Laughing (David Crosby) (LP 2190 - 2203)

David Crosby  If I Could Only Remember My Name  (Vinyl and CDs, Atlantic Records, 1971) *****  

David Crosby  Oh Yes I Can  (Vinyl, A&M Records, 1989) **** 

David Crosby  Thousand Roads (CD, Atlantic Records, 1993) ****  

David Crosby  Croz (CD, Blue Castle Records, 2014) ***** 

David Crosby  Lighthouse (CD, GroundUP Records, 2016) **** 

David Crosby  Sky Trails (CD, BMG Music, 2017) **** 

David Crosby  Here If You Listen (CD, BMG Music, 2018) **** 

David Crosby  For Free (CD, BMG Music, 2021) **** 

David Crosby  It's All Coming Back To Me Now (CD, Atlantic Records, 1995) **** 

David Crosby  King Biscuit Flower Hour (CD, King Biscuit Records, 1996) **** 

David Crosby  Deja Vu (CD, Disky Records, 2001) * 

David Crosby  Live (CD, EMI Records, 2000) * 

David Crosby & The Lighthouse Band  Live At The Capitol Theater (CD + DVD, BMG Music, 2022) ***** 

Genre: pop rock

Places I remember: 1 Real Groovy Records for the vinyl, CD original album - music shop in Taupo, CD original + bonus tracks CD from Amoeba Music in Hollywood; 2 Marbecks Records; 3 a mail order music club I belonged to briefly while living in Wakefield; 4 - 6 JB Hi-Fi; 7, 8 HMV; 9 - 12 JB Hi-Fi; 13 Fopp.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Laughing (If I Could Only...) 

Gear costume: Too Young To Die (Thousand Roads); 1967 (Here If You Listen)

Active compensatory factors: David Crosby - shitty human being, peerless musician. I had to get that out from the get-go. I love his music and I slavishly buy anything he puts out (or released, past tense, sadly), but his life is a cautionary tale about how not to live.

How he functioned throughout his drug fueled years is absolutely beyond me, and how his voice retained its beauty and power right up to the end is staggering. He should by rights have died in the eighties but he managed to not only survive, but thrive as a musician in his later years.

Extraordinary!

His first album is truly a stand-alone classic that he would never better, but he'd come damn close. 

Such a great cast of San Francisco's finest musicians appear on it - from Santana, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane plus Joni, Neil, Graham and his brother Ethan.

For the longest time I figured it was going to be his only solo album, as he teamed up with Nash or they joined Stills, or they all joined Neil. It certainly appears in my top ten albums of all time list.

Then, out of the blue (pre internet remember), he was back in 1989, with a new album. Not only that - he sounded...great. What the hell? Hadn't he been a wasted junkie for like, forever??

How is it he sounds so in the pocket? I have no idea, but he sounds vital, sincere and clear eyed. 

The songs tell the tales - Monkey And The Underdog outlines the struggles and Oh Yes I Can is an honest plea for Jan Crosby's love (that she gave unconditionally it seems).

Into the nineties and just a mere four years between drinks came Thousand Roads. It came out on a new format - a compact disc. I was a hold out for a while (vinyl is my first love) but I bought a copy from the music club and ended up playing the album a lot in 1993 and 1994.

It reminds me of George Harrison (by George Harrison) - a calm, peaceful approach and sound that rewards repeat listening.

The songs are strong and confident. It feels like he got a lot of things out of his system with Oh Yes I Can, so Thousand Roads, even though he still wasn't writing too many songs yet, feels like a rebirth of sorts. Hero is a strong lead off song and the album never looks back.

It was a 21 year wait until the next Crosby album - Croz, in 2014. But at that point the creative floodgates opened and it seemed like every other week there was a new Crosby studio album: Lighthouse 2016, Sky Trails 2017, Here If You Listen 2018, For Free 2021. 

Clearly he'd built up a head of steam by 2014 because Croz is a major work in the canon. It's production values are superb, which matches the delivery and the songs. Plus Croz himself sounds amazing still!

From Lighthouse onwards he would return to some core musicians - primarily Michael League, Becca Stevens and Michelle Willis, a.k.a. The Lighthouse Band.

Indeed, by the time he bowed out he was billed as David Crosby &The Lighthouse Band.

Given this shift he moves slightly away from the jazzy rock inspired by James Raymond on Croz to freer, more spacious arrangements. Plus, he highlights a Joni composition on each album to excellent effect.

For Free was his last studio album. It maintains a remarkable career long degree of artistic quality.

He even names this album for the Joni tune used this time out (others were Amelia, and Woodstock on previous albums).

Somehow his choir boy like voice is undiminished. This is remarkable given he was 80 when For Free came out.

The final concert recording with The Lighthouse Band came out a year later. The DVD that accompanies the CD shows him in fine form. Also remarkable given he was die a year later, aged 81.

The other four releases listed above are also live albums from concerts in 1989 and the early nineties. 

It's All Coming Back To Me is from a 1993 gig at Hollywood's Whiskey-A-Go-Go. Graham Nash guests on three tracks at the end of the concert and The Black Crowe's Chris Robinson is on Almost Cut My Hair.

I like the album - it builds well from a quiet, tasteful start with In My Dreams into more electric band numbers. It's great to hear a song like Cowboy Movie done live. 

What I especially like is that it sounds like a complete performance - not cobbled together from various sources. It also starts and ends well. Long Time Gone is one of my all time favourite songs so I enjoy it each time and Croz does a passionate version here. The band like it too!

I could say the same about Wooden Ships. They are juiced by the time they end the show with this classic.

The King Biscuit Flower Hour album documents a 1989 concert from Philadelphia.

It's before Oh Yes I Can was released so it features a number of 'new' songs destined for that record.

Again, it's a complete performance that has been recorded well. He starts off with just him on acoustic guitar and he fully captures the audience with his performance.

The other two albums in the list are The King Biscuit Flower Hour songs reshuffled and marketed in el cheapo packaging - hence the one star.

Where do they all belong? A great talent. I'll miss him. RIP David Crosby.