Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - As I Come of Age - Non-Album Tracks (1970)

The alternate universe where CSNY put out lots of albums continues. As I mentioned in a previous post, CSNY was so productive as a group in 1970 that they had material for two albums, on top of "Deja Vu" being released that year.

Here's the second one. Since putting out three albums in a single year would have been a lot, even for that era, I figure this would have come out in 1971, along with the "Four Way Street" live album.

My policy is not to repeat songs on the official albums, unless there's a significant difference. There are a lot of cases of that on this album. Many of the songs would come out on other albums, either around that time or later. But all these versions are different than those of solo albums, usually because they were done by all of CSNY instead of just one of them. What's more surprising is that there are four good songs here by all of CSNY that have never been released in any form.

I made a couple of key edits to one song. "30 Dollar Fine" is one of those songs that has never been previously released. Luckily, there's a bootleg with CSNY doing a five-minute version of it. The problem is, Still sings for about the first minute, and the rest is all instrumental, but with no soloing. Probably, they were just learning the song, because Stills quietly mumbles through the first verse. So I edited out the last two minutes, since the music gets boring without any soloing. I also edited the second verse into the place of the first, because I figure Stills singing the same words twice is better than quiet mumbling.

Actually, now that I think about it, "30 Dollar Fine" was finally officially released earlier this year, but on a Jimi Hendrix archival album called "Both Sides of the Sky." I didn't use that here because it's Stills and Hendrix on that version, not CSNY. Even so, I would use it if Stills and/or Hendrix were soloing all over it, but they there isn't any actual soloing from either of them on that version, only some guitar fills here and there. Stills sings alone on that version and, frankly, Hendrix doesn't do much.

Also, as I often do, I cut out the audience noise on live tracks to make them sound like studio tracks.

"Wonderin'," an obscure Neil Young song. It was done by CSNY in concert only a few times. Luckily, one of those times was the famous 1969 Woodstock concert, and the version included here was finally released as part of the entire Woodstock concert being released for the concert's 50th anniversary. "Wonderin'" is only a minute and a half long, so it's not much of a song. But I think it's quite interesting, because it's a rare case of Young singing lead with backing vocals by just Stills.

Sadly, CSNY had a big falling out in 1971 (except for Crosby and Nash, who formed a duo), so we'll have go to 1973 for their next album.

There are two bonus tracks here. There's nothing particularly wrong with them. However, there are a ton of Stills songs, and these are two more Stills songs. I thought having that many Stills songs on the album would upset the balance. They were the weakest of the Stills songs, in my opinion, though they're still pretty decent. (By the way, I did the exact same thing with the "Find the Cost of Freedom" album, making two Stills songs bonus tracks there too.)

This album is 45 minutes long.

01 The Treasure (Stephen Stills)
02 Tell Me Why (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
03 The Wall Song (David Crosby)
04 Simple Man (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
05 30 Dollar Fine (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
06 Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
07 Ivory Tower (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
08 Wonderin' (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
09 Everyday We Live (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
10 Traction in the Rain (Crosby & Nash)
11 Birds (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
12 Question Why (Graham Nash)
13 As I Come of Age (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
14 Kids and Dogs (David Crosby)

I'll Be There (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
Right On Rock 'N' Roll (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16383335/CROSBSTLLSNSHYNG1970AsICmofAge_atse.zip.html

I made the cover using a photo of CSNY playing live at the Fillmore East in June 1970.