THE BYRDS ALBUMS RANKED CRACK

“I started out a solo folkie singing in coffee houses,” he told this writer prior to the release of Croz. His last album, 2014’s Croz was more than 20 years removed from its predecessor, but with the announcement of a new album called Lighthouse, due out October 21, he again seem to finally be on track.įor all his flaws and foolishness, Crosby saved himself by his love of music and the spirit of song.

Nevertheless, his individual career floundered for years after his debut solo album in 1971, If Only I Could Remember My Name, Crosby took another 18 years to release its follow-up, Yes I Can. His efforts with Graham Nash gave him a second lease on life, as did his later collaboration as part of CPR, the belated reunion with his long lost son James Raymond.

THE BYRDS ALBUMS RANKED CRACK

That band had its own share of interpersonal squabbles, and crusty personalities, and as Crosby’s dependence on crack cocaine intensified, his alienation from his band mates was further exacerbated.īy the end of the ‘70s, Crosby was living on the fringe personally and creatively. Yet even early on, his irascible personality led to his discharge from that first band of brothers, and from there to the subsequent union of Crosby, Still, Nash and occasionally Young. The songs he wrote and recorded with the Byrds became classics, and his gift for harmony revolutionized the way voices could be locked in unison.

Of course, that would have been a tragedy, especially for a musician who was in the front lines of the burgeoning folk rock era of the mid-‘60s. Had he not spent time in a Dallas jail after finding himself destitute, drugged out and without anywhere to turn, he likely would have been left to his own devices and ultimately succumbed to self-destruction. He squandered his talents, alienated his friends and band mates, and eventually became zombie-like, a sad remnant of his former self. For the better part of the 1970s and ‘80s, he stumbled about, plagued by severe substance abuse, becoming-by his own admission-wasted on the way. Crosby has experienced both scenarios, and one threatened to cause the other to occur. To paraphrase a lyric by David Crosby’s on-again/off-again band mate Neil Young, it’s (never) better to burn out, because once you do, it’s likely you will fade away.

The byrds albums ranked