The Second Coming - Crosby, Stills and Nash Discography (1967-1980)

Another discography for The Second Coming approaches! This time, we're focusing on the supergroup Crosby, Stills and Nash... but no Neil Young, sadly. The idea of the supergroup remaining a trio and Neil not joining permanently (or at least semi-permanently) was inspired from The Reconstructor's take on Neil Young and Crazy Horse's second album that wasn't, as well as his original take on Neil's discography of the 1970s. (Since then, he's made three new albums, and I bet that one day, he'll post a re-revised discography of Shakey in the 70s... if Archives Vol. 3 ever comes out, given Neil's fickleness.) Consider this post the other side of the coin, if you will, as well as what might have happened if CSN had put out more albums in spite of their clashing egos.

(And for those who are wondering, yes, solo projects still happen, but that could be another post altogether. Maybe.)

Mind Gardens (July 3, 1967)

Side A (18:39)

1. For What It's Worth - 2:40 (Buffalo Springfield)

2. Stop Right There - 2:28 (Evolution)

3. Renaissance Fair - 1:51 (Younger Than Yesterday)

4. On a Carousel - 3:07 (Reflections)

5. Pretty Girl Why - 2:24 (Last Time Around)

6. Everybody's Been Burned - 3:05 (Younger Than Yesterday)

7. Lullaby to Tim - 3:04 (Evolution)

Side B (18:01)

8. Mind Gardens - 3:28 (Younger Than Yesterday)

9. Everydays - 2:38 (Buffalo Springfield Again)

10. Carrie Anne - 2:55 (Reflections)

11. Bluebird - 9:00 (Buffalo Springfield compilation album)

Originally posted back in March 2020, this is one of two albums that answer the question of what might have happened had Crosby, Stills and Nash formed earlier. Tensions break out in the Byrds and the Hollies earlier than OTL, and Buffalo Springfield barely holds together to record their only album, breaking up before it even comes out. Originally, "Pretty Girl Why" was track three, but I pushed it back as I didn't want an extensive gap between two Stephen Stills songs. The release of this album would feel rather timely for the summer of love, right up there with the Beatles' Merseyside and the Beach Boys' Smile.

Stampede (March 11, 1968)

Side A (16:08)

1. Lady Friend - 2:36 (The Original Singles: 1967-1969, Volume 2)

2. Special Care - 3:30 (Last Time Around)

3. Maker - 2:52 (Butterfly)

4. Four Days Gone - 2:53 (Last Time Around)

5. Postcard - 2:17 (Butterfly)

6. Dolphin's Smile - 2:00 (The Notorious Byrd Brothers)

Side B (15:26)

7. Hung Upside Down - 3:24 (Buffalo Springfield Again)

8. King Midas in Reverse - 3:07 (Reflections)

9. Rock and Roll Woman - 2:44 (Buffalo Springfield Again)

10. Triad - 3:29 (The Notorious Byrd Brothers)

11. Butterfly - 2:42 (Butterfly)

The other pre-1969 album by Crosby, Stills and Nash; I left the track listing as is from the original post. By then, the trio has polished up their sound enough to prepare for a one-two punch of great albums...

Crosby, Stills & Nash (May 29, 1969)

Side A (20:25)

1. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes - 7:25

2. Marrakesh Express - 2:39

3. Guinnevere - 4:40

4. You Don't Have to Cry - 2:45

5. Pre-Road Downs - 2:56

Side B (20:22)

6. Wooden Ships - 5:29

7. Lady of the Island - 2:39

8. Helplessly Hoping - 2:41

9. Long Time Gone - 4:17

10. 49 Bye-Byes - 5:16

Now the group's third album, and their first under Apple Records, it is their most successful up to this point. The track listing just simply can't be tampered with in any way.

Déjà Vu (March 11, 1970)

Side A (19:16)

1. Carry On - 4:26

2. Teach Your Children - 2:53

3. Almost Cut My Hair - 4:31

4. Horses Through a Rainstorm - 3:32 (outtake)

5. Woodstock - 3:54

Side B (17:41)

6. Déjà Vu - 4:12

7. Our House - 2:59

8. 4 + 20 - 2:06

9. The Lee Shore - 6:03 (outtake)

10. Everybody I Love You - 2:21

Neil Young's two songs, "Helpless" and "Country Girl", ended up being moved to After the Gold Rush along with the non-album track "Ohio". So instead, I replaced them with a track each from Nash ("Horses Through a Rainstorm") and Crosby ("The Lee Shore"), both of which can be found on disc three of the 50th anniversary edition. Overall, it feels more balanced as far as lead vocals are concerned, although it does make you wonder why Stills got four vocals while the others got two each. In addition to the altered track listing, I changed up the cover image to show one that features the trio during that time period.

3-Way Street (April 7, 1971)

Side A (21:08)

1. Love the One You're With - 3:04 (Stephen Stills)

2. Music is Love - 3:16 (If I Could Only Remember My Name)

3. Right Between the Eyes - 2:20 (4 Way Street)

4. We Are Not Helpless - 4:20 (Stephen Stills)

5. I Used to Be a King - 4:45 (Songs for Beginners)

6. Laughing - 3:23 (4 Way Street)

Side B (20:29)

7. Sit Yourself Down - 3:05 (Stephen Stills)

8. Man in the Mirror - 2:22 (CSN box set)

9. Traction in the Rain - 3:40 (If I Could Only Remember My Name)

10. Black Queen - 5:26 (Stephen Stills)*

11. Chicago (We Can Change the World) - 3:55 (Songs for Beginners)*

12. Find the Cost of Freedom - 2:01 (So Far)

Even when they weren't working as a group, Crosby, Stills and Nash still seemed to find the time to collaborate on each others' solo projects, most notably "Love the One You're With", which could've been a great single by the trio. Graham Nash's "Right Between the Eyes" was performed by CSNY for the live album 4 Way Street, but it remained unreleased in studio form until 2009's Reflections. Likewise, I'd chosen to use the live versions of "Laughing" from 4 Way Street and "Man in the Mirror" from the CSN box set from 1991, both with the audience noises removed, for variety's sake.

I know that there are live versions of "Black Queen" and "Chicago" from 4 Way Street, but they contain crowd noises during the performance, so I resorted to using the studio versions instead. Ideally, I'd like to use the vocals from the live versions with the instrumentation of the studio version to make a faux-CSN studio performance. But despite that issue, I really do like the configuration of this album, possibly one of my favorites I've ever done, and it almost sounds like it was meant to be. Try it out!

So Far (August 20, 1973)

Side A (21:06)

1. Blackbird - 2:33 (CSN box set)

2. Everybody's Talkin' - 3:14 (Crosby, Stills & Nash, 2006 bonus track)

3. How Have You Been - 3:44 (Déjà Vu: 50th Anniversary, demo)

4. Question Why - 2:02 (Déjà Vu: 50th Anniversary, demo)

5. Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves) - 3:14 (Déjà Vu: 50th Anniversary, demo)

6. Every Day We Live - 3:18 (Déjà Vu: 50th Anniversary, outtake)

7. Sleep Song - 3:01 (Déjà Vu: 50th Anniversary, demo)

Side B (20:51)

8. What Are Their Names - 4:09 (If I Could Only Remember My Name)

9. Better Days - 3:47 (Songs for Beginners)

10. Go Back Home - 5:54 (Stephen Stills)

11. Orléans - 1:56 (If I Could Only Remember My Name)

12. I’d Swear There Was Somebody Here - 1:19 (If I Could Only Remember My Name)

13. Urge for Going - 3:46 (CSN box set)

A compilation of outtakes recorded between 1969 and 1971 that didn't make the previous three albums. Not much to say other than it serves as a stop-gap release before their next studio album. Speaking of which...

As I Come of Age (September 20, 1974)

Side A (19:13)

1. See the Changes - 2:44 (CSN box set)

2. Prison Song - 3:10 (Wild Tales)*

3. Tamalpais High - 3:29 (If I Could Only Remember My Name)

4. My Angel - 2:25 (Stills)*

5. Little Blind Fish - 2:37 (unreleased)

6. And So It Goes - 4:48 (Wild Tales)

Side B (19:06)

7. First Things First - 2:10 (Stills)

8. Military Madness - 2:50 (Songs for Beginners)*

9. As I Come of Age - 2:33 (Stills)

10. Homeward Through the Haze - 4:20 (CSN box set)

11. Grave Concern - 2:45 (Wild Tales)*

12. Myth of Sisyphus - 4:28 (Stills)*

The mythical Human Highway album, only it's performed by a trio instead. "Prison Song", "My Angel", "Military Madness" (let's assume it was a 1971 outtake revisited for the sessions; likewise with "Tamalpais High"), "Grave Concern" and "Myth of Sisyphus" were all performed by CSNY during the Doom Tour of 1974, so like I suggested with a couple of tracks on 3-Way Street, see if you can take the backing music of the studio tracks and mix them with the live vocals to make a faux full group performance in the studio. It's a pretty similar method that soniclovenoize used for his revisit of Human Highway.

Wind on the Water (June 25, 1976)

Side A (19:37)

1. Carry Me - 3:35 (Wind on the Water)*

2. Make Love to You - 5:10 (Long May You Run)

3. Time After Time - 2:32 (Whistling Down the Wire)*

4. Fieldworker - 2:47 (Wind on the Water)*

5. To the Last Whale - 5:33 (Wind on the Water)

Side B (20:10)

6. J.B.'s Blues - 2:41 (Whistling Down the Wire)

7. Black Coral - 4:26 (Carry On)

8. Taken at All - 2:54 (CSN box set)

9. Foolish Man - 4:29 (Whistling Down the Wire)

10. Guardian Angel - 5:40 (Long May You Run)

Based upon the third and final attempt at bringing Human Highway to record, Wind on the Water takes seven songs by Crosby and Nash that were auditioned for the project, as well as three of Stills' songs from Long May You Run to complete the transition to their "yacht rock" years. "Carry Me", "Time After Time" and "Fieldworker" were all performed live in 1974, but again, imagine the studio tracks with the live vocals each, and tracks like "To the Last Whale" and "Guardian Angel" were also tried out at the end of 1974, making them honorary CSN tracks.

Yacht Folks (June 17, 1977)

Side A (22:28)

1. Shadow Captain - 4:32

2. 12/8 Blues (All the Same) - 3:41 (Long May You Run)

3. Carried Away - 2:29

4. Fair Game - 3:30

5. Anything at All - 3:01

6. Cathedral - 5:15

Side B (22:07)

7. Dark Star - 4:43

8. Just a Song Before I Go - 2:12

9. Run from Tears - 4:09

10. Cold Rain - 2:32

11. In My Dreams - 5:10

12. I Give You Give Blind - 3:21

Besides replacing "See the Changes" (already featured on As I Come of Age) with the last remaining Stephen Stills track from Long May You Run, nothing about Yacht Folks has changed apart from the album title. From this point onward, albums are released on a far more sporadic basis.

Thoroughfare Gap (July 11, 1980)

Side A (20:30)

1. Drive My Car (Needed to Ride) - 3:50 (CSN box set)

2. Tomorrow is Another Day - 4:05 (Daylight Again)

3. Barrel of Pain (Half-Life) - 4:44 (CSN box set)

4. Thoroughfare Gap - 3:31 (Thoroughfare Gap)

5. Out on the Island - 4:20 (Earth & Sky)

Side B (21:22)

6. Feel Your Love (Tears in the Light) - 4:28 (Daylight Again)

7. Love Has Come - 3:27 (Earth & Sky)

8. Distances - 3:36 (Oh Yes I Can)

9. Helicopter Song - 2:47 (Earth & Sky)

10. Dear Mr. Fantasy - 7:04 (CSN box set)

Nothing's really changed about this album since it was first written about in November 2020. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I gave the opening track "Drive My Car" the subtitle "Needed to Ride" to avoid confusion with the Beatles song of the same name. Likewise, I did so with "Feel Your Love" as "Tears in the Light" so it wouldn't be confused for the song of the same name on American Dream.

Speaking of which, this is where I'll be stopping (for now) with the CSN album discography, barring 1982's Daylight Again, which is once again unchanged from OTL, as I don't know where to go next with them after said album. After that, in OTL, they put out four more albums between 1988 and 1999, two of which were with Neil Young, but they couldn't live up to the albums that had come out before, especially not Crosby, Stills & Nash and Déjà Vu. Much of this has to do with ego clashes and trying to sound "hip" with modern audiences, and it comes across as sad.

And what's the deciding factor in where to take the group next? David Crosby. In the 1980s, Crosby was in the middle of a crack addiction that nearly cost him his life and led to his arrest, eventually leading him to sober up as a promise to Neil Young, his ultimatum for rejoining the group to record American Dream (and we all know how well that went).

So the question now is, where should I go with Crosby, Stills and Nash after Daylight Again? Either they carry on into the 90s and break up in 2016 (the likely cut off date as they've not performed as a group since 2015), or Crosby dies in the 1980s due to his drug problem and Stills and Nash break up, unwilling to continue as a duo. No matter what, the trio would've broken up anyway as Crosby is known for being extremely difficult to work with, even without the drugs, and not to mention his rather vocal opinions on certain things. It'll be interesting to hear what you have to say about this matter at hand.