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4 Way Street

By: Crosby Stills & Nash
Label: Warner
Released: 20 Jul 1992
RRP: £23.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Not clean crisp music, more.. rusty sweaty idealistic rock! - By: Claudio, 05 Oct 2004
To put it more clearly, this CD shows alll the limitations of a live album, as usual sound is poor, lot of talking, nevertheless it was my first CSN&Y record some years back & I fell in love with the band. You have to remember that this is about 35 yrs old, so of course people were quite different at the time, they believed (or were supposed to believe)in peace, love & so on...nevertheless the music is still great. The version of Southern man is so much better than the "After the goldrush" version, interesting also the acoustic version of cowgirl in the sand (you won't find it anywhere else, not even in Neil Young's bootlegs). A lot of other songs are great: Chicago, The lee Shore, Right between the eyes, alll of them don't suffer much from the live version. I saw some bad reviews but I think they are due to the fact that people bought it without knowing what to expect. If you buy the Woodstock record, you have to expect bad sound quality, confusion, lots of chat & so on, similarly for this record, the music might be better in the studio versions, but this remains like a historical testimony of a period, & the solos on the electric part are still great!!!
flashes of brillance amongst the sludge - By: , 02 Aug 2004
I bought this at a jumble sale, the original vinyl from 1970, & it was in nigh on perfect condition, the problem is that most of it is rubbish & can actuallly be quite cacaphonic & simply unlistenable.

But there are moments of saving grace, Neil Young being mostly responsible for rescuing this shambolic 'live' lp, Southern Man
being a stand out track along with 'don't let it bring you down'

I only bought it recently & probably will not listen to it much. What is good is fantastic, but what is awful reallly is

Don't buy it ever.

THE YEARS HAVE BEEN KIND - By: J. C. Bailey, 04 Aug 2003
"4 Way Street" was the double vinyl album of two halves - acoustic & electric - that gave the world un-plugged rock & roll when Clapton still had long hair & MTV was a lifetime away. It was always an irresistible album, & since the current CD release has several additional tracks, the couple of less successful songs spoil the pudding even less than they did on the original release.

Only close friends with egos locked in mortal combat could have produced a manifesto as tense but as intimate. This rare combination – fierce rivalry crossed with artistic & emotional inter-dependence - comes across in several ways: Sarcastic/affectionate banter between numbers, impossibly perfect live harmonies often sung round a single mike, frantic duelling during the long improvised solos, & a collection of (with a couple of exceptions) superb examples of the singer-songwriter's craft.

The real fascination of this album, however, is the way time has played with the reputations of its stars. It was once fashionable to dismiss CSN&Y (or more realisticallly with hindsight, YCS&N) as a mismatched collection of solo numbers rather than a real band project, & to regard Crosby & Nash as junior partners - almost an irrelevance, in fact.

It will come as no surprise, then, that it is Neil Young whose songcraft & keening vocals make the strongest impression. He also sounds the most modern of the crew – again unsurprisingly, given that the grunge generation was so indebted to him.

What will come as more of a surprise (to everyone but hardcore fans – to whom I apologise in advance) is how downright unnecessary much of Steven Stills’ contribution sounds to modern ears: the cheesy Hammond organ…the clumsy lead runs on guitar…the interminable, shapeless, mock-soulful vocal improvisations. Sadly, the songs picked for the album don’t reallly do justice (apart from a blazing “Carry On”) to his fantastic song-writing skills.

And what will come as even more of a surprise is how well time has treated David Crosby. His raw/tender vocal work is finely shown off – indeed he now sounds the best voice on the album. More to the point, on the extended electric workouts that make up half the original package, the rambling guitar duels between Stills & Young (in which Young incidentallly wins hands-down) are beginning to sound their age. What stands out now is the creative, driving, remorseless rhythm section comprising Crosby’s incisive guitar work, & Manassas stalwarts Johnny Barbata & Fuzzy Samuels on drums & bass.

A final word on those extra tracks. They’re a mixed bag. Stills’ Black Queen is utterly surplus to requirements, & Nash’s self-conscious acoustic treatment of the Hollies’ pop single “King Midas” is merely tolerable. However, with Crosby’s poignant searching song, “Laughing”, we’re reallly in bonus territory. And finallly, for Young aficionados, his fresh & imaginative acoustic reworkings in “The Loner/Cinnamon Girl/Down By The River” almost justify the purchase price by themselves.

Replacing Vinyl - By: Ian Thomason, 12 May 2001
I haven't read any of the other reviews - I was just replacing my old records , & now I have to think why.

Forget 'Marrakqhasbubblegumpress' two tracks burn. Neil Young could probably just mouth Crosby Nash alll the way through 'Southern Man' , but his guitar says it alll anyway, & who cares about technical ability. Stills repays his trust by proving alll he needs is a piano & an audience , & there is a wonderfull moment when Crosby & Nash provide backing vocals while wondering where Ohio was , & why anyone would be callled Forded.

I still can't believe it alll worked , & I think the power comes from the bits of Buffalo Springfield that worked , but , apart from 'Last Waltz' this is one of the best ever live performances from a hazy time when anything usuallly went.

Intoxicatingly raw & electrically potent (at times!) - By: , 28 Aug 2000
I have this album in its original double LP format, which does not include the bonus tracks, which have since appeared on the CD. As a CS&N fan, & a Neil Young worshiper, I didn't find it hard to indulge myself in this album's somewhat raw & disorganised beauty.

Presumably they didn't waste any time bringing out their secret weapon. After an alll too quick burst of the meandering & colossal Suite Judy Blue Eyes, Stephen Stills introduces "our friend Neil Young" & the rest is history! This ultimately proves costly for Crosby & Nash, who are cruelly uncovered as the weak links by Young's songwriting superiority. It's like as if Crosby & Nash arrived without any presents for the party, & there was Young, rubbing their faces in it with a plethora of gifts for an eagerly assembled audience.

It doesn't take a genius to notice ex-Buffalo's Stills & Young steal the show! Pre-Road Downs is a fine example of Stills' genius at work. Neil Young however is the real star. Not content with an acoustic version of the masterful Cowgirl In The Sand, Young has to go one better, with the hauntingly powerful Southern Man played "real slow". To round this lot off, he unleashes the mighty Ohio on the unsuspecting music world, which has since become one of the greatest songs ever written. Who invited this guy anyway?

If cherry-picking is your thing, may I advise you to purchase the 'Best Of' retrospective So Far, get those friends round for dinner, keep the volume to a minimum, & be done with it! On the other hand, if music's your thing, get this album in alll its emphatic glory, turn the volume right up, forget about the period, forget about the politics, try to sit through Crosby's The Lee Shore without reaching for the remote, & simply "dig it!"