Search - Crosby Stills & Nash :: Crosby, Stills & Nash (1st Album, Expanded and Remastered)

Don't buy

Old & in the way | Concord, N.C> | 06/04/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I'm sure glad I didn't give away my first CD of this album. I'm not a critical listener but the top end of the sound has been dulled very badly. The bonus material is OK but doesn't fit with this album, it's more like from Deja Vu. I hope nothing ever happens to my unremastered disc. P.S. I gave this disc away."

Own the old cd? keep it. not? buy this one.

Bertrand Stclair | new york, new york United States | 07/11/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Forgive me, but the debate over the merits of the 1994 remaster over this one is a doofus debate. The sound cognoscenti and rabid fans alike have been blasting this 2006 issue for all sorts of enormously important reasons, from the fact that Crosby's two seconds of personal fun at the end of "Long Time Gone" (he croons, in a somewhat comedic voice, "You better come to my kitchen, 'cause it's soon gonna be rainin' outside") have been cut to the fact that the image of Dallas Taylor has been Photoshopped-out from the artwork, to supposedly compromised highs on the equalizer frequencies. This is the sort of bickering that spoiled children indulge in when they've had too many goodies to enjoy. The very first CD was actually perfectly nice, and whatever it's (microscopic) shortcomings in terms of modern mastering, it preserved the core of the music: the glorious harmonies, the cool, cathedral-like atmosphere of Wooden Ships (I'm calling it "cathedral" because certain types of echo effects are called that on mastering machines), and so on. If you have it, you might as well keep it. If you don't, buy this issue, the 2006 one. I can't imagine that you could possibly regret it. I see that at least one reviewer was so disgusted with it that he actually gave it away, which boggles the mind. This is a fine remastering, and, if nothing else, it finally does away with 99% of the "rip" that is heard at the beginning of "Long Time Gone," which the 1994 remaster actually emphasized. It sounds exactly like a needle scratch on a good old LP, which may have been placed there by superior intelligences from outer space to warn those who are now suddenly advocates of vinyl that this is definitely one of the options that awaits them (lol). And while my own ears prefer the ever-so-slightly subdued vocals in some places on the 2006 issue compared to a bit too much screaming on the 1994, that too is a minor thing, and if you already have the 1994, it will do as well. I'm just trying to tell you not to waste your money on every single new remaster out there because you'll go broke for nothing, or, at best, for very little.

Finally, I agree with the malcontents that the bonus material isn't all brilliant, but it's not without charm either, and Stills's beautiful rendition of "Everybody's Talkin'" alone is worth the price of admission. I never paid much attention to this pop ditty back when it was a huge hit for Nilsson, but in this interpretation it is no longer a pop ditty. It has acquired nearly tragic depth and sounds imbued with experience. Terrific."