Last week, regular readers will remember, we were visited by our friend BOB (Bored of Brexit as he styles himself) much to our consternation and chagrin. This week he returned somehow managing to avoid the man-traps (or person-traps) and rabid dogs of Americana-UK Towers which usually serve as our security system. Presenting himself at the cast iron, quadruple locked doors of The Bunker he banged away for a full ten minutes until he attracted the attention of the least drunk of us. Sadly that particular member of staff (no longer extant) decided to let him in. The ensuing conversation wasn’t pretty but it was a full and frank exchange of ideas and followed this general pattern: Continue reading “Pick of the Political Pops: Crosby, Stills and Nash “Helplessly Hoping””
David Crosby has been on a quest over the last few years to make up for the time he’d squandered on a path of self-destruction. This is his fourth solo album since 2014 saw the release of ‘Croz‘, and part of the process of being prolific has involved having two bands – albeit with some overlapping membership – who can work on different styles or feels in Crosby’s music. On ‘Here if you listen‘ we’re back with the Lighthouse band – Crosby’s gentler, jazzier sidekicks who offer the unusual aural experience of Crosby and predominantly female harmonizing and dueting vocals. The combination of the voices of Becca Stevans and Michelle Willis also offer David Crosby another opportunity he never really had before – that of recording an album with his favourite singer-songwriter, the “better than Dylan” Joni Mitchell. 
Get excited – David Crosby, the one who writes “the weird shit” has announced UK dates for this September. Don’t get too excited, it’s not what we’d call a tour. It’s two dates – Manchester at the Palace Theatre on September 15th, and then on the 16th it’s the Shepherds Bush Empire in that far flung corner of London that is Shepherds Bush. The dates are listed as Crosby & friends, so we’re guessing Nash, Stills and Young won’t be popping up – far more likely is the evolved CPR who are now the nucleus of the Lighthouse Band – playing on ‘Lighthouse’ and Crosby’s last album ‘Skytrails’. 
This live broadcast box represents how good these “archive” (aka bootleg) sets can be. This particular collection is made up of three CDs, two of which have been generally available for a few years. Towering Inferno is a Crosby, plus backing band, appearance from 1989, New Years Eve with the Dead is dated to 1986 whilst David and the Dorks is Croz with the Dead again, this time from 1970. Taking these from most recent to the earliest – Towering Inferno has a mix of songs from Oh Yes I Can, alongside classic CSN tracks. The sound is spot on, no complaints at all. 
You can always trust David Crosby to speak his mind and today is no exception. Spin reports: “This morning, the Nuge visited the Donald at the White House, along with the Bullgod and the Sarah Palin. The strange crew–that’s Ted Nugent, Kid Rock, and Sarah Palin, if you’re not following–showed up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for what amounted to a photo op with the president, and the pics went mildly viral this morning. Someone told the folk-rock great and Twitter hero David Crosby about it, and the Croz pulled no punches in his assessment of the situation. Here’s what he had to say: