David Crosby: If I Could Only Remember My Name (50th anniversary edition) [RHINO]

Why you'll love it

This 50th anniversary edition is remastered from the original analog master tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl in a gatefold jacket. The album peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and went gold.

This edition

• 50th anniversary edition
• Remastered from the original analog master tapes
• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Pressed in the USA

About the album

In the wake of Déjà Vu, all four members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young made solo albums, and Crosby's is the dreamiest of the lot. He set up at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco during a hard year, left the tape running through the night and let his friends drop in. Paul Kantner nicknamed the loose gang the Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra.

Those friends included Graham Nash, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Jerry Garcia and other members of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Santana. "Laughing," written during his CSNY days, is a shimmering highlight, "Cowboy Movie" spins a thinly veiled Old West tale about the band itself, and "Music Is Love" floats along on a group singalong. "Orleans" is a 15th-century round listing French cathedrals, and the last two songs feature Crosby alone, layering his voice into a choir.

Built on folk rock but full of jazz tunings and wordless harmonies, it has grown into one of the most loved records of its era. For a man who claimed he couldn't remember his name, he remembered an awful lot of harmony parts.

Also at Kops: more David Crosby on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Atlantic / Rhino (cat# RR1 7203), a reissue of the 1971 album.