Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Déjá Vu Review

Carried more by the talented names tied to it than the songs themselves, Déjá Vu has an almost impossible expectation to reach. David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young, come together and make for what is, on paper, one of the greatest supergroups of all time. It rivals The Traveling Wilburys, knocks The Highwaymen off their pedestal and overtakes SuperHeavy. Yet with all this talent, the personal shortcomings of each man, the arguments and sudden departures of this member or that, took its toll on their longevity. Such is the case for independent spirits compiling their best efforts. Déjá Vu is, at times, a fantastic display of those abilities, though it often falls short. Folk-rock overlaps provide, at times, a great sound for the four-piece. But these are just summaries; the detail of the electrified country tone is lacking. 

What Déjá Vu relies on, above all, is the laid-back coolness of four greats working together. It is the experience which prevails rather than the results. A song like Carry On may be a standout track, but it is the independent efforts, where the rest of the musicians play second fiddle to a vocal lead, which offers the best moments for this supergroup. Almost Cut My Hair stands as a brilliant allegory, the freak flag flying under the constraints of a musical partnership where the four-piece has wildly different wants and needs. For it, as well as Woodstock and the title track to work, there needs to be blind trust from each member in the other. Déjá Vu does not often find that necessity, but when it does it builds up some fine contemporary folk sound. Paranoia increasing as the notes are pitched higher on the electric guitar, the groovy, natural flow of Young and Stills on instrumental duties while Crosby cements a high point of the album on Almost Cut My Hair, is astonishing.  

If only Déjá Vu could repeat such a wild success. What follows are admirable works, impressive moments, rather than complete triumphs. Where it is cool to hear Stills and Nash back Crosby and Young, or vice versa, it is the lack of creative overlap in lyrics or instrumentals which Déjá Vu suffers from. There is no sense of collaboration beyond cool jams and backing vocals. Either one man leads the lyrics, or they all do. There is a lack of trust in the production, particularly from Young who worked in isolation from the rest of the group. He was always a hanger-on of the four-piece, more interested in his own, wildly superior works, anyway. It is why his songs here, Helpless for instance, sounds like a piece ready for inclusion on Zuma or On the Beach, rather than Déjá Vu. Our House from Nash has this problem, too. A delightful song which does not fit the tone of the songs preceding or following.

When a four-piece cannot sacrifice their independent sound, they find themselves closer to compilation than creative partnership. Such is the problem for Déjá Vu, a brilliant album in parts. Irrespective of Déjá Vu and the group missing their purpose, this is still a collection of some of the finest-working musicians, riffing and jamming, back-and-forth, if at times that collaborative point is limited. Young keeps this one from dipping into a countrified sound, which would fail to stand out. He has always been a phenomenal guitarist, and even with a leash around his neck on some of these tracks, he still feels like the standout performer, as evidenced on Woodstock. The sum of these parts is not as strong as the individuals who provide them. Beautiful moments, but a rough whole, is what makes Déjá Vu such a wonderful, yet occasionally frustrating, piece of work.