Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Crosby, Stills, and Nash are one of the best-loved bands in the world. They've done some great stuff. Unfortunately, as a group and as solo artists, they've also done a lot of very mediocre work. Over time, each new album has typically had less and less music worth buying. After you've bought their first 2 albums ("Crosby, Stills, and Nash", and "Deja Vu"), it gets pretty difficult to decide whether to buy anything else. I like about half of the album Daylight Again (released in 1982), and maybe half of CSN (1977). The rest of their albums just aren't worth buying, even though there are a few excellent songs sprinkled among them. This 4-disc collection is superb. Assuming that you already own the first 2 albums, you can buy this collection and own almost everything they've done as a group (and most or all of what they've done as solo artists) that's worth owning. Almost the only song missing that I'd REALLY like to see on here is one David Crosby song ("Compass", if I remember correctly) from the album American Dream (the rest of which is dispensable). This set is also missing a few other good songs from the album Daylight Again (e.g. "Might As Well Have A Good Time", which has superb vocals), but the best ones ("Southern Cross" and "Delta") from that album are here. This album contains several fine songs from Crosby-Nash collaborations ("To The Last Whale"), and a few of Stephen Stills better solo works ("Change Partners", "So Begins The Task"). Among the David Crosby solo numbers are "All Along The Lee Shore" and a wordless vocal performance that is beautiful and haunting. There are a few songs on here that I don't care for, but not many. Graham Nash deserves great credit for putting this set together. He has done an excellent job of selecting the best material. Frankly, this set is so good, and much of their other material is so mediocre, that this set and and their first 2 albums are about all that even ardent fans need to own. Nash probably risked killing sales of other albums when he put together this set. He deserves applause and great thanks for choosing this collection. The set also comes with a booklet that contains interesting short anecdotes and explanations of the songs. Fans will enjoy it a lot. RECOMMENDATION: If you like this band, I'd buy the following albums: Crosby, Stills, and Nash (first album); Deja Vu (with Neil Young); and this 4-CD set. This will give you almost everything these musicians have done that's worth owning, and will give you very little stuff that isn't worth owning. Yes, you'll have paid twice for several songs from the first 2 albums, but even that's not a complete waste because some of the versions on this 4-disc set are alternative takes. If I could take only 20-30 discs to a "desert island" with me, each of these 4 discs would be among them. Great stuff.