keepers 5
keeper avg .454
Crosby & Nash's first duo collaboration begins with David Crosby's "Carry Me", exactly the kind sweetly-sung of mid-tempo California fluff that I expected. But Graham Nash's bluesy "Mama Lion"**** comes back with a bit of fire (relatively more anyway) and a nice little riff. Actually Nash's cynical "Take The Money And Run"**** and "Love Work Out"**** also rock pretty convincingly for a guy with the vocal range of Geddy Lee (or a chipmunk), compared to most of Crosby's subtler contributions: the "Triad"-like "Bittersweet and the seemingly meandering "Homeward Through The Haze." It should probably not surprise me that Crosby's musical contributions are more musically ambitious than that of Nash, and the musical diversions of his one kinda-rocker "Low Down Payment"**** yield cool surprise start-ups each time the song winds down. The first of two collaborations, the slight ballad "Naked In The Rain" doesn't seem memorable enough to warrant these two great musical minds. The only other collaboration, the closing epic "Critical Mass/ Wind On The Water"***** is simply a combination of Crosby's spiritual a cappella sketch "Critical Mass" with Nash's title track, an evocative ballad about the slaughter of whales - yup, save the whales. It's as heavy-handed, poignant, and powerful at it aims to be. But with a mostly clear division of labor I could see that I heavily favored the Nash songs. It surprised the heck out of me, though I suppose it shouldn't - I'm not a fan of "Triad" or "Almost Cut My Hair", the only strictly Crosby songs I can think of.
Comments