A beautiful album and considered an early audiophile-quality masterpiece not to mention the music.
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.
So the next time you see smoke rising out of the Vatican, it may be tell tale signs of some fine herbs being imbibed while listening to some Crosby.
Review
by Stanton Swihart
David Crosby's debut solo album, If I Could Only Remember My Name is a one-shot wonder of dreamy but ominous California ambience. The songs range from brief snapshots of inspiration (the angelic chorale-vocal showcase on "Orleans" and the a cappella closer, "I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here") to the full-blown, rambling western epic "Cowboy Movie," and there are absolutely no false notes struck or missteps taken. No one before or since has gotten as much mileage out of a wordless vocal as Crosby does on "Tamalpais High (At About 3)" and "Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)," and because the music is so relaxed, each song turns into its own panoramic vista. Those who don't go for trippy Aquarian sentiment, however, may be slightly put off by the obscure, cosmic storytelling of the gorgeous "Laughing" or the ambiguous (but pointed) social questioning of "What Are Their Names," but in actuality it is an incredibly focused album. Even when a song as pretty as "Traction in the Rain" shimmers with its picked guitars and autoharp, the album is coated in a distinct, persistent menace that is impossible to shake. It is a shame that Crosby would continue to descend throughout the remainder of the decade and the beginning of the next into aimless drug addiction, and that he would not issue another solo album until 18 years later. As it is, If I Could Only Remember My Name is a shambolic masterpiece, meandering but transcendentally so, full of frayed threads. Not only is it among the finest splinter albums out of the CSNY diaspora, it is one of the defining moments of hungover spirituality from the era.
-allmusic guide
R[/size=6]eviews of the most recent reissue place the album in the same influential company as the more baroque works of Nick Drake and Fairport Convention. -wiki
Cowboy Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_alkj8YDcI
Laughing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCcBQgTx ... re=related
SOng With no WOrds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BE7s0Rj ... re=related
Personnel...seriously amazing
"The Great Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra"
* David Crosby – guitars, vocals
* Laura Allan - autoharp, vocal
* Jack Casady - bass
* David Freiberg - vocal
* Jerry Garcia – guitars, pedal steel guitar, vocal
* Mickey Hart – drums
* Paul Kantner - vocal
* Bill Kreutzmann – drums, tambourine
* Phil Lesh – bass, vocal
* Joni Mitchell - vocals
* Graham Nash – guitar, vocals
* Gregg Rolie - piano
* Michael Shrieve - drums
* Grace Slick - vocal
* Neil Young – guitars, bass, vibraphone, congas, vocals
So it's all playing now... Don't be surprised if there is smoke rising from that small stack on my roof...Crosby's on or there is a new Pope!