I could go door to door selling "Ladies Of The Canyon".
I'd knock after dark. When people are reluctant to open the door. I'd have to EXPLAIN! People inured to the fearsome world of George Bush would tell me to go away. But there would be some people who came of age in the sixties. And some women in their early twenties. And some men of the same age with more questions than answers, who aren't afraid to express their emotions, to reveal themselves, warts and all. THEY would open the door.
I'd start softly. Trying to gain their trust.
Then I'd start waxing rhapsodic. What this record meant to ME!
And then I'd ask them if I could put it on.
Hopefully, I'd have some traveling stereo contraption including a turntable. Because, really, "Ladies Of The Canyon" should be heard on vinyl. Or else I'd call somebody at Sony and BEG them to do an SACD transfer, and bring a deck that could play discs in that format.
If I was spinning the vinyl, there'd be that opening groove anticipation.
Oh, the youngsters are unfamiliar with this. For some reason, there was always a bump, or a scratch in the opening grooves.
And then the music would begin.
It's PERFECT that "Ladies Of The Canyon" starts with "Morning Morgantown". It's a relaxing entry.
And then we'd hit "For Free".
Oh, I'd tell them how I saw James Taylor in Boston in April of '70, just days after my seventeenth birthday, and he played this unreleased track. How I couldn't FORGET IT!
You see James and Joni had a relationship at that point.
Almost nobody plays for free anymore. Free is for chumps.
But back in the day, you played for the JOY of it.
And then would come "Conversation".
Have you ever fallen in love with someone who's married?
No, I'm not talking about infatuation. I'm talking about the genuine article. Where you communicate almost telepathically?
When you're with them, you feel alive, you're carefree.
But you don't own them. Somebody else does. Usually somebody else who doesn't get them. But the legal bond is too much for your friend to cast aside. You're left alone.
THAT'S what "Conversation" is about.
And now the people would be starting to GET IT!
"Ladies Of The Canyon" was not made for stardom. Wasn't even made for the radio. It was a personal STATEMENT! That still resonates over thirty years later. There's no expiration date on the truth.
But it's not only the lyrics, but the SOUND!
"Ladies Of The Canyon" sounds like eleven o'clock alone at home while the rain is coming down outside. It's like a best friend, with open arms, wanting to connect. It's truly life itself.
At this point, the man, or the woman, or even the COUPLE would be scrounging the house for cash. Wanting to lay fifteen bucks on me, just so they could OWN this piece of plastic.
And after I put the money in my pocket, and put back on my jacket, just before I exited the front door, I'd tell them to be sure to listen to "Rainy Night House". And "The Arrangement".
I'd figure they'd discover "The Priest" by themselves.
And I'd be on my way.
One could argue that "Blue" is a better album. But it doesn't quite have the VIBE of "Ladies Of The Canyon". That intimate late night feel. There's some sunniness in "Blue". Most of "Ladies Of The Canyon" is a dark novel.
Now the canyon of which Joni is singing is Laurel Canyon.
Oh, it's not the same today. It's not where it's happening. It's where almost thirtysomethings buy starter homes. There are some old hippies left, but the sense of community, the sense that something is being BUILT, is long gone.
But in the late sixties, Laurel Canyon was where it was at.
And it was at Joni Mitchell's house in Laurel Canyon that Crosby, Stills and Nash first sang together.
Somewhere along the line, Crosby, Stills and Nash became a joke.
Oh, one can KIND of understand it. They ultimately made some pretty lame albums. But that very first record...
Conventional wisdom is Crosby, Stills and Nash miss Neil Young.
Neil Young is great, but he wasn't really a member of CSN. He was a guy brought in to play guitar. Who got to play a few of his own numbers to keep him happy. As great as he is, Neil is not really what CSN represents. You see, CSN is about the voices. The harmonies. Frequently horribly off key and untogether live, but ON RECORD, utterly ASTOUNDING!
The first Crosby, Stills and Nash record was the "Appetite For Destruction" of its day. A snapshot of the life of twentysomethings in Los Angeles. "Appetite For Destruction" is dark. Reflecting the coarsening of society. Whereas "Crosby, Stills and Nash" straddles the line. Between optimism and disillusionment. The sixties were coming to a close. So many breakthroughs had been achieved. But Richard Nixon was President, we were still fighting the war in Vietnam.
You had the sunniness of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and then the darkness of "Long Time Gone". And sprinkled in between, the utterly lightweight Graham Nash tune "Marrakesh Express". But what you had throughout was the VOCALS! The utter perfection, the utter BEAUTY! It was like standing in front of the Parthenon. Perfect in construction, perfect in scale, SO perfect as to be almost OUT OF THIS WORLD! Delivered by God!
And there was this weird vibe in the record. Like it wasn't cut in one place. That one track was done in the studio, with everybody upbeat, and another was cut at the market in the Valley, and another in a car driving down the freeway. The listener was MESMERIZED! There was this WORLD! It wasn't about the players, but the record ITSELF! The record spoke for ITSELF! You listened again and again. Looking for insight, for comfort. The first Crosby, Stills and Nash album is a treasure.
"Deja Vu", made with Neil Young, has its highlights. Primarily "Carry On" and "4+20", but it was the same kind of incomplete mess that the Eagles "Long Run" would turn out to be. You see it's hard to follow up perfection.
Oh, but the band members TRIED!
Neil Young went solo.
Stephen Stills did too.
EVERYBODY cut solo material.
And just when each of the three original members' careers were shot, they got back together and did it again, with 1977's "CSN".
We'd given up. We'd seen the Beatles never get back together, we figured CSN was going to have the same fate.
But they surprised us, they reunited.
And "CSN" was a treat.
In retrospect, only "See The Changes" is classic, but "CSN" had that SOUND! Which we'd thought had been lost forever, believing the formula had been destroyed.
But that was the last time these guys could get it together. Until now.
I was driving down Sunset Boulevard and the deejay on Deeptracks said he was going to play a new Crosby-Nash track. From a soon to be released album. He said it was GOOD!
Let's be clear. These new tunes by has-beens are almost NEVER good. We've cast aside our expectations. It's so sad.
But the sound that started to emanate from my speakers, THAT WAS THE SOUND!
Oh, Crosby and Nash had made a few less than successful records together when their solo careers had lost steam and Stephen Stills' had not yet. And there were a couple of peaks, but they were of the time. "Take The Money And Run" was catchy, but far from deep. And "Carry Me" was beautiful in its own right, but the soaring voices eclipsed the material. It felt good hearing it early in the evening, but you wouldn't want to play it in the middle of the night.
You want to play "Lay Me Down" in the middle of the night.
Let's be clear. As great as they were, CSN and not even Y were in the league of Joni Mitchell.
But they were all in it together. David Crosby had produced Joni's first album. Graham Nash had been her boyfriend. And she'd written maybe their biggest hit, "Woodstock".
You see they shared the same SENSIBILITY!
Sensibility. That implies you've GOT senses. That you're taking everything in. That you're entertaining the NUANCES!
The nuances have been paved over. Just like Joni's paradise, they're now a parking lot. Littered with glamor. Everybody's fighting for ATTENTION! If you're subtle, you won't get noticed, you'll starve.
But that's not real life. There are a lot of subtle moments in regular life. Hell, regular life IS ABOUT the nuances. The glance, the attitude, the touch. It's THIS input that we make our choices upon.
Today I e-mailed Michael Plen to send me the Crosby-Nash album.
Then I thought about it. I told him, if he could, to send an MP3 of "Lay Me Down", I had an urge to hear it RIGHT NOW! I wanted to write about it RIGHT NOW!
Alas, it took Plen about an hour to get back to me, within which time I was distracted.
But about an hour and a half ago, I downloaded the track.
And after importing it into iTunes and hitting play, I was stunned.
I don't know how I'd do it. Whether I'd play the people whose doors I knocked upon "Lay Me Down" first, to get them READY for "Ladies Of The Canyon", or whether I'd throw it in at the end, whip it out of my pocket and throw it in their laps as a bonus on the way out the door. All I know is, "Ladies Of The Canyon" and "Lay Me Down" come from the same village. A village I saw from across the country, that I HEARD about on vinyl records. That enchanted me to such a degree that I had to get in my car and COME to Los Angeles, to try and get closer to the magic.
By time I got here, a lot of the magic was gone.
Now I've been thinking it's completely extinguished.
I've found out I'm wrong.
"Conversation" and "Rainy Night House" and "The Arrangement" sit on my iPod, never to be deleted. I NEED them. When they randomly come on in the mountains it's like the clouds part and there's a road only for me, into the universe, a road which I then travel and get insight.
What did Joni say? Love is touching souls?
Well, surely she touched mine. For part of her comes out of me from time to time.
And tonight, her old cohorts Crosby and Nash have touched my soul too.
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