David Crosby- If I could only remember my name

If I could Only remember my name

This is a longtime favorite of mine, and nothing is likely to dislodge it.
If every speck of weed were to disappear from the planet tomorrow, it would still be possible to get stoned just from this CD. (Strictly speaking, you wouldn't even have to listen to it; you could pick up a contact high just from holding it in your hand.)
But contrary to the previous beliefs of some of my generation, it's not actually necessary to use chemical aids to achieve this sort of high. The high Crosby achieves on this album is the real thing: hauntingly beautiful artistry that includes but transcends his own individual contribution, producing a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This is some of Crosby's best music, and it's not an accident that so many other names appear in the liner notes.
For this album reads like a Who's-Who of the late '60s/early '70s California music scene: Graham Nash, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and an array of other contributors we might as well call the Grateful Airplane. And everybody pitches in _something_ without which the album wouldn't be what it is.
But the center of it all is Crosby and his own unique musical vision. And when he's at his best -- as he is here -- his songwriting is so good he sometimes doesn't need to bother with words at all (as, e.g., on "Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)"). If the first thirty seconds of "Tamalpais High (At About Three)" doesn't leave you stunned and transfixed, then you and I aren't from the same home planet -- and I don't especially want to visit yours.
(The stuff _with_ words is still timely as well -- unfortunately, because some of it was recorded in the hope of making itself irrelevant and unnecessary. "I wonder who they are / The men who really run this land / And I wonder why they run it / With such a thoughtless hand . . . " At the time, this stuff was a call to action and a cry for change. Now, thirty years on, you may find yourself shaking your head and wondering whether anything has changed after all.)
Longtime Crosby fans probably already have this CD; if not, let me just mention that the CD was remastered from the original analog recordings by the original engineer, Stephen Barncard, who did it right both times. And you'll probably remember all the cool photos (many of them by Henry Diltz); they're included.
New listeners: if you like CPR, you'll probably like this stuff too. Crosby's keen musical intelligence is sometimes less than obvious because of his understated approach, but don't underestimate it; there are few who can do it better. Terms like "groovy" and "far out" are easy to ridicule owing to their overuse, but this album is what they're supposed to mean.