David Crosby-CROZ (2014)

David Crosby-CROZ (2014)

David Crosby is a hero of mine, a survivor from a long time gone age, when vocals meant little more than just screams and made us dream of a better world, a man who experimented, learned and sometimes won, and some others loose battles, a key piece of the legendary and influential band The Byrds, who defied the British predominance in rock n roll in the sixties, and challenged the Beatles and the Stones, and also a key part in the no less than spectacular Crosby, Stills & Nash (and sometimes Young), one of the very first super groups, who by enormous demand almost inaugurated the stadium arena rock circuit era.

What I utterly respect from Crosby is his attachment to his principles, a man in love with American folk who rescued the ballad about a man murdering his wife, Hey Joe from oblivion and brought it to the ear of Jimi Hendrix, the man who lived by the Summer Of Love principles and brought the controversial Triad, a song about a ménage a trois to the Byrds, and when the song was rejected, decided to leave the band, a man who sang about nearly cutting his hair, but didn’t, in the middle of the hippie era, a man of principles high , and also the creator of the superb solo record If I Could Only Remember My Name, a record of such beauty, that to this day, in my mind, reminds as his best solo achievement, that man, is back in solo mode, after nearly twenty years with a record simply named Croz.

Croz can be called almost an independent album; Crosby is making once again an art album, more in tune with the kind of records Mr. Robert Wyatt has made, not as experimental, but free and eerily weird, a record that clearly draws the line between those records by mature stars that doesn’t dare, and those by major stars that risk everything, in that manner, Crosby dares, risks his reputation as one of rock biggest stars, plays it good and ends up winning, you bet Croz is better than Elton John last album, although I can assure it won’t sell as many copies, Croz is miles ahead of Tom Jones last covers album, hey! Crosby is coming with competent new music! Which meant perhaps no big sales, but sales mean nothing when it comes to true art.

Croz works in a strange way, it kind of reminds me of a Neil Young record, not those wild in distortion, but those records in the seventies, when Young mastered the singer songwriting mode and had a big hit with it, Croz starts with the jazzy What’s Broken, perhaps giving us clues to his life and how he is mending it in the present day, Crosby voice remains intact, his high pitched silky delivery is still powerful, that mighty human instrument that made The Byrds soar high is mightily presented here, that along beautifully played six blade knife (guitar) performed in the song by no other than Dire Staits man Mark Knopfler, Time I Have has that implicit melancholy from Crosby previous solo records, it has a certain CS&N feeling, it is reflective, groovy, with warm bass and percussion, and when the vocals hit the right note it soars high in the sky and set our souls free, add some incendiary guitar and you got a beautiful tune without a doubt.

Holding On To Nothing presents the supremo voice of Crosby displayed beautifully as the central motif, a song so simple, clear and pure, just like the voice of Crosby, a tune that would make someone like MASTER Brian Wilson proud this days, in fact it sound like California, not a sunny one, but the melancholic morning waking California, once home od Crosby, a beautiful introspective singer songwriter tune that recall Crosby glory days in the seventies, followed by the interlocked guitar lines of The Clearing, an epic tune that recalls CS&N with Crosby handling a beautiful melody in a perfect way, matched by complex musical arrangements that shows David really trying to make music worth his legacy and finally succeeding in a big way, Radio may just be an easy tune, but then comes Slice Of Time, where Crosby again makes a tour de force with his voice, and If She Called, a really sad song about streets, ladies and disgrace, Croz has some surprises also, like Dangerous night with its upbeat pace and Find a Heart that closes with a heavier jazz dose this enjoyable record, one that without a doubt is sure to make old Crosby a proud man once again, yes, we surely miss Jerry Garcia, Roger McGuinn, Arthur Lee or Jimi Hendrix, but we still have Crosby form that era making respectable and decent musical statements, and one only has to wonder what will happen when Crosby gets in studio again with Graham Nash and Stephen Stills later this year, if the other two guys are as resolved to make and artful statement, hold on and wait for the best!