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Crosby and Stills, guitar playing

ElectroVibe

ElectroVibe

Inactive
Mar 2, 2013
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#1
I wasn't going to make this into a poll because I'm sure that Stills would win hands down. We all know how great an instrumentalist he is. It's like taking a music school post graduate scholar, and dropping him into a band.

But I really almost prefer hearing Crosby play more. He had such a unique style, as well as several tunings. But I also know that he was probably better at certain styles, and perhaps shined more on his own compositions.

So, does anyone else feel the same way?

Honorable mention: Neil Young
Other: Graham Nash
 
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#2
Crosby was the meat, Stills was the sauce, Nash was the glass of fine wine. And they all hated Young for being the best writer, while seeming to expend no effort to achieve this. Crosby gets no credit for being the generational voice hidden in the middle of the stack. SO freakin' hard to cop his parts, and Almost Cut My Hair is just a remarkable piece of music.
 
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#3
Lowandfat said:
Crosby was the meat, Stills was the sauce, Nash was the glass of fine wine. And they all hated Young for being the best writer, while seeming to expend no effort to achieve this. Crosby gets no credit for being the generational voice hidden in the middle of the stack. SO freakin' hard to cop his parts, and Almost Cut My Hair is just a remarkable piece of music.
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I'll have to listen to that one again.
 
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#5
Then there's this version.
David was unquestionably the best singer of the 4. Could any of the others do what he does at 4:50? With that kind of emotion and power? Sorry, you've touched a nerve here, lol. Young could get that kind of raw wound across with his guitar, but damn. Crosby is just a whole 'nother level.


 
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#7
A90A084B-4147-40E3-95AB-C5FE8E7EA7BE.jpeg
 
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#9
Basically agree with your assessment on their guitar playing, Crosby being more unique and wonderful in that way, Stills being better as an overall musician. They PERFECTLY complemented each other.

I've often mentioned on other forums that one of the best shows I've ever seen was Croz solo at home in Santa Barbara CA in the early 90s. Completely mesmerizing, for two hours, 90% by himself (except toward the end). For all his faults, and there are many, that night he was the ultimate pro.
 
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#11
Lowandfat said:
Crosby was the meat, Stills was the sauce, Nash was the glass of fine wine. And they all hated Young for being the best writer, while seeming to expend no effort to achieve this. Crosby gets no credit for being the generational voice hidden in the middle of the stack. SO freakin' hard to cop his parts, and Almost Cut My Hair is just a remarkable piece of music.
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Reading this post I had Almost Cut My Hair in my head long before I got to the end of the post.
 
#12
CSN was a situation where the whole was better than the parts. I never liked any of them solo as well as I liked the trio. I did own and listen to Stills and Stills II a lot, and I also liked Manassas a lot. I view Young’s career as separate and brilliant in its own right. His career with CSN was so short and rocky that it’s almost a footnote. The dynamic between him and Stills was such that they made each other better when they played together, but it was very competitive and their personal relationship suffered. Young was very mercurial and unpredictable at the time.

As for Crosby, I recognize his genius as an artist but his attitude and behavior have always colored my view of him as a person. He brought most of his problems on by himself.
 
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#15
Ostie said:
As for Crosby, I recognize his genius as an artist but his attitude and behavior have always colored my view of him as a person. He brought most of his problems on by himself.
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Yep. There was another TB thread about CSN about a year ago where I wrote
Bob_Ross said:
There was a recent documentary about Crosby that I saw on cable TV, and he comes across as a genuinely sincere and passionate person who is incredibly self-aware of his personal flaws. And of how many personal flaws he has. He seems amazingly able to maintain a sense of humor about a life lived hard, with all its (mostly self-imposed) tragedies. ...[snip]... Yeah, he's still a dick who writes lame-o Southern California folk-rock for yacht owners and is stoned 100% of the time ...but he's an entertaining dick. I'd hang with him for a short tour.
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#16
Sometimes your "raw" and "less polished" musicians can add a special sauce to an otherwise well-oiled machine.

Another of my favorite examples is Joe Walsh in The Eagles. The rest of those guys are buttoned up slick polished pro studio guys. Joe gets in there and bangs away on the guitar with force and grit, and his vocals are pretty much controlled yelling. But I really like was he does for that band. He was the wedgy they desperately needed in my view.

Crosby isn't as polished or fancy. But the band without him would be a big no thank you for me. The same goes for Young. He nudged the band even further in that direction. Less polish and more raw emotion.
 
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#18
two fingers said:
Sometimes your "raw" and "less polished" musicians can add a special sauce to an otherwise well-oiled machine.

Another of my favorite examples is Joe Walsh in The Eagles. The rest of those guys are buttoned up slick polished pro studio guys. Joe gets in there and bangs away on the guitar with force and grit, and his vocals are pretty much controlled yelling. But I really like was he does for that band. He was the wedgy they desperately needed in my view.

Crosby isn't as polished or fancy. But the band without him would be a big no thank you for me. The same goes for Young. He nudged the band even further in that direction. Less polish and more raw emotion.
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TF, thats exactly how i felt after seeing the Eagles. All of them seemed like a technically proficient Eagles cover band, except for Walsh who rocked out.
 
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