CSN (album)

For the box set of the same name, see CSN (box set).

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CSN is a Crosby, Stills & Nash album released in 1977, the fifth album by the group, the second by the trio configuration and the first without Neil Young since his entry into the band. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart; two singles taken from the album, Nash's "Just a Song Before I Go" and Stills' "Fair Game" peaked at #7 and #43 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100. It is currently the trio configuration's best selling record, outselling their debut Crosby, Stills & Nash by 200,000 copies. It has been certified for quadruple platinum sales by the RIAA.

Content

In the interregnum that followed their tour in the spring and summer of 1970 to support Déjà Vu, the band had only completed one project together, a 1974 reunion tour. David Crosby and Graham Nash had recorded three albums as a duo, with Crosby releasing a single solo album (in addition to a Byrds reunion album) and Nash a pair. Stephen Stills pursued other projects including the release of four solo albums, a short career with Manassas that yielded two albums, as well as a tour and an album with Neil Young (which itself nearly became a CSNY project).

CSN featured strong writing from all three members, the last time for seventeen years that the band would compose songs and handle vocals without major assistance from outside sources. The production of the album fits in well with the ruling aesthetic of the time as featured in other blockbusters such as the Eagles' Hotel California, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours: well-crafted, melodic songs played with precision and balance, essaying the personal travails of the authors.

Many of Stills' songs on the album echo his marital problems, with "Dark Star" returning to the Latin rhythms he had favored all the way back to his Buffalo Springfield days. Crosby continued the existential probings consistent with much of his past work, and Nash offered both a radio-ready acoustic ballad with "Just a Song Before I Go", and an elaborate set piece re-creating a vision of an LSD experience that he had in Winchester Cathedral with "Cathedral". Many tracks were sweetened with a string section, a first on a CSNY project.

The album was released for compact disc an initial time in the 1980s, then again at Ocean View Digital from the original tapes and reissued on September 20, 1994. It was remastered once more by Steve Hoffman in April 2013, for an Audio Fidelity 24kt gold disk release in the summer of 2013.

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead Vocals	Length
1.	"Shadow Captain"	David Crosby Craig Doerge	Crosby, Stills & Nash	4:32
2.	"See the Changes"	Stephen Stills	Stills with Crosby & Nash	2:56
3.	"Carried Away"	Graham Nash	Nash with Crosby	2:29
4.	"Fair Game"	Stills	Stills with Crosby & Nash	3:30
5.	"Anything at All"	Crosby	Crosby	3:01
6.	"Cathedral"	Nash	Nash with Crosby	5:15

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead Vocals	Length
1.	"Dark Star"	Stills	Stills	4:43
2.	"Just a Song Before I Go"	Graham Nash	Nash	2:12
3.	"Run from Tears"	Stills	Stills	4:09
4.	"Cold Rain"	Nash	Nash	2:32
5.	"In My Dreams"	Crosby	Crosby	5:10
6.	"I Give You Give Blind"	Stills	Stills with Crosby & Nash	3:21

Personnel

• David Crosby — vocals; rhythm guitar on "Fair Game" and "Dark Star"; acoustic guitar on "Just A Song Before I Go" and "In My Dreams"; string arrangements on "Cathedral" and "Cold Rain"
• Stephen Stills — vocals; guitars on all tracks except "Carried Away," "Cathedral" and "Cold Rain" electric piano on "Anything at All"; piano, string arrangements on "I Give You Give Blind"; timbales on "Fair Game"
• Graham Nash — vocals; piano on "Carried Away," "Cathedral," "Just A Song Before I Go," and "Cold Rain"; harmonica on "Carried Away"; string arrangements on "Cathedral" and "Cold Rain"

Additional musicians

• Joe Vitale — drums on "Carried Away," "Fair Game," "Cathedral," "Dark Star," "Run From Tears" and "I Give You Give Blind"; organ on "Shadow Captain," "Fair Game," "Anything at All," "Dark Star"; electric piano on "Carried Away," "Just A Song Before I Go"; percussion on "Cathedral," "I Give You Give Blind"; flute on "Shadow Captain"; tympani on "Cathedral"; vibraphone on "In My Dreams"
• Craig Doerge — piano on "Shadow Captain" and "Anything at All"; electric piano on "Shadow Captain" and "Dark Star"
• Mike Finnigan — organ on "Run From Tears"
• George "Chocolate" Perry — bass on "Shadow Captain," "Fair Game," "Anything at All", "Cathedral," "Dark Star," and "I Give You Give Blind"
• Jimmy Haslip — bass on "Carried Away"
• Tim Drummond — bass on "Just A Song Before I Go"
• Gerald Johnson — bass on "Run From Tears"
• Russ Kunkel — drums on "Shadow Captain" "Anything at All," "Just A Song Before I Go," and "In My Dreams"; congas on "Shadow Captain" "Dark Star"; percussion on "Just A Song Before I Go"
• Ray Barretto — congas on "Fair Game"
• Mike Lewis — string arrangements on "Cathedral," "Cold Rain," and "I Give You Give Blind"
• Joel Bernstein — string arrangements on "Cathedral"

Production

• Crosby, Stills & Nash — producers
• Howard Albert, Ron Albert — co-producers, engineers
• Steve Gursky — assistant engineer
• Joel Bernstein — photography
• Gary Burden — art direction, design
• Joe Gastwirt — digital remastering