Crosby, Stills & Nash is one of those truly top-shelf rock classics that I plan to enjoy until death. It’s wooden music, whatever David Crosby really meant with that description. But it fits…. solid and timeless, natural and beautiful. Still makes me want to “let my freak flag fly”.

It was the late 1960s – an interesting and volatile chapter of popular music if there ever was one. All three guys came from successful bands – Stills was the most talented member of Buffalo Springfield; Nash was the dominant voice of British Invasion hit factory The Hollies; and Crosby was a founder of America’s top folk-rock group The Byrds. And, following an eye-opening impromptu jam session in LA, all three guys promptly chose to divorce their current band mates and form CSN. What soon followed was an album of monumental proportions – one of those generation-defining moments for boomers like me.

The legendary opening song, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, is seven-plus minutes of masterful, intricate, original rock. It’s difficult to think of a song I love more. Stills must have had this magnum opus locked away, just waiting for the perfect supporting cast. With heavenly harmonies, superb musicianship, and several distinctive movements, the song exploded the horizons of what long-haired young artists were capable of. And thanks go also to Judy Collins who, inexplicably, inspired this masterpiece.

Other album favorites include Wooden Ships, Guinnevere, Long time Gone, 49 Bye-Byes……actually, I love every note of every song. It just couldn’t be better. Fortunately, it could, however, be more or less equaled with the follow-up album Déjà vu. The CSN dream team did not need the addition of Neil Young, but he certainly didn’t dilute the talent pool. A double live set, 4 Way Street, followed, but that was pretty much the end of the group. Solo careers loomed ahead.

If ever there was a uniquely special time in popular musical history, I’d seriously consider the impact made by CSN with this album and, especially, with Suite: Judy Blue Eyes. They raised the bar dizzying high for singing and songwriting. Very few acts that followed were so accomplished. Crosby, Stills & Nash is not just classic rock – it IS the rock.   GD