David Crosby
Sky Trails

At the venerable age of 76, David Crosby releases his third solo album in just over three years: after 2014's Croz, last year's Lighthouse, here is this Sky Trails. A sign of a finally completed regeneration, after the travails, the dramatic personal events (drugs, imprisonments, liver transplant, and the collapse of bright youthful utopias) and the testimony of a protagonist of the golden age of rock (the '60s-'70s, the West Coast and beyond).

One can't help but feel a certain nostalgia when faced with events like this. But at the same time, one can certainly approach it with the due objectivity and normal listening sensitivity.

The album is of great class. Produced and played with refinement and elegance, without being cold or detached. Indeed, some tracks are of great sentimental allure, especially when Crosby reveals, as he often has over time, his deepest anxieties and emotions, particularly in the only track he wrote alone (Somebody Home). Or in the one that gives the title to the album, co-written with Becca Stevens, an American singer-songwriter-guitarist, with whom he had substantially collaborated on the previous Lighthouse.

Otherwise, you can feel the fundamental hand of his son James Raymond, who co-wrote 5 of the 10 tracks with his father. Raymond produces and directs the work, playing keyboards and other instruments, and taking care of the arrangements and the choice of musicians, all impeccable and with the right executive sensitivity. The tendency is towards a fusion that integrates certain jazz with typically Crosby-esque atmospheres.

The opening (She's Got To Be Somewhere) could easily be a Steely Dan track. Capitol and Sell Me A Diamond also reveal Raymond's style and recall the musical atmospheres of previous albums released as CPR. The first has a lyric that takes on the perversions of American political, capitalistic, and corrupt society, perfectly in tune with other lyrics of ours. Two other tracks by the father & son duo close the album (Curved Air, Spanish-flavored, and Home Free) and are both of excellent quality in every respect. In between a ballad of extreme class, written with Michael McDonald, for piano, voice, and a bit of synth and pedal-steel in the background. Complex harmonic structure and Crosby's voice that lies perfectly in it, with the versatility that distinguishes it. And again, a track co-written with bassist Mai Agan and a version of Amelia, by friend Joni Mitchell. Version personalized by Crosby and Raymond (voice, piano, bass, synth), which cannot be compared to the original by the Canadian. A heartfelt tribute to the old comrade of the good old days.

Ultimately, an excellent work. Well-curated and masterfully executed. Dense. Perhaps for some too varied in styles, but this does not necessarily constitute an unfavorable element in the overall judgment. Out of place to make comparisons with previous albums, solo or in group, but in many respects better than some things released as CPR (with Raymond and Pevar), which constitute the most natural comparison benchmark.

Welcome then to the good old, great David Crosby, with affection and much gratitude. And a thank you, as listeners and music enthusiasts, to all the musicians and collaborators for the gift they have given us with this album.