Crosby Stills & Nash hadn’t put out a studio album since CSN&Y’s Deja Vu in 1970. Finally, the album CSN was released in 1977.
CSN is a solid album, and is a multi-platinum seller, approximately tied in sales with the original Crosby, Stills & Nash album from 1969. The biggest hit was written by Graham Nash. In the group’s authorized biography (from 1984) Nash tells the story that he and a friend were on Maui and waiting for the rain to stop so they could go somewhere. A guy flippantly said to him…”You’ve got half an hour, why don’t you just write a song before you go?” Nash took that as a challenge, and in about 20-minutes he wrote “Just A Song Before I Go”…a #7 hit single.
Other standouts from the album include “See The Changes” (Stills), “Shadow Captain” (Crosby), “Anything At All” (Crosby), “Dark Star” (Stills), “Cold Rain” (Nash), “In My Dreams” (Crosby), and “Cathedral” (Nash).
Here’s the album cover using an alternate photo from the session. According to their biography, this album was a happy time for a band sometimes in conflict.
We were living in LeMars, Iowa, and heard CSN would be in Lincoln, Nebraska for a concert in October of 1977. Going to that concert gave me a new job opportunity.
We had lived in Lincoln from 1973 to 1976 while I got my BA in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Nebraska. We didn’t want to miss the concert, and while we were back in Lincoln for the show, I visited with my former professors. The head of the department, Dr. Larry Walklin, told me about a News Director position in Beatrice, about 45 miles south of Lincoln. It was a change from being a reporter to being the director of a three-man news team. Many opportunities in radio sprang from that move. Thank you Dr. Walklin, and thank you CSN.
Framed concert poster “The Reunion” at an angle to reduce glare.
Hanging in a hallway of the Journalism building was the poster you see above. I might have appropriated it off the wall a short time before the concert that night. Rationalization: Everyone knew about the concert by then, and it was sold out anyway. If you can read the printing at the bottom of the poster (click to enlarge), you’ll see ticket prices were $8, $9, & $10.
It was a great concert. Crosby, Stills & Nash, along with some of L.A.’s top studio musicians, played a mix of CSN’s group and solo songs from 1969 to 1977. They went from a beautiful acoustic set into an electric set that rocked the arena! Below are photos I took at that concert.
We were pretty far away in the arena that night, but fans could make their way forward to take photos. They aren’t very good quality, but they certainly bring back memories.
We also got to see them in 1991 during their acoustic tour. We had recently moved back to Lincoln (for another 17 years), and the concert was less than a hour away at the Orpheum Theatre in Omaha. We lucked out on our ticket buying, and were in the first row, right in front of Stephen Stills.
The last time we saw CSN was in 2009. We had moved from Lincoln to Eugene, Oregon the year before. CSN came here, and played an outdoor concert at the Cuthbert Amphitheater. Another great show.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are second only to The Beatles in the number of songs & playlists in our music collection. There’s so much music I love that they did together and as solo artists. So glad we got to see them in concert.
CSN “The Reunion” 1977 – I was in the US Navy and stationed on a ship in Norfolk Virginia when this album was released. Several of the tracks received radio play for a short time. And then, no more.
I was able to pick up the album for $2 in a local record store, it is not a cut-out. I had access to a turntable and decent cassette deck, made myself a tape, wore that tape out. Really, really good album, especially in the middle of all that disco!