Disco de Crosby, Stills & Nash: “Crosby, Stills & Nash [Box Set]”

There's a box set out for just about every classic rock artist. But, many of them are simply not worth the money (the new Eagles set comes to mind). However, the CSN Box truly delivers the goods.

There are basically 3 functions of a good box set: 1. To provide a career retrospective, gathering material from an artist's entire catalog of music 2. To offer the music in remastered form, in better quality sound 3. To unearth unreleased material

The CSN box set matches all the criteria. This collection shows how good they were together and apart, offering solo material from all three members, plus side projects like Manassas (Stills band with Chris Hillman of the Byrds).

Some box sets boast "unreleased material" that really should've been left UNRELEASED. Not true with this set, "Homeward Through the Haze" is far superior to the released Crosby-Nash version, "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" including drums is staggering, and the unearthed CSN&Y recordings show us what could've been, had they not bickered among themselves so much.

The only unfortunate ommisions are from Neil Young, who is saving his goodies for his own box set, coming soon. Also, "War Games" from the now-deleted ALLIES album would've been nice.

All in all a fine collection for a true fan or casual listener.

I first bought this glorious collection five years ago. This Box set spans two decades and all the various configurations of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young--the band that forced the creation of the word "super group." There is solo material, side projects like Manassas, alternate takes of classics like "Suite: Jusdy Blue Eyes" and "Woodstock," the unedited version of "Almost Cut My Hair" (at 8:49, it's twice the length of the version on DEJA VU!), unreleased live CSNY versions of solo songs like Nash's "Man in the Mirror" and Crosby's "Homeward Through the Haze," and then there are the previously unreleased songs like "Blackbird" and "Horses Through a Rainstorm." There was a magic in this band and it is reflected in every track here. They had it all: great songwriting, tight harmonies and excellent musicianship. The neophyte fan might be better served by the single-disc SO FAR, but true fans will settle for nothing less than this sprawling 5-hour feast for the ears. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Despite the inconsistancy of calling it a CSN box while including CSN&Y songs, this is a great box set, with alternate takes, live cuts, previously unreleased cuts - in other words, everything a real fan could want. This is not for the casual fan; they would be better off with So Far or the original albums. This has alternate versions of Woodstock and Suite Judy Blue Eyes, for example.

However, if you love these guys, if you have the original albums, and you want a real treat...this box set fills that want/need/desire very well indeed.

Oh, and it is exquisitely remastered, by the way, and the book is wonderfully done. It's pricey, but it's worth it, in every way

You won't find a finer box-set. All of the tracks are keepers. I was somewhat put-off by reviews claiming that this set contains all of the essential songs by these four artists. It absolutely doesn't. But what it does contain is superb. Since there was such a wealth of material to choose from, there is no filler on this set. It is an excellent companion piece to your CSN&Y library. Buy it! You won't be sorry.

Crosby, Stills & Nash(Young) has been my favorite group since I heard Woodstock and Wooden Ships for the first time. I love almost every song of theirs. So when I saw that they had a box set I had to get it. Well the was 10 years ago and to this day I have yet to hear a better collection of a bands work. This box set has every song people know but what sets it apart is the quality of the unreleased and out take tracks. The best of which is an alternet version of David Crosby's Guinnevere. In my openion it is better then the album version. The Lee Shore, Triad and the three Manassas songs are excellent additions. But every one of the 79 songs of this massive set sound like they are ment to follow one another. This Box Set is worth the money if you love CSN&Y as much as I do.

BTW...I saw them back in April 2002, in Austin, it was the best concert I have ever seen them do, they played for over 3 hours straight and had more energy then bands today!!...