CSNY 1974 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		2.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

CSNY 1974 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 16, 2014

Were Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young the first real supergroup in the post-Beatles era? It’s something the exhaustive essay asks in this new set featuring live performances by the quartet from a 1974 tour, and while some would probably come out swinging, arguing that there are any number of other groups that should hold that particular title, it at least encapsulates the relatively brief but still epochal influence the group had during its initial creative burst. Of course, that influence actually began with the group as a trio, when Crosby, Stills and Nash was released in 1969. A year later, the group was back with added support from Neil Young, and Déjà Vu became an instant and enduring classic when it was released in 1970. But then—well, the essay here tells the story from the viewpoint of the guys, while adding a perhaps needed objective account that at least partially dismisses some of the rationalizations that were offered at the time as to why it took another seven years before even a second trio album was released. (As the booklet essay points out, the live album Four Way Street only served to rub salt in already existing wounds which had led to the dissolution of the band by the time the album was released.)

The booklet essay also gets into the rather convoluted background that ultimately led to the 1974 “reunion tour” which almost had an album to support (there’s a really cool photo of the four guys on a Hawaiian beach that was supposed to be the album cover). But even without “new” material to promote, the four did reconcile, at least enough to share the stage together and offer support on some tunes which various members had released as “solo” recordings in the wake of the group’s demise. Those wanting the pristine studio clarity of the two initial albums by either the trio or quartet and probably going to be a little surprised if not shocked at how loose things are at times on this set of live recordings, but there’s also a visceral intensity to some of these performances that was perhaps muted by the constraints of the original studio sessions.

The Blu-ray audio disc features an astounding 40 live performances culled from ten separate concerts (unfortunately, there’s no list—at least that I could find—that details which tracks came from which dates). The ten concerts were:

Capital Centre, Landover, MI (August 19, 20, 21)
Chicago Stadium, Chicago, IL (August 27, 28, 29)
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London., England (September 14)
Nassau County Coliseum, Hempstead, NY (August 14 and 15)
San Francisco Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA (December 14)

The three “set lists” indicated on the disc and accompanying listings seem at least somewhat arbitrary, given the fact that ten concerts were utilized to compile the recording. That said, the songs included on the Blu-ray audio disc are:

01. Love the One You’re With

02. Wooden Ships

03. Immigration Man

04. Helpless

05. Carry Me

06. Johnny’s Garden

07. Traces

08. Grave Concern

09. On the Beach

10. Black Queen

11. Almost Cut My Hair

12. Change Partners

13. The Lee Shore

14. Only Love Can Break Your Heart

15. Our House

16. Fieldworker

17. Guinevere

18. Time After Time

19. Prison Song

20. Long May You Run

21. Goodbye Dick

22. Mellow My Mind

23. Old Man

24. Word Game

25. Myth of Sisyphus

26. Blackbird

27. Love Art Blues

28. Hawaiian Sunrise

29. Teach Your Children

30. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes

31. Déjà Vu

32. My Angel

33. Pre-Road Downs

34. Don’t Be Denied

35. Revolution Blues

36. Military Madness

37. Long Time Gone

38. Pushed It Over the End

39. Chicago

40. Ohio

CSNY 1974 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Despite this being an "audio Blu-ray", there is actual video content, albeit minimally, on the Blu-ray disc. A static menu is presented in 1080i and 1.78:1 via the AVC codec (seen in screenshots 1-4) which offers access to a tracklist. Also arrowing right while a track is playing will display the name of the track on the right side of the frame (where the plain black is). Either way, the currently playing track is listed in blue text at the top of the frame.

Perhaps more importantly, the Bonus DVD offers performances from two different concerts (see the Supplements section for more details) in 480p and 1.33:1 via MPEG-2. Video quality here is highly variable, but is at least watchable (screenshot 5, which you must click on to see in its original aspect ratio, is from the DVD). Almost all of it suffers from chroma anomalies and outright noise, and there's also attendant ghosting and stability issues. The historical import of these videos far outweighs any issues with the elements, and fans will no doubt be thrilled to see all four of these guys sharing the stage with each other.

CSNY 1974 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

CSNY 1974 offers only an LPCM 2.0 (192/24) rendering of these live performances, and some may wonder about that, since at the very least a multichannel board must have been used during the actual shows. A cursory review of the booklet provides no historical data about mixdown (I frankly have not had time to read every word in the 186 pages), but since Graham Nash is so integrally involved in this release, it must be assumed that stereo masters were all there were to work with. For the most part, the results here are surprisingly clear and well balanced. There's variable crowd noise which probably only serves to highlight the fact that these are coming from different venues, but in terms of the actual on stage sound, things are remarkably consistent. That said, there are variables in the performances. Stills sounds really haggard—maybe tired is a better word—on tunes like "Love the One You're With", but much better on other tunes. The harmonies here are nowhere near as tight as on the studio albums, so fans should be prepared not to hear "recreations" of those arrangements. But in fact one of the disc's chief selling points is the immediacy of these performances, where tunes like "Ohio" just erupt with a fury that not even their original iterations ever attained. The mix occasionally stumbles (I personally would have liked Nash's piano on "Our House" to have been mixed a little hotter). There are also inescapable issues when one of the guys gets too close to a microphone and it's obvious the levels were pushed beyond normal limits, resulting in brief but apparent distortion. For some, that issue will only increase the appreciation that we're hearing four iconic musicians in a surprisingly unvarnished and "unplugged" (figuratively if not literally) manner.

CSNY 1974 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus DVD (480p; 43:11) offers snippets from two separate performances. These are:

Capital Centre 8/20/74

Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Almost Cut My Hair

Grave Concern

Old Man

Wembley Stadium 9/14/74

Johnny's Garden

Our House

Deja Vu

Pushed It Over the End

Note: See screenshots 6 and 7 (click to see in actual aspect ratio) for information on the source elements of these two shoots.


• Booklet contains a massive 186 pages of photos, interviews and an especially incisive essay on the band and its members by Pete Long. Even those who consider themselves CSNY aficionados will probably find something to chew on in the trove of information contained in this booklet.

CSNY 1974 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

CSNY 1974 is an important historical document, offering proof positive that though the actual band might have been in a state of flux, as a performing unit, the guys continued to work well together, providing each other with a lot of energy and arranging prowess. These performances reveal a slightly more ragged sound than those who only know the group through its studio albums may be used to, but that only increases the immediacy of the performances. There's some charming stuff here ("Hawaiian Sunrise") mixed with the group's own standards (including a blistering "Ohio") as well as a cover tune or two (a nice if occasionally stumbling "Blackbird"). The bonus DVD is a great look at the quartet actually sharing the stage with each other, and the booklet is a veritable treasure trove of information and fantastic photos. Audio here is near perfect, with just a few niggling concerns for curmudgeonly audiophiles (like this reviewer). Highly recommended.