CSNY- American Dream

American Dream

Don't let the naysayers convince you that this album is bad. On the contrary, this album from 1988 is one of the best CSNY has ever produced & as long as you aren't biased against the band's more modern pop/rock sound that they took on, you are in for a real treat. It is chock full of catchy melodic songs & has a few pleasant surprises. Neil Young starts things off with a great folk rocker, "American Dream" & contributes many more great folk/rock songs throughout the album. My favorite being "Feel Your Love" which is a catchy & upbeat mid-tempo love song. David Crosby's "Compass" is a haunting & teriffic acoustic ballad & is right up there with the groups best work. Then Crosby does a total 180 & rocks out with "Nighttime for the Generals". Probably the hardest rocking & coolest song the group has ever done. It explodes with grinding guitars, thumping bass & heavy drums and it's subject matter was never more relevant than it is today. Both of these tracks should've been singles. The one song that was released as a single, & is also my fav track on the album, is the incredibly catchy "Got It Made" which was sung to perfection by Stephen Stills. He also does another catchy mid-tempo love song called "That Girl" which has really nice harmony vocals & a harder rocking song called "Drivin thunder" which isn't bad. Last but not least, Graham Nash takes on the songs about the more serious issues. Sometimes Graham takes alot of flack for being too political or preachy but I for one don't mind. Everything he sings about on this album should be important to anyone with a conscience. "Clear Blue Skies" is a great mid-tempo song about taking care of our environment & "Shadowland", which sounds somewhat Japanese, is a really atmosheric song (complete with jungle & helicopter sound effects) about the PoW's that got left behind in Vietnam. And even if you don't care about the subject matter, these tracks are enjoyable just from a music standpoint. So to sum it all up, if you are a fan of these 4 rock legends & want to hear what they sounded like with a harder rock edge to them but with their trademark harmonies still intact, this is the album to get cuz it is fantastic from start to finish & contains no filler whatsoever. It's also my favorite & IMHO, their last truly great album.