David Crosby: If I Could Only Remember My Name CD Track Listing

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David Crosby If I Could Only Remember My Name (1971)
Originally Released February 22, 1971\nCD Edition Released 1990 ??\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: David Crosby's debut solo album, If I Could Only Remember My Name is a one-shot wonder of dreamy but ominous California ambience. The songs range from brief snapshots of inspiration (the angelic chorale-vocal showcase on "Orleans" and the a cappella closer, "I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here") to the full-blown, rambling western epic "Cowboy Movie," and there are absolutely no false notes struck or missteps taken. No one before or since has gotten as much mileage out of a wordless vocal as Crosby does on "Tamalpais High (At About 3)" and "Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)," and because the music is so relaxed, each song turns into its own panoramic vista. Those who don't go for trippy Aquarian sentiment, however, may be slightly put off by the obscure, cosmic storytelling of the gorgeous "Laughing" or the ambiguous (but pointed) social questioning of "What Are Their Names," but in actuality it is an incredibly focused album. Even when a song as pretty as "Traction in the Rain" shimmers with its picked guitars and autoharp, the album is coated in a distinct, persistent menace that is impossible to shake. It is a shame that Crosby would continue to descend throughout the remainder of the decade and the beginning of the next into aimless drug addiction, and that he would not issue another solo album until 18 years later. As it is, If I Could Only Remember My Name is a shambolic masterpiece, meandering but transcendentally so, full of frayed threads. Not only is it among the finest splinter albums out of the CSNY diaspora, it is one of the defining moments of hungover spirituality from the era. -- Stanton Swihart\n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review\nThanks to his much-publicized personal travails, it's easy to overlook the multiple talents that originally made Crosby a star in his days with The Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash. This, his first solo effort, was recorded in 1971 (following Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's Deja Vu) and contains some of his most impressive vocal and songwriting work, including the haunting "Laughing," the mantra-like "Music Is Love," and the extended, impressionistic "Cowboy Movie." With guest appearances by such famous friends as Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Grace Slick, and Jerry Garcia, it's a fascinating chapter in an always-interesting career that's all too often been overshadowed by headlines. --Scott Schinder\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nCrosby's best work . . ., October 29, 2001\nReviewer: John S. Ryan "Scott Ryan" (Silver Lake, OH)\n. . . though his recent stuff with CPR comes darned close. But this is a longtime favorite of mine, and nothing is likely to dislodge it.\nIf 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.)\n\nBut 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.\n\nFor 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.\n\nBut 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.\n\n(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.)\n\nLongtime 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.\n\nNew 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.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nIncomparable--magnificent--unmatched, December 23, 2001\nReviewer: Azalaksh (New Brighton, MN, United States)\nFor almost 30 years now, "If I Could Only Remember My Name" has been my constant companion, first on vinyl, then on cassette, then on cd. I thank the Force and all the gods for David Crosby, that he didn't manage to succeed in offing himself, and had the time and energy to give our poor planet some of the most beautifully compellingly hauntingly mesmerizing music ever recorded. Just finished reading his book "Stand and Be Counted", and he hasn't lost one iota of the passion he showed as a younger man. As a sometime guitar-player I am still transfixed by the guitar work on this album, and trying to figure out by ear some of David's and Joni's alternate tunings has often occupied my time. It's an even greater thrill to pick out the voices of his PERRO (Google Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra if you don't know who this is) compadres who also spent a lot of time on my phonograph, who today spend time on my cd-player. Nowadays, without a chemical or herbal assist, his early music still transports me to another plane, and the satisfaction, gratification and serenity I feel as the last chords fade cannot be duplicated by the music of any other human on this planet. I thought I'd seen someone who seemed at last to know the truth, and they call him David Crosby.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nThe best starting point ?, June 10, 2000\nReviewer: nicjaytee (London)\nFew artists generate such "love:hate" press as David Crosby - reactions based as much on his extreme personality & lifestyle as his often erratic musical output. But... the truth is that, in his early work at least, he was intimately involved in a number of records that pushed the boundaries of "folk-pop" into totally new areas.\nFrom early 1966 to late 1967 his hand is overtly there as writer or co-writer throughout a series of highly innovative Byrds tracks including: "Eight Miles High" & "I See You" (from "Fifth Dimension"); "Why", "Renaissance Fair", "Everybody's Been Burned", "Lady Friend" & "It Happens Each Day" (from the remastered version of "Younger Than Yesterday"); and, "Draft Morning", "Tribal Gathering", "Dolphin's Smile" & "Triad" (from the remastered version of "The Notorious Byrd Brothers"). Between 1968 and 1969 he recorded two further beautifully atmospheric minor key ballads with Crosby, Stills & Nash - "Guinnevere" & "The Lee Shore" (from "Crosby, Stills & Nash" and "Carry On") - and, with "If I Could Only Remember My Name", released in 1971, he completed a five year tour-de-force of creativity with a further series of superbly arranged and delivered songs including: "Tamalpais High", "Laughing", "Traction In The Rain", "Song With No Words" & "Orleans".\n\nPut that lot together (as someone really should) and you have a full CD's worth of highly distinctive music that fully justifies a major reputation. In the meantime the curious should start with "If I Could Only Remember My Name": the best, most satisfyingly complete example of why David Crosby's early career deserves serious attention.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nA Sterling Collaboration!, March 29, 1999\nReviewer: A music fan\nDue to the success of CSN (and Y), David Crosby was given carte blanche to produce his first full solo effort. He had the chance to tap on the supportive efforts of the cream of the San Fransisco's best (often referred to a variety of names: David and the Dorks, Jerry and the Jerks and ultimately the Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestrs - PERRO). Eventually this work was culled and polished from a series of in-studio jams (maybe someday someone will release more of these tapes!). Sure its self indulgent - but if it work, which it does, then who cares. This is a classic album. Anyone who cares about this work owes it to themselves to check our Stephen Barncard's (the engineer of this work) web site: www.barncard.com\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nAbsolutely the best stoned listening album of the early 70s, October 11, 1998\nReviewer: A music fan\nWithout a doubt this album epitomizes the easy and free-willed age of the late 60s and early 70s. Probably the best hippie-esque Gregorian chants ever recorded. A must have.\n\nHalf.com Details \nContributing artists: Graham Nash, Jerry Garcia, Joni Mitchell, Mickey Hart, Neil Young \nProducer: David Crosby \n\nAlbum Notes\nPersonnel: David Crosby (vocals, guitar); Jerry Garcia (guitar, pedal steel guitar); Graham Nash (guitar, piano, background vocals); Neil Young (guitar, vibraphone, bass instrument, congas, background vocals); Jorma Kaukonen, Paul Kantner (guitar); Laura Allen (autoharp); Gregg Rolie (piano); Jack Casady, Phil Lesh (bass instrument); Michael Shrieve, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann (drums, percussion); David Frieberg, Grace Slick, Joni Mitchell (background vocals).\n\nRecording information: Wally Heider Studio, San Francisco, California.\n\nFor his highly anticipated 1971 solo debut, David Crosby recorded a unique, eclectic, and willfully expansive album. The cream of early-70s California rock is assembled here, with the various celebrities joining together in an organic, collective approach that's embodied in the opener, the free-spirited jam of "Music Is Love." Throughout the record, Crosby moves from the sauntering Western shuffle of "Cowboy Movie" to the wondrously spiritual harmonies of "Tamalpais High (At About 3)" and, eventually, the hallowed chants of "I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here."\nMusically the album has an exploratory, almost jazzy feel, with its bright production cloaking the listener in acoustic strains and lush, layered harmonies. These qualities perfectly evoke the relaxed, hazy California lifestyle of the time. For all its dreaminess though, IF I COULD ONLY REMEMBER MY NAME rarely missteps, and the haunting melancholy of songs like "Laughing" and "Orleans" give the record a depth and durability that surpasses other recordings of the time. The result is an excellent, highly underrated album.\n\nIndustry Reviews\nRanked #46 in NME's list of 'The Greatest Albums of the '70s.'\nNew Musical Express (09/18/1993)
This folk cd contains 9 tracks and runs 37min 54sec.
Freedb: 6e08e009

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