Rock Revival's Time Capsule (1970): Four Solo Albums in a Row From Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

On March 11, 1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young released their second album, the brilliant Déjà Vu, which hit number #1 on the Billboard Chart and featured the singles "Teach Your Children," "Our House," and "Woodstock." This album brought the supergroup to international fame and prompted four incredible solo releases by the band.

Four solo albums were to follow in quick succession, some featuring the cream of rock, taking the band and it's blend of folk-rock into the stratosphere;

1. The first was Neil Young's After the Gold Rush (Sept 19, 1970), his third solo album, featuring "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" and "When You Dance I Can Really Love."

Review were bad:

"Neil Young devotees will probably spend the next few weeks trying desperately to convince themselves that After the Gold Rush is good music. But they'll be kidding themselves. For despite the fact that the album contains some potentially first rate material, none of the songs here rise above the uniformly dull surface."(Rolling Stone)

and good:

"One of his least stylized efforts, the record gains its strength from not only the rock solid songwriting, but the array of musical personalities that Neil displays. ... The variety and quality of the songs causes After The Gold Rush to play like a greatest hits album, which unbelievably it is not." (InkSpot)

.......but by the end of the century it was considered one of his best, appearing on pretty much every top albums of all time list, from Rolling Stone to Time and Blender's

2. Stephen Stills self-titled album (Nov 16, 1970), featuring the popular CSNY song "Love the One Your With". The album featured Ringo Starr on drums, Howlin Wolf, and BOTH Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. This would be Jimi's last recording, he died before it's release.

3. Then came If Could Only Remember My Name (Feb 2, 1971), David Crosby's first solo album,. members of Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana all appeared on it (coined "The Great Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra") and featured the only recording by his talented brother Ethan

4. Songs for Beginners, Graham Nash's first solo album (May 28, 1971), marking his fame for pop-folk, filled with the sincerity and political activism of the "Woodstock Nation" (the standout trakc is 'Chicago")

Images: Courtesy Atlantic/Reprise

Rock Revival Time Capsule: Super Session (1968), Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, Stephen Stills Make a Blues-Jam Masterpiece

By 1968 Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills were three of the most influential musicians in America

Kooper and Bloomfield had already made history by playing with Bob Dylan at his electric debut at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

The career of these two musicians had many other parrallels: Kooper formed Blood, Sweat and Tears in 1967, the same year that Bloomfield formed Electric Flag. Both bands were unique at the time. Adding soul and funk to rock, relying on a horn section as well as blues guitar. (note: Kooper later discovered Lynyrd Skynyrd)

Stephen Stills had already made his name with Buffalo Springfield and in 1969 the first Crosby, Stills & Nash album would be released.

The album Super Sessions was recorded in 1968:

Why not do an entire jam album together?" Kooper recalls. "At the time, most jazz albums were made using this modus operandi: pick a leader or two co-leaders, hire appropriate sidemen, pick some tunes, make some up and record an entire album on the fly in one or two days. Why not try and legitimize rock by adhering to these standards?

The album was recorded from a ten hour ‘live’ set in the studio: Bloomfield plays guitar on the first side and Stephen Stills was brought in at the last minute for the second side due to Bloomfields serious Heroin addiction.

"Albert's Shuffle"
"Stop"
"Man's Temptation"
"His Holy Modal Majesty"
"Really"
"It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry"
" Season of the Witch”
"You Don't Love Me"
"Harvey's Tune"

The album, which cost just $13,000 to make, made the top-20 and went gold. It represents the pinacle of blues-rock by three artists who could rely on their talent alone.

Image: Courtesy Sony