Released February 22, 1971 Length 37:04 Genres Rock music, Rock and roll | Recorded 1970-1971 Release date 22 February 1971 | |
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Studio Wally HeidersSan Francisco, CA Similar David Crosby albums, Rock music albums | ||
If I Could Only Remember My Name is the debut solo album by David Crosby, released in February 1971 on Atlantic Records. It was one of four high-profile albums released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their chart-topping Déjà Vu album (along with Stephen Stills, Songs for Beginners, and After the Gold Rush). It peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200 and earned a RIAA gold certification for selling over 500,000 copies in the United States. Widely regarded as a cult classic, the album gained new recognition in 2010 when it was listed second on the Vatican's "Top 10 Pop Albums of All Time" as published in the official newspaper of the Holy See, L'Osservatore Romano.
Contents
- David crosby laughing if i could only remember my name february 22 1971
- Content
- Legacy
- Personnel
- Production
- Songs
- References
David crosby laughing if i could only remember my name february 22 1971
Content
Many prominent musicians of that era appear on the record, including Nash, Young, Joni Mitchell, members of the Grateful Dead (most notably Jerry Garcia, who helped to arrange and produce most of the album), Jefferson Airplane, and Santana. The ensemble was given the informal moniker of The Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra by Jefferson Airplane bandleader, longtime Crosby associate and fellow science fiction fan Paul Kantner; the core of this agglomeration (including recording engineer Stephen Barncard) also worked on Kantner's Blows Against The Empire (1970) and/or the Grateful Dead's American Beauty (1970), both recorded concurrently with Crosby's album at San Francisco's Wally Heider Studios. The album also features the only (albeit unspecified) recorded appearance of David Crosby's brother, reclusive folksinger Ethan Crosby.
Although the album (rooted in the milieu of Crosby's signature post-1967 psychedelic rock-folk jazz approach) garnered a share of prominent detractors—including Crosby's then-manager David Geffen and influential Village Voice rock critic Robert Christgau—and only a lukewarm review from Lester Bangs in Rolling Stone, it ultimately outsold Nash's more accessible effort. Two singles were taken from the album, including the minor hit "Music Is Love," a collaboration with Nash and Young that was released in April 1971 and subsequently peaked at #95 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album has remained continuously in print.
If I Could Only Remember My Name was initially released on compact disc on October 25, 1990, having been digitally remastered from the original master tapes, using the equipment and techniques of the day, by Barncard. A double-disc reissue appeared on November 6, 2006, with an audio disc remastered in HDCD, including a bonus track (the hitherto unreleased "Kids and Dogs", previously earmarked for an unreleased Crosby solo album slated to appear on Capitol Records in the early 1980s) and a second DVD Audio disc of the original album remixed for 5.1 digital Surround Sound. Reviews of the most recent reissue place the album in the same influential company as the more baroque works of Nick Drake and Meddle-era Pink Floyd; it has also been cited as a progenitor of the freak folk and New Weird America subgenres of indie rock.
Legacy
On 18 November 2013, Crosby appeared on an edition of the BBC Radio 4 programme Mastertapes, which was dedicated to the making of the album. The following day, he took part in the programme's "B-side" edition, answering audience questions and performing songs from the album.
Japanese musician Cornelius included it in his list of "10 Experimental Albums that Everyone Should Own."
Personnel
Production
Songs
1Music Is Love3:16
2Cowboy Movie8:02
3Tamalpais High (At About 3)3:28