4 Way Street

4 Way Street

Crosby Stills Nash & Young

Atlantic Records, 1971

REVIEW BY: Dan Smith

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 02/01/2000

Arising from the ashes of the Byrds, the Hollies, and BuffaloSpringfield, three of the best-loved harmony pop groups of the1960's, Crosby Stills Nash & Young (CSNY) was the firstAmerican supergroup. Merging the clear harmony singing of DavidCrosby and Graham Nash with Stephen Stills and Neil Young'sincisive songwriting and guitar histronics, CSNY was a virtuallycan't-miss proposition. After two outstanding studio albums, Deja Vu and Crosby, Stills & Nash (without Young), the groupreleased 4 Way Street, a double live set culled from several dates ontheir 1970 tour of the US.

The first disc of this album is an eclectic mix of songs, mostlyacoustic, and mostly obscure. 4 Way Street begins in a really odd and disconcerting way -the faded-in coda to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", perhaps theirbest-known song. While I understand that the limitations of vinylcould have made it impossible to include the entire seven-minutetrack, the exclusion is simply inexusable on this remastered CDversion. I'm not even sure why they included this snippet at all,to be honest.

But things get a lot better from there. After an acousticrun-through of "Teach Your Children", each of the players takestheir moment in the spotlight, and they all shine. Young deliverstender readings of "On The Way Home", "Cowgirl In The Sand" and,most impressively, themelancholy "Don't Let It Bring You Down"(with a hilarious deadpan intro by Young, who says the song "startsout slowly and then fizzles out entirely") from Young's excellentalbum After The Gold Rush.

Crosby is absolutely perfect in a slowed-down "Triad", thehomage to menage a trois that was left off The Notorious Byrd Brothers (a decision which probably ledto Crosby's departure from that group) and then "The Lee Shore",another vintage seascape.