The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

Menu

Navigation

You are here: Home / Nights In / CSNY – Live At Fillmore East, 1969

CSNY – Live At Fillmore East, 1969

by 79 Comments

What does it sound like?:

CSNY were drawn together by the ethereal beauty of their harmonies. They were also born out of conflict. David Crosby had fallen out from The Byrds partly because he sat in for Neil Young, at the request of Stephen Stills, after Young had quit Buffalo Springfield. Graham Nash’s exit from The Hollies was less of a gordian knot of turmoil but the strands that held CSNY together were gossamer thin. Nevertheless, CSN was a successful debut album released in May 1969. Stills had carried most of the musical load but needed help in order to tour. Young was recruited as a full band member and was allowed to continue pursuing his solo career with Crazy Horse. Dallas Taylor and Greg Reeves were brought in as the touring rhythm section.

Their first gig was on 16th August, opened by Joni Mitchell, at The Auditorium Theatre, Chicago. Their second, on the 18th August 1969, was at Woodstock, catapulting the new lineup into the spotlight. Footage from two performances at the Big Sur Folk Festival on September 13–14, 1969 appears in the movie Celebration at Big Sur. Their first tour also included a performance at the notorious Altamont Free Concert on December 6, 1969, “rock ‘n’ roll’s all time worst day”, but, afterwards, they insisted they did not feature in Gimme Shelter. The tour was quite a baptism of fire.

This concert was recorded 20th September. The first half is acoustic, the voices accompanied by just one or two guitars. Those delicate harmonies are most exposed in this live setting and they hold up extremely well. They open confidently with the Judy Blue Eyes Suite, deliver an earnest cover of Blackbird, missing the McCartney twinkle, and break into giggles on Helplessly Hoping. Guinnevere is absolutely gorgeous, the highlight of the whole set. The voice most likely to creak is Nash’s. Our House, sung solo backed only by a pump organ, is especially vulnerable, undermining the idyll of domesticity with his then lover, Joni Mitchell. It’s rather beautiful, far more affecting than the studio version. Young gets to do a couple of songs from his own repertoire.

Disc two is electric. The tone, as you would expect, is more strident. It sounds like a Buffalo Springfield reunion with richer backing vocals, and very much of its time, partly because Crosby’s lyrics, especially, become more concerned with Vietnam and the counterculture. The sixteen minute Down By The River, a Young song, features dueling guitars with multiple solos. The audience is attentive rather than carried away. They greet the finale, an a cappella snippet of Find The Cost Of Freedom from Ezy Ryder, with some relief.

CSNY were never a band of brothers who paid their dues together in the trenches before achieving fame. They didn’t write in partnerships and each individual sang lead on their own songs. This meant they could present a wider range than most acts but at the cost of being disjointed. Stills dominates, providing nearly half the songs on this set, assuming the mantle of de facto band leader, and Young remained a law unto himself. Those gossamer thin threads holding them together were easily broken. They split up after the second tour.

However, it is important to realise that they were colossal from the start. CSN, the debut, sold four million copies in the USA. The follow up, Déjà Vu, was feverishly anticipated, and sold even more, creating a ripple effect positively impacting each of the four members’ solo albums that followed in its wake. In 1974, CSNY became the first Rock act to conduct a stadium tour. This addition to their catalogue, captured on their first tour, when they were at their most united, will be welcome for their legions of fans. The acoustic set is the better listen of the two and the whole effectively provides a time capsule, glimpsing the state of American Rock in late 1969.

Stills and Young compiled and mixed the original eight-track concert recordings with John Hanlon at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles. It is available on CD and as a 2LP vinyl set (black and clear vinyl versions). The vinyl is an AAA (all analogue) lacquer cut so it might satisfy Hoffmanites.

What does it all *mean*?

There are still golden nuggets in the mines of back catalogues. Neil Young seems a more eager participant putting this release together, than he was for recording Déjà Vu. Old Rock acts are tending their legacy.

Goes well with…

CSN, Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere and Déjà Vu.

Release Date:

25th October 2024

Might suit people who like…

Laurel County.

28

Comments

  4. With respect to Crosby’s departure from The Byrds, sitting in with Buffalo Springfield at Monterey was but a very minor aspect of the internal conflict.
    Crosby and McGuinn had been arguing over the song content on albums for some time. Things came to a head during the recording of The Notorious Byrd Brothers when Crosby felt that McGuinn and the other two were too cowardly and couldn’t handle the radical, revolutionary lyrics of his song “Triad” (about his menage à trois, which ended up being recorded by Jefferson Airplane) and instead they selected the Goffin/King song “Goin’ Back”. Crosby viewed this as nothing but lightweight pop, that was outshone by his far-out ode depicting his domestic arrangements.
    Listen to the Legacy edition of TNBB which contains The Byrds version of his song among the extras. It is clear that he was wrong.
    Did he walk out or was he pushed out? The debate continued for years.
    The Monterey appearance merely added fuel to the internal conflagration.

    • For quite some time, Crosby was considered impossible to work with. I found it interesting that he sat in for Young when Young fell out with Stills, yet here we are, all three singing in harmony together.

        • He would have been the first to agree I suspect. He was an amazing harmony singer though, and in combo with Nash was extraordinary. I saw CSN in the 90s and they were both superb. Poor Stills was struggling – he could barely talk coherently.

            • Depends on how stoned I am. IICORMN doesn’t really have many actual proper songs on it, but it’s a good vibe. I don’t think Crosby was comparatively much of a songwriter, handful of classics only. A brilliant singer though.

          • Sorry, @Twang, my post was a jokey reference to the cover of the Notorious Byrd Bros album.

            While am sure you probably know and have had a senior’s moment regarding said cover, won’t spoil the joke for you by displaying it here in case you don’t

  6. Clearly this is now the Tiggerlion review site 😉

    Didn’t The Beatles do a North American stadium tour in 65 (and 66)?

    I saw Graham Nash live a couple of weeks ago. He is now 82. Used to think of him as the weak link of CSN, but his songs have grown on me over the years and I now consider him to be my favourite songwriter of those 3. Neil wins when they are a foursome, although he probably kept most of his best songs for solo albums

    Nash is not somebody who is shy about his own abilities, but it was a wonderful evening full of songs from this era, plus a number from his superb solo album Songs for Beginners. He regaled us with many wild tales from his career even back to The Hollies, such as meeting a 15 yr old Graham Goldman and asking him what songs he had. Also Crosby asking if it is ok if he brings a friend to a rehearsal, Nash says sure and then the friend turns out to be Bob Dylan, he also told us that this city (Ottawa) changed his life, as he met Joni here.

    In the end we got songs written by all 4 bandmates and even one Joni song. It ended with a blistering version of Ohio and he walked off the stage leaving his small excellent band to play us out. It’s been a great year for gigs for me and this was surprisingly right up there. With Stills more or less retired and Crosby gone he is keeping the flag flying.

    Setlist:

    Wasted on the Way
    Marrakesh Express
    Military Madness
    I Used to Be a King
    Right Between the Eyes
    Bus Stop
    To the Last Whale…A. Critical Mass B. Wind on the Water
    Immigration Man
    Better Days
    Love the One You’re With

    Simple Man
    A Case of You
    Wounded Bird
    Taken at All
    Prison Song
    Just a Song Before I Go
    Our House
    Teach Your Children

    Find the Cost of Freedom
    Ohio

    I may get this album, but they were sometimes fairly ropy live.

  7. No. Last time I saw him it was a duo with Shane. This was a 4 piece, very versatile band

    Todd Caldwell (keyboards), Zak Djanikian (guitar, sax and mandolin and drums) and Adam Minkoff (bass and guitar and at times, drums).

  8. Reading the review and not having heard the album. I am surprised at the enthusiasm to purchase. An indulgent electric side that left the audience disengaged and a better acoustic set that exposed vocal flaws is my take out.

  9. I’ve never bought this line about Neil Young joining the band because Stills played guitar and keyboards on the album and couldn’t do both live. Young never played keys live with them (though Nash did) and anyway they could have easily got in a keyboard player. Far more likely is he was Stills’ mate and a great songwriter – better than any of them in fact. Better lead guitarist than Stills too IMHO.

  10. They always struck me as an odd sort of group.

    In many of the interviews with them that I’ve read, and in their between-song chats on live albums, they refer to each other by their surnames, which doesn’t seem very matey, but at other times they sound like best friends and praise each other’s talents.

    The line-up chopped and changed all the time, probably depending on what mood Neil was in and who might have most recently argued with somebody about something, but sometimes they act as if they’ve been together all their lives, and when they’re hot, they’re *really* hot.

    What always brought them together, as far as I can tell, was the absolute love of music, and The Song in particular. Watching their faces when they’re harmonising like angels, or when Stephen or Neil are playing a solo from their very soul, shows just how powerful music can be. For those few minutes at least, they bury their various hatchets/grudges and unite to take the listener somewhere special.

    I once had the chance to demo top-flight audio gear (Naim separates, since you ask, and sadly I had to say no as together they cost more than my Volvo at the time), and chose to play the tracks Daylight Again and Find the Cost of Freedom. I know it’s a cliche, but CSNY sounded so wonderfully in-the-room that I could practically smell Cros’ fringed jacket (I know: can you even imagine?).

    Thanks to the sound of those harmonies in that demo suite, I’ll always be a fan.

  11. I was wondering about ‘They greet the finale, an a cappella snippet of Find The Cost Of Freedom from Ezy Ryder, with some relief.’ as I didn’t remember it in Easy Rider. A bit of digging told me it was cut from the film. The first time I was aware of it was when I heard it over the credits to the director’s cut of Woodstock.

      • I don’t remember that in Easy Rider.
        Stills relationship with the film was being asked to meet Dennis Hopper to discuss including some of his music in it, and pitching up in a chauffeur-driven limousine.
        This irked Hopper (which it would me) so much – “You don’t really ‘get’ this picture, do you?” – that he went elsewhere.

  12. Love the whole concept of CSN/Y possibly more than the music overall tbh although the first 2 albums have some stunning moments (Carry On, Ohio, Guinevere, Wooden Ships). After that it was a rapid downhill slide. I do agree with many of the comments about the pros and cons of Stills and Young guitarring but they do complement each other.
    And the Crosby debut is one of the truly great Laurel Canyon albums and for me in the top 3 of any albums they released collectively or under their own names.

    • Ohio was a standalone single. As for a rapid downhill slide they didn’t do any albums as CSN or CSNY for a while. Young went on own of the greatest ever musical runs for me, and Crosby and Nash made some decent albums together, but I think Stills ran out of steam fairly quickly after Manassas.

          • Stills was particularly noted for his cocaine consumption in the early ’70s.
            Nicknamed “Ol’ Steel Nose” in the more scurrilous parts of the music press.

            ISTR a rather lacklustre appearance by him on “Later” where he was “interviewed” by Jools and sounded like someone who’d been profoundly deaf since birth.

        • I actually disagree on this one – yes some duff notes but I like Stills attack and energy and they build up a great head of steam. Has a similar chaotic west coast energy as the live 8 Miles High on Untitled.

          • I’m glad you wrote that, FF – I always feel slightly diffident when I argue about guitar playing with The Mighty Twang, I get all tongue-tied and embarrassed and look at my shoes…

            • It’s all just a matter of opinion Fitz. I just point to Rory issuing “Irish Tour 74” in the same year (and I have absolutely no doubt he’d have burned on “Southern Man”). In my ‘umble that is great playing. OOAA.

          • Close statistical analysis reveals that Stills bum guitar notes occur with almost the same frequency as Young’s strangled vocal ones. Even Stevens you might say. Stills’ excitable hanging-on-by-my-fingernails guitaring may produce a few winces, but Neil’s rather O-level English lyrics have the same effect on me.

  13. Sorry can’t leave this thread alone now. Can I give a shout out to a lesser known Stills album and his second eponymous one released in the mid 70s. It doesn’t get much love from critics but it’s the only one I still regularly go back to. His voice and musicianship was still on top form and some downright lovely songs – Changes, Love Story. Myth of Sisyphus and a great vs of Youngs New Mama.

Leave a Reply