Dark Star

https://open.spotify.com/album/63AF6wD9Mt1vQgKPNZaAXx?si=bVedbm7EQMeopKG8fTOMDQ 1 This was not the best song on the album, but it's the one that hit the radio first. This was unexpected. We never thought we'd get another Crosby, Stills & Nash album. And here it was. In June 1977. 1977... The late seventies were about hedonism. Not as bad as the eighties, when greed was legitimized by Ronald Reagan, but Nixon was finally gone, Jimmy Carter was in office and the Vietnam war was over, a conflict that hung especially heavy over the heads of boomers, who were always looking over their shoulders to see if Uncle Sam was going to call for them. Now if you read history, you'll see that the late seventies were also the disco era. Funny how the acts blinked. Not only did the Beach Boys go disco, but Rod Stewart and the Stones too. People went with the flow. Credibility was out the window. It was about cocaine and partying, having a good time, finally relieved of the burdens of the past. And then comes "CSN." Interestingly, it was 1977 that portended great changes in the landscape. The Ramones might have released their first album a year earlier, but what was then called "New Wave" broke with the release of Elvis Costello's "My Aim Is True." But that didn't come out in the U.S. until November 1st. It was also the year of Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express." We thought that "Autobahn" was a curio, that they were a one hit wonder. Little did we know their influence... But this was also the year of Billy Joel's true breakthrough, "The Stranger," with "Just the Way You Are." And James Taylor's "JT." Mostly, it was more of the same. Which was fine by us. This was the aftermath of Woodstock. The festival hipped the rest of the world to the music's power, how it drove the younger generation, the seventies were just a victory lap. So what do you do in an era where everything is up front and center, imbued with sunniness, and the biggest band from the turn of the decade returns with a new album, an evolution of the old, but still introspective? Well, radio went on it immediately. It was like they never left. Then again, we never expected them to return. 2 Now, as was the case with the debut, there was a radio hit written by Graham Nash. In this instance, it was "Just a Song Before I Go." Good, not revolutionary, but it has sustained. You hear this and "Southern Cross" on SiriusXM's the Bridge, they're in regular rotation. But not the rest of "CSN," because there was a darkness. Not the darkness of a long-haired, tattooed metal band, but an introspection. That was another feature of the late seventies, although forgotten today, EST was a household word back then. Now staying with Nash, who'd proved his chops on his exquisite solo debut "Songs for Beginners," his "Cathedral" closed the first side. This was not a poppy hit, but more of an emotional cry, intimate...rarely heard on the radio, it was a standout on your turntable. But as usual, the most popular tracks were written by Stephen Stills. Neil Young is sui generis, he carves his own path outside the mainstream. But the thing about Stills...he evidences his roots, he just lifts the bar that much higher, with his writing, singing and playing. The final song on the LP, "I Give You Give Blind" was a tear. An evolution from his work on the Manassas double album, enhanced by the background vocals by Crosby and Nash. And "I Give You Give Blind" got radio play, but not as much as "Fair Game." This was all over the radio. But the best song on the album is Stills's "See the Changes," which comes right after the opening awakening, Crosby/Doerge "Shadow Captain," which was proof the act was back, with the three part harmonies. Furthermore, it was energetic. A very good opener, if not in the league of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "Carry On," but what could be. And then the album got quiet. On "Déjà Vu" Stills reflected about where he'd been and what he'd seen in "4+20." "He was tired of being poor And he wasn't into selling door to door And he worked like the devil to be more" It took hard work. There was no established path. The Beatles illustrated the possibilities, the Byrds opened the door for American acts, but still...you needed the chops, you needed to know how to sing, write and play. Otherwise the odds of success were low. "Why am I so alone Where is my woman, can I bring her home Have I driven her away Is she gone" Self-reflection, this is what is absent in today's world. Everyone's a winner, 24/7, you don't want to show any weakness, any chinks in the armor. And this is exactly why we were drawn to our musical heroes. They spoke our truth, they were leaders. There had started to be t-shirts, but really your career was all about the music, what you had to say, what you stood for. "I embrace the many-colored beast I grow weary of the torment Can there be no peace And I find myself just wishing That my life would simply cease" It's hard to convey to a youngster the power of this song and these words to teenagers across America, lying on their beds, listening to this song on the record player. Alienation was a feature of society. The music spoke to those who felt they didn't fit in, who had more questions than answers, it was a relief to find someone on your own page, especially someone who'd been there and done that. Learning that we were all on our own journeys, encountering the same hurdles, roadblocks, and even acclaim and monetary success didn't necessarily solve all your problems. And the first two albums ushered in an era of introspective singer-songwriters, but by time we hit the late seventies, Cat Stevens seemed to have gone pop, James Taylor was singing covers, but Stephen Stills... "She has seen me changing It ain't easy rearranging And it gets harder as you get older Farther away as you get closer" The boomers were out of school, in the work world, having their first serious relationships. The old friends faded away, replaced by new ones from different backgrounds, with different viewpoints. In your early twenties you thought you knew everything, now you're not quite so sure. "Ten years singing right out loud I never looked, was anybody listening Then I fell out of cloud I hit the ground and noticed something missing" Our priorities were being rewritten by our heroes. What made life work... Career success was not enough, you needed something more, people, relationships. "Now I have someone" That's all you've got to know, she's seen him changing, but she's still standing by him. Evolution, acceptance, keys to a relationship. The only instrumentation is Stills's guitar. From an era when we were still infatuated by skill. We'd all bought our guitars, tried to play these songs. As for the three of them singing together, it was angelic, from the heavens above. We knew we couldn't do this, but we were thrilled it existed and we could be exposed to it. 3 Now through the magic of the internet, it's easily learned that "Dark Star" is about Stills's relationship with Joan Baez, back in 1967, something no one knew until Graham Nash's biography "Wild Tales" was published in 2013. Today we know everything about our heroes, there's no mystery, but we fought for crumbs back in the pre-internet era, built fantasies on very little information. The musicians were truly our heroes, they lived in a rarefied air, mostly in Los Angeles or London, which caused so many to move to these locations. Something was happening there, it wasn't exactly clear, but we definitely wanted to be there. And at this point, FM radio was everything, the heartbeat of America. If you didn't listen I wouldn't quite say you were a pariah, just that you were out of the loop, irrelevant. You went to someone's house and checked out their albums, you quoted lyrics to each other, there was a royal class living above us, focused on self-expression, we were exposed to their wisdom on wax and we went to the show to revel in the connection. "I met you several years ago The times they were so strange, but I had a feeling You looked into my eyes just once An instant flashing by that we were stealing" That's all it takes, just one look. But we were no longer wet behind the ears, we were adults, not children. We were learning about life, society, the power of connection between two people. It was rarely obvious, oftentimes it was a stolen moment. "We touched, we did, you know we did No more teasing now" He's beyond smitten, he's hooked. To the point where he can't hold his emotions back, he expresses them in words. Is she going to play or not, send a message, a clear message, do you want to do this? "Dark star, let the memory of the evening Be the first thing that you think of When you open up your smile and see me, dark star" Isn't this what we all want? Then again, how many times have we been frustrated. So what song is radio gonna play? Not something too dirgey, not something too dark... This was no longer the free-format days, radio was a business, a very lucrative one, and you couldn't risk someone pushing the button. So if something was driving, something you could get in the groove and nod your head to while in your car, that was the number the radio played. And played. "Dark Star" was a constant. It was no longer 1970, never mind 1969, every hamlet had an FM rock station. And the business was burgeoning, there were more acts in more styles featured than ever before. There was even cynical corporate rock, made for commerce. And then an act returns subtly to prominence once again. Crosby, Stills & Nash were not banging you over the head, were not begging for attention. The album was not in your face, anything but. It was dark and although appealing, you had to penetrate it to truly understand it. But this sound. The guitars, the sweet, three-part harmony... It was like a lost art. Only in this case it returned. 4 Crosby, Stills & Nash never reached this peak again. More albums were made, they even reunited with Young. There was one more radio track, the aforementioned "Southern Cross," but the band wasn't quite spent so much as lost. The decades turned and the eighties were the era of flash, the exact opposite of the intimacy the band specialized in. Then again, once you've been to the mountaintop, and returned... Outsiders don't understand the emotions. This is your job, this is your life, this is how you gain attention, earn your living, but what does it all mean? Will one more hit make a difference? What's the motivation? You're not ready to retire, but you're no longer hungry. Meanwhile, the game keeps changing and you're labeled a has-been even though you're no different. As for the audience... It understands none of this. As much as people think they know you, they don't. They think the music tells everything, but it doesn't. Can you even risk messing with your image? You're more alone than ever. But your music, it still keeps your fans warm at night, connected. Those songs are set in amber, they are not ditties, but life lessons, to be learned and reminded of forever. Which is why people keep coming to see you perform. But are you a jukebox or an artist? What does it all mean? That is still the question. -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25