Where to start? Perhaps with the opener on this truly legendary album, ‘Music Is Love’. Can three words form a sentence that is truer than that? No. And when the universal message of this classic is sung by Mr. Crosby (along with various backing vocalists), the result cannot be anything less than magical. The contrast is quite big to the next song, the epic and psychedelic masterpiece that is ‘Cowboy Movie’. It swings, it rocks, it takes you to another dimension. When I listen to this stuff, I just wish it would never end. Unfortunately it does, but not before eight glorious minutes have passed. Songs like ‘Laughing’ and ‘Traction In The Rain’, on the other hand, could make even the most cynical of men cry. These are both just so utterly beautiful. And the album ends in an almost spacy, otherworldly fashion, with ‘Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)’, ‘Orleans’ and the title track. For me, the three play like one continuous, flowing suite. I have had this album for many years, but I never grow tired of it. Onthe contrary, I get totally lost in it every time. It’s a short album, as so many albums were in those times, but it’s incredibly rich, full of details and has a rather spaced out production. This makes it possible to discover new details every time. The contributions from a whole lot of other legendary artists on the album (among them Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Grace Slick and Jerry Garcia) doesn’t hurt either, but make no mistake: It’s David Crosby who is the true star here. It’s his only essential solo album, but I don’t care about that – I’m just happy it was made (and it could never have been duplicated later, neither of him nor anyone else on this planet). For my money, ‘If I Could Only Remember My Name…’ is simply one of the very best albums ever made. A golden treasure among golden treasures, from an era that was truly the best and most creative period in musical history.
David Crosby – If I Could Only Remember My Name… (Atlantic 1971)
