Track Listing:
1. Marrakesh Express – (Nash) 2:23
2. Almost Cut My Hair – (Crosby) 5:26
3. You Don’t Have to Cry – (Stills) 1:23
4. Déjà Vu – (Crosby) 6:37
5. Sleep Song – (Nash) 3:01
6. My Love Is a Gentle Thing – (Stills) 2:06
7. Be Yourself – (Nash, Reid) 2:58
8. Music Is Love – (Crosby, Nash, Young) 4:15
9. Singing Call – (Stills) 3:02
10. Long Time Gone – (Crosby) 4:36
11. Chicago – (Nash) 2:52
12. Love the One You’re With – (Stills) 3:13
Label: Atlantic/Rhino
Release Date: 06.02.09
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Folk-Rock
Running Time: 42:45
CSN’s 2009 release, Demos, is a particularly hard thing to review. This is a compilation of demos that the trio (plus one track with Neil Young) recorded between 1968 and 1971. Rhino has issued this set as part of their continuing reissue series for the group’s catalog. There isn’t anything here that will blow the mind of the existing CSN fan, and there isn’t anything here that the new CSN listener wouldn’t be better served by finding the group’s official release instead. With a few exceptions, this is a collection of recordings by individuals, without the benefit of their band mates (and perhaps most importantly, the vocal harmonies that they provided).
It’s not that there is anything here that is a bad listen. The record opens with a quaint rendition of “Marrakesh Express” and sets the tone for the entire record by being an interesting footnote in the band’s history. It is perhaps more useful to think of this record as a musical documentary of the most productive years from an extremely important group in rock & roll history, ala John Lennon’s Acoustic album (though this is MUCH easier to listen to than Lennon’s release). “Almost Cut My Hair” is interesting, because it provides an educational element of the song’s growth, but it just isn’t the same without full electric accompaniment. Demos hits its highest ‘are you kidding me’ point during “Déjà Vu”, when the last half of the song is comprised of David Crosby scat singing/vocally meandering.
Not all is lost here though, as “Sleep Song” finds Graham Nash at his most endearing (in a mode somewhere in between Paul McCartney and Genesis-era Peter Gabriel). As with most CSN releases, Stephen Stills owns the highest points of the album. He is extremely soulful and playing guitar with serious chops on “My Love Is a Gentle Thing”. Demos’ absolute high point is the rendition of “Love the One You’re With”, that sounds just as strong without the keyboards and production as it does with. Of course, the strongest point of the release also points out a key negative of Demos…what in the world is a song from a Stephen Stills solo album doing on a CSN record? That is just one sentiment that leaves the listener scratching their head a bit after listening to Demos.
