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Graham Nash – Songs For Beginners
Artist: Graham Nash | Album: Songs For Beginners | Style: Rock | Year: 2008 [1971 original] | Quality: DVD-Audio (MLP 5.1 48kHz/24Bit, MLP 2.0 48kHz/24Bit, DTS 5.1, Dolby AC3 5.1, Dolby AC3 2.0) | Bitrate: lossless | Tracks: 11 | Size: ~3.59 Gb | Recovery: 3% | Release: Rhino Records (R2 352572), 2008 | Note: Not Watermarked

Songs for Beginners is Graham Nash’s solo debut apart from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Released in 1971, it is a collection of songs that reflect change, transition, and starting over. The set was recorded in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, in the immediate aftermath of Nash’s traumatic breakup with Joni Mitchell. Unlike the colorful dynamism of Stephen Stills’ eponymous debut recording, or the acid-drenched cosmic cowboy spaciness of David Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name, Nash’s album is by contrast a much more humble and direct offering. It is a true, mostly introspective songwriter’s album full of beautifully performed and wonderfully recorded songs that reflect transition, movement, the desire to look backward and forward simultaneously. Like the aforementioned offering, this one is star-studded in its choice of players and singers: Crosby, Chris Ethridge, Jerry Garcia, Rita Coolidge, Clydie King, Venetta Fields, Dave Mason, Neil Young (under the pseudonym “Joe Yankee”), David Lindley, Bobby Keys, Phil Lesh, Dallas Taylor, and drummer John Barbata reflect some of the personnel on this heady yet humble session. The album is bookended by two of Nash’s best-known tunes, the anthemic “Military Madness” that remains timeless in the 21st century, and “Chicago,” that doesn’t. That said, they are among the weakest songs here — which reveals what a solid collection it is. Unlike many recordings birthed from personal angst, Nash’s engages in no self pity; instead, he focuses on the craft of songwriting itself. Despite its personal darkness, “Better Days,” with its swirling piano and pronounced bassline, is also an actual paean to self-determination and perseverance, the logic being that there were better days in the past, so there must be better ones in the future as well. “I Used to Be a King,” with Garcia on a gorgeous pedal steel and Lesh on bass, is a direct, mature response to “King Midas in Reverse,” a song Nash wrote and recorded with the Hollies. “Simple Man,” with its sparse melody and strings and a fine backing vocal from Coolidge, was written on the afternoon of the breakup with Mitchell. The violin-cello backdrop to Nash’s piano is particularly effective and makes this one of his most memorable songs. The parlor room country waltz that commences “Man in the Mirror,” features Garcia’s steel, Young’s piano, ex-Flying Burrito Brother Ethridge, and drummer Barbata; it shifts keys, tempo, and feel about a third of the way in with a very long bridge that transforms the song’s sentiment as well. Ultimately, Songs for Beginners is the strongest of Nash’s solo efforts (outside of his work with Crosby).

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Graham Nash – Songs For Survivors
Artist: Graham Nash | Album: Songs For Survivors | Style: Folk Rock, Country Rock, Soft Rock | Year: 2002 | Quality: DVD-Audio (MLP 5.1 48kHz/24Bit, DTS 5.1 48kHz/24Bit, PCM 2.0 48kHz/24Bit) | Bitrate: lossless | Tracks: 10 | Size: 3.74 Gb | Recovery: 3% | Covers: only front | Release: DTS Entertainment, 2002 | Note: Not Watermarked

Songs for Survivors is the first solo album in 15 years by Graham Nash. Nash is accompanied by a band of veteran West Coast musicians including Russ Kunkel (drums, percussion), Dan Dugmore (pedal steel, acoustic & electric guitars), and Victor Krauss (acoustic & electric bass). The recording experience, Graham explains, has been “one of the most rewarding of my life.”

Having played on hundreds of recordings, performed in numerous countries and written over 200 songs including, “Our House”, “Teach Your Children”, “On a Carousel”, “Wasted on the Way” and “Marrakesh Express”, Graham is one of the most durable musical figures to have emerged from the 1960s. As one of the founding members of the Hollies, Graham achieved international success as part of the British Invasion in the 60’s. Shortly after, he joined Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, who are now in their 30th year of recording and performing together. In May of 1997, Graham (along with Stephen Stills and David Crosby) was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his remarkable career. Nash recently finished a 2002 nationwide tour with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and plans to headline a run of solo dates this fall. (more…)