Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - Live at Fillmore East 1969

 

Stills and Young have discovered the master tapes for this show, recorded a month after their smash set at Woodstock, and compiled and mixed the original 8 track tapes, keeping it all analog. A similar set to the famous Four Way Street double live album, this nonetheless has some variety and a few surprises.

This opens will a full performance of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", as opposed to the few seconds of the finale that appears on Four Way Street. This ode to Judy Collins - Stills' lover - has a bit of melody variations from the recorded version and shows the four seeming to enjoy themselves and the sound that they are creating. As they would always do, they start off with the four of them acoustically, then move onto a few solo slots (although they seem to support each other more here than on Four Way Street and mix things up a bit more) before bringing on Greg Reeves and Dallas Taylor (bass and drums) for an electric set.

So, they collaborate on their harmony-drenched cover of "Blackbird", "Helplessly Hoping", "Guinnevere" (with some striking acoustic guitar interplay), Nash's "Lady of the Island", Stephen gets bluesy on "Go Back Home" (as he did on "Black Queen" on 4 Way), Young gives us his terrific "On the Way Home", back to Stills and his fine finger-pickin' on "4 + 20", Nash accompanies himself just on organ for an unusual "My House", there's a nice Young number that I'm unfamiliar with, "I've Loved Her So Long" (with neat harmonies) before Steve finishes the acoustic portion with his great "You Don't Have to Cry".

Crosby's "Long Time Gone" has always been one of their best electric tunes, with terrific guitar interplay, subtle organ touches and, of course, their harmonies and vocal interplay between Crosby and Stills. Another highlight is the famous "Wooden Ships" (cowritten between Crosby, Stills and Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kantner, who also covered it), with the same instrumentation and interplay, followed by Stills' "Bluebird Revisited" given a powerful, organ-fueled performance here - sounds like Steve on the keys, as he was a terrific player. Young's "Sea of Madness" is one that I always loved from Woodstock and this performance is at least as strong and he continues to shine in his "Down By the River", which would become a two guitar workout between Stills and Young and damn if this isn't one of the better recorded versions of this classic as the two of them play harmony lines as well as play against each other (even if one of them is slightly out of tune!). For the finale, they go back to "wooden music" (as they called it) for the amazing, harmony-drenched classic "Find the Cost of Freedom".

Yes, I've been a fan since this combo first appeared and this is truly a solid performance from start to finish. I know that many critics maligned 4 Way for various reasons, but damn if this isn't the better record, IMHO. Fans will definitely want it!