147 - Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young - Deja Vu
I have completely fallen in love with this album. I haven't been a big fan of “Teach Your Children” or “Our House” in the past. I respected them, but would typically skip or ignore them when I hear 'em. In context of Deja Vu, I never felt a need to skip to the next song. I will confess that just a few months ago, I downloaded Weird Al's most recent album. One of my favorite tracks from that album is the CSNY-inspired “Mission Statement”. I listened to that song on repeat often, so when I clicked play on Deja Vu and “Carry On” sounded very much like “Mission Statement”, I was instantly put in a good mood.
Over the course of the album, each member of the group pulls gets a chance to highlight his sound, but the harmonies help tie the varying sounds together. This is another one of the group albums where each songwriter has such a different approach that the album has a loose compilation feel to it. While there have been times where I felt the song sequence may have been adjusted to lessen some of the jumps in sound, it's not like I felt any of the songs didn't belong with the others.
Deja Vu will continue to get listens from me on Spotify and a purchase of the CD is going to happen before 2015 comes to a close.
Songs I Knew I Liked: “Teach Your Children” and “Our House”
Songs I Now Like: “Carry On,” “Woodstock” (I skipped this song so much growing up that when listening to it on this album, it felt like a new song to me), “Deja Vu,” and “Country Girl (suite)”
Songs I Don't Want to Ever Hear Again: None