Songs for Begineers
These quiet singer-songwriterish tunes are very much in the soft-pop mould of the Crosby, Stills & Nash ensemble, which was in one of its periodic stages of disintegration when this album was recorded. David Crosby and Jerry Garcia pitch in from song to song, adding a melodic country-ish feel throughout. Overall, this is possibly the best of Nash's solo albums, a cohesive, beautiful, heartfelt set of twee counterculture lullabies. The dewy-eyed, tender romanticism of Nash's love songs heightens the painful anguish of the political material, the anthemic "Chicago," which served as a harsh postmortem of the chaotic demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic Convention, and the simpler (and more powerful) "Military Madness," which gains considerable strength from its understated tone. This disc also features some of Jerry Garcia's best pedal steel work, particularly on elegaic tunes like "I Used To Be A King." I could go on and name all the other songs; in my opinion there isn't a weak tune in the bunch... If you're a staunch, sneering, anti-hippie type, I know -- from experience -- that there is little that I can do to convince you that this record isn't just a bunch of stoned-out, goopy-headed pablum. But those of you inclined to be more open-minded may find this disc to be quite rewarding. It's sugary, but also quite sweet.
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