Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
American Dream

This 1988 album marked the return of Crosby, Stills, and Nash with Neil Young. It had been since the distant masterpiece Deja vu of 1970 that the supergroup had not recorded something new in the studio. All the premises to expect something good were there. But the album's little success and the songs contained herein tell us that it was not so.

I review this album because it represents something important to me, namely the introduction to Neil Young and the supergroup that I learned to know and appreciate by going back in time.

While on one hand, the album's release had been awaited for years, one could certainly not expect a masterpiece, given the trajectory of the solo careers of the individual members during that period. Young was undergoing an identity crisis artistically, hitting his lowest points discographically: the country-tinged "Old Ways" of 1985, the confused and poorly produced "Landing On Water" of 1986, the similar "Life" of 1987, and the bluesy "This Note's For You" of 1988.

David Crosby was slowly emerging from a significant artistic and human crisis, while Stills, on the other hand, was entering one. In short, a disaster.

Recorded at Young's ranch (as seen from the booklet photos) it was produced by the quartet in collaboration with Niko Bolas. It was precisely the overly clean production, or 1980s if you will, that was one of the negative points of this album.

The album opens with the title track "American Dream", a song written by Young with lyrics that lash out against the televangelist Jimmy Swaggart who, during those years, angered more than a few musicians, especially in the Heavy Metal field (ask Mr. Ozzy Osbourne to find out more).

By Young are also the typical ballad "Name Of Love", the swaying "This Old House", written in support of American farmers, "Feel Your Love", and then three songs co-written with Stills: the hard-tinged "Drivin' Thunder", "Got It Made", and the closing "Night Song". In short, Young's hands are present on most of the songs, representing the almost rediscovered artistic vein that would flow into his subsequent solo work, that "Freedom", which, thanks also to the presence of "Rockin' In The Free World", marked his artistic rebirth of the 1990s when he became the guide and icon of the Grunge movement.

By Nash are the delicate piano ballad "Don't Say Goodbye", the ecological "Clear Blue Skyes", "Shadowland", and the pacifist "Soldier Of Peace". In short, songs with themes always dear to Nash's delicate composition. Remaining are the two songs written by Crosby, "Nightime For The Generals", edgy and with lyrics denouncing the scandals that enveloped the C.I.A. during that period, and the beautiful "Compass", one of the few masterpieces of this album, a song that seems to have come out of that other masterpiece by Crosby, which was "If I Could Only Remember My Name" of 1971.

An uneven album, as one can understand. With the four engaged together very sporadically, so much so that not even a tour was made to support the album. Apparently, the times for a reunion were not yet favorable. So much so that Crosby, Stills & Nash composed another two albums in the following years. The woeful "Live It Up" of 1990 and the better "After The Storm" of 1994 but without Young, who seemed to have embarked on the path of a second solo youth.

The reunion with Young reconcretized in 1999 with "Looking Forward" of 1999 and continues today with the concert framework as a backdrop, stimulated by the events that have touched the USA in the last decade.

Therefore, I can affirm that the supergroup needs significant events around them to give their best and that in that 1988, the highlights were missing.