal harmony was wide-open territory.

The singer/songwriter genre produced a lot of navel gazing and clumsy social commentary, but CSN usually had enough sense to stay out of those traps. Last week’s most blatant protest number — " For What It’s Worth, " which Stephen Stills wrote for Buffalo Springfield — still stands because its underlying cynicism was out of synch with the ’60s in the first place. The set also included back-to-back renditions of " Our House " and " Suite: Judy Blue Eyes " (respectively about shacking up with Joni Mitchell and breaking up with Judy Collins); these remain solid, well-constructed pop songs. The night closed with " Teach Your Children, " an overplayed anthem if there ever was one. Yet the lyric’s basic generosity holds up, and the trick of writing one verse from each generation’s perspective provided a real contrast to the demographic obsessions of current pop culture.

Last seen cooking up the mother of all publicity stunts with Melissa Etheridge, David Crosby now has the voice that holds the trio together — he’s the most instinctive harmony singer of the lot. Nash is the one who’s changed the least, in both voice and physical stature. But Stills remains the loose cannon who keeps things interesting. Having gained some weight and let his hair grow out, he looks downright surly on stage, and he barely interacts with his more cheerful bandmates, driving big guitar solos through their most sensitive numbers. During Crosby’s earnest, acoustic " Dream for Him, " Stills took a long, funkafied bass solo that — to judge from his mates’ raised eyebrows — wasn’t completely expected.

BY BRETT MILANO

Issue Date: August 30 - September 6, 2001