RIP David Crosby

I should point out Crosby was a founding member of the Byrds and performed on many of their best-known tracks. He didn't do much songwriting for them, though, and while the Byrds' instrumental sound was very much defined by Roger McGuinn and his 12-string lead guitar jangling, Crosby was always there holding down the fort on rhythm guitar and, of course, on the signature ethereal vocals of the group.

Eight miles high.
 
“I was in London, at that time, when they were making Sgt. Pepper,” Crosby tells Alyce Faye. “When I got there, they didn’t really talk to me that much. They just dragged me out to the middle of the studio and sat me down on a stool. In Abbey Road, they had these speakers that looked like coffins. They were about eight feet tall, and they were on rollers. They rolled two of these things up, one on either side of me, and then they all left the room.”

Crosby, who had just released the psychedelia-infused Younger Than Yesterday with the Byrds a few months before, then became one of the first outsiders to experience the episodic wonder of “A Day in the Life.”

He still sounds amazed.

“They had just finished it,” Crosby adds. “By the time they got to that last piano chord, I was just a dish rag. I was completely, absolutely stumped. I didn’t know you could do that"
 
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I know suite Judy blue eyes is the go to CSNY song for most people but I always really liked this instrumental.




featuring Crosby on vocals, my dad just informed me its Nash on lead vocals, but I still like the tune.
 
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I should point out Crosby was a founding member of the Byrds and performed on many of their best-known tracks. He didn't do much songwriting for them, though, and while the Byrds' instrumental sound was very much defined by Roger McGuinn and his 12-string lead guitar jangling, Crosby was always there holding down the fort on rhythm guitar and, of course, on the signature ethereal vocals of the group.

Eight miles high.

He left The Byrds in late 1967 two years after the release of Mr. Tambourine Man. The only member of the Byrds to play on the song was Roger McGuinn. Producer Terry Melcher,the son of Doris Day,used The Wrecking Crew on the single. Hal Blaine on drums,Leon Russell on piano along with Larry Knechtel and Jerry Cole.
 
“I was in London, at that time, when they were making Sgt. Pepper,” Crosby tells Alyce Faye. “When I got there, they didn’t really talk to me that much. They just dragged me out to the middle of the studio and sat me down on a stool. In Abbey Road, they had these speakers that looked like coffins. They were about eight feet tall, and they were on rollers. They rolled two of these things up, one on either side of me, and then they all left the room.”

Crosby, who had just released the psychedelia-infused Younger Than Yesterday with the Byrds a few months before, then became one of the first outsiders to experience the episodic wonder of “A Day in the Life.”

He still sounds amazed.

“They had just finished it,” Crosby adds. “By the time they got to that last piano chord, I was just a dish rag. I was completely, absolutely stumped. I didn’t know you could do that"

Hope he got to the new Sleep Token tracks before he passed. 81 years old seems “young” these days but this man 150 years worth of life old. RIP.
 
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Saw CSN several times including a great show at Hilton in the late '80, I think (80s were kind of a blur). Anyone else remember that show and what year they came to Ames?




 
RIP David Crosby, absolutely fascinating individual! I saw a documentary named Echo in the Canyon several years ago, which chronicles collaboration in early rock. Crosby & Stephen Stills are featured and Neil Young is frequently shown. With all the egos, it's amazing CSN&Y ever made an album. Plus whenever Crosby or Stills would bring a girlfriend around, Graham Nash would steal them (Rita Coolidge, Joni Mitchell, etc.).

I passed my love of CSN&Y to my sons, now 29 & 26, and we have wonderful discussions about who is the most talented member. I'm the Neil Young guy, though there are certainly cases to be made for Crosby & Stills. Sad day!
 
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Saw CSN several times including a great show at Hilton in the late '80, I think (80s were kind of a blur). Anyone else remember that show and what year they came to Ames?





Looks like they played at Hilton in November 1982. That was the Daylight Again tour, when “Wasted On The Way” and “Southern Cross” were hits.

Then Stephens Auditorium in March 1994. That set list wasn’t a whole lot different from 1982 - a few changes there.
 

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