Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Ohio (1970)

On May 4th, 1970, the Ohio National Guard open fire on college students at Kent State University who were protesting the slaughter of innocent Cambodian civilians by the US military industrial complex. Neil Young wrote a song about it and CSNY rush released it as a single at the end of the month, with 'Find the Cost Of Freedom' as the b-side, and it turned out to be the last CSNY studio recording for 18 years. Despite being banned from many radio stations, it soon became the anthem to the protest movement, so here we'll expand the non-album single into a full-length LP using their solo albums recorded that year, with each track having to include at least two of the members. This is my third revision of the album, and this time I decided to add 'Southern Man' from Neil's solo album 'After the Gold Rush', as it was a regular part of CSNY's set list and includes Stills on background vocals. I removed Stills' 'We Are Not Helpless' which now seems a bit over the top on this otherwise rather somber and serious album, which was recorded during a year of political turmoil, personal heartbreak and Richard Nixon.
Side one opens with the promiscuity anthem 'Love the One You're With', recorded in London by Stills who then added Crosby and Nash's background vocals later on back home. Nash's heartbreaking 'Simple Man' is about his breakup with Joni Mitchell, providing a stark contrast to the upbeat opening number, and taking us deeper into the emotional caverns of the album. 'What Are Their Names?' comes next, providing a rather ominous segue into the title track featuring all four members, followed by the b-side that had actually been played at Woodstock the previous August, but not recorded until May of 1970. That would make a good end to an album side right there, but we'll fill up the remaining space with another heartbreaking Nash song featuring Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar and a gospel-infused Stills number.
Side two begins with 'Music is Love' with both Crosby and Young on vocals, followed by Crosby, Young and most of The Grateful Dead on 'Cowboy Movie'. and the album ends with 'Southern Man', which most likely contains Stills on background vocals, and fits nicely into the overall theme of domestic turmoil, both at the national and personal level. The cover is based on the US 'Ohio' single picture sleeve.

Track listing

01 Love the One You're With

02 Simple Man 

03 What Are Their Names

04 Ohio

05 Find the Cost of Freedom

06 I Used to Be a King

07 Sit Yourself Down 

08 Music is Love 

09 Cowboy Movie

10 Southern Man 

From The Album Fixer October 2016. All notes and opinions are his.