# CSN&Y De Javu album, Underrated? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 12, 2015, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/csn-y-de-javu-album-underrated/722331 "2015-06-12T06:16:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/csn-y-de-javu-album-underrated/722331/41 "2015-06-13T03:07:43Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > The 1975 album, called just CSN (and IIRC was a photograph sticker of them on Crosby’s boat) is, to me, their masterpiece. I’ve seen them live like 30 times, and always like when they play something off of that album. It’s a solid second for me, with the first being sublime. But nitpick we must: it was released in 1977. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/csn-y-de-javu-album-underrated/722331/42 "2015-06-14T09:37:09Z")
> [@Dibbs](#): > > I think the album is about as much of a masterpiece as an album can get Any particular songs you disagree with my assessments of? > [@](#): > > and, if I’m not mistaken, I think the brilliant, beautiful and talented Joni Mitchell had a lot to do with it being so good (if not from direct input, then at least inspiration, as she was romantically pursued by some of the dudes in the group). Inspiration is nice, but it’s the implementation that counts. But since you bring up her name, she wrote one song on the album, “Woodstock.” It’s a generally OK song, but it’s saddled with that phrase “get back to the land” in the second line, that was already a tired joke by 1975, if not earlier. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/csn-y-de-javu-album-underrated/722331/43 "2015-06-14T09:51:05Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > The 1975 album, called just CSN (and IIRC was a photograph sticker of them on Crosby’s boat) is, to me, their masterpiece. I’ve seen them live like 30 times, and always like when they play something off of that album. “Just A Song Before I Go” was the song on that album that got selected for airplay. For those of us who’ve never bothered with the rest of the album, how does this song stack up against it? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/csn-y-de-javu-album-underrated/722331/44 "2015-06-14T10:48:10Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Tell me you’re joking Dibbs.If you asked some random guy on the street to name a CSN&Y song there’s a 90% chance the song they name will be on this album. On the basis of “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” alone, I’d have to say that’s a major overstatement. And on the whole, I’d say their most well-remembered songs are spread pretty evenly over _Crosby, Stills, & Nash_ (Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, Helplessly Hoping, Marrakesh Express, Wooden Ships), _Deja Vu_ (Carry On, Teach Your Children, Our House, Woodstock), and _4-Way Street_ (Ohio, Chicago, Love the One You’re With, the CSNY version of Cowgirl in the Sand). Each of the three albums has great songs, each of the albums has clunkers, and stuff that’s in between. But whichever songs you feel are the standouts, you can put together one hell of a compilation CD from the best songs of the three albums. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/csn-y-de-javu-album-underrated/722331/45 "2015-06-14T15:06:57Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > “Just A Song Before I Go” was the song on that album that got selected for airplay. For those of us who’ve never bothered with the rest of the album, how does this song stack up against it? Pretty much the feel of the album but not the best song on it. That would either be “Shadow Captain” or maybe “Dark Star.” For underestimated albums, I’d pick _Daylight Again_, if only for the wonderful “Southern Cross.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/csn-y-de-javu-album-underrated/722331/46 "2015-06-14T16:12:33Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > “Just A Song Before I Go” was the song on that album that got selected for airplay. For those of us who’ve never bothered with the rest of the album, how does this song stack up against it? Almost exactly the way that “Our House” and “Teach Your Children” resemble the rest of Deja Vu. Pretty much not at all. > [@silenus](#): > > Pretty much the feel of the album but not the best song on it. That would either be “Shadow Captain” or maybe “Dark Star.” Both are decent songs, but “In My Dreams” is maybe the best Crosby CSN song, just as “Cathedral” is unquestionably Nash’s masterpiece. And I think “I Give You Give Blind” blows away “Dark Star.” Nuts, now I have to go listen to the album again. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/csn-y-de-javu-album-underrated/722331/47 "2015-06-14T16:17:23Z")
I have it playing in the background as I type. I stand by my arbitrary opinions. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/csn-y-de-javu-album-underrated/722331/48 "2015-06-14T21:36:55Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > It’s a solid second for me, with the first being sublime. But nitpick we must: it was released in 1977. Thanks! 1977 was a terrific year for music. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Nuts, now I have to go listen to the album again. > [@silenus](#): > > I have it playing in the background as I type. I stand by my arbitrary opinions. 😉 I’m playing it too. “Just beneath the surface of the mud, there’s more mud here. Suprise _snicker_” - David Crosby (“anything at all”) “Sheer profundity” - David Crosby (from 4-way street. Before/after Triad?) ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/csn-y-de-javu-album-underrated/722331/49 "2015-06-14T23:38:51Z")
No, it’s overrated. Schmaltzy hippie-pop with inane lyrics, lazy harmonizing, and pedestrian guitar playing is not my cup of lukewarm chamomile. Cf. Dreadful Grate. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/csn-y-de-javu-album-underrated/722331/50 "2015-06-15T00:09:25Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Almost exactly the way that “Our House” and “Teach Your Children” resemble the rest of Deja Vu. Pretty much not at all. True, but I would say about _Deja Vu_ that there are both better and worse songs on it than those two, in more or less equal measure, which would at least give someone of similar tastes to mine something to go on. Care to say anything analogous about CSN? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/csn-y-de-javu-album-underrated/722331/51 "2015-06-15T00:26:12Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > True, but I would say about _Deja Vu_ that there are both better and worse songs on it than those two, in more or less equal measure, which would at least give someone of similar tastes to mine something to go on. Care to say anything analogous about CSN? My opinion is that Nash’s songs on Deja Vu belong to a totally different album and have nothing to say about any of the other songs. They aren’t better or worse in the same way that two Santana songs aren’t better or worse. And that’s my opinion about “Just a Song…” So I don’t think that’s helpful. Those three songs obviously go together. “Cathedral” is from another planet, though one I care much more about. The rest of the album is quite good throughout and nothing like those songs. This makes me think. Nash’s songs were often the singles. People buying the singles therefore didn’t experience the album and people buying the album would be estranged from the singles. Of all the 10,000 reasons for CSN falling apart, this might be low on the list but it’s indicative of the way that having three disparate wholes trying to coalesce - and then needing occasionally to bring in a fourth, more distant whole - was doomed to failure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/csn-y-de-javu-album-underrated/722331.md?page=2)