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Song of the Day #2,829: ‘Teach Your Children’ – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

crosby_stills_nash_deja_vuDeja Vu was the second album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, and the first after the addition of Neil Young. It received universal critical acclaim, sold more than 8 million copies and remains the top-selling album in any of the four men’s careers.

CSN&Y were an early supergroup, each of the members having found success either as solo artists or in other bands. Relationships within the band were often strained, the whole thing barely hanging together, perhaps because they really didn’t need each other.

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Song of the Day #2,828: ‘Up Around the Bend’ – Creedence Clearwater Revival

ccr_cosmos_factoryAs I continue my dive into the best albums of 1970, I’m focusing this week on unfamiliar albums by artists I otherwise know pretty well. I own, or at least know, some material by each of these artists but I don’t have these particular records.

First up is Creedence Clearwater Revival with Cosmo’s Factory, the band’s fifth album and widely considered their best.

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Song of the Day #2,827: ‘Computer Blue’ – Prince

purple_rain_princeThe fourth track from Prince’s classic Purple Rain soundtrack, ‘Computer Blue,’ underwent major changes between concept and final execution. The song originally ran about 14 minutes and ended with “three full minutes of screeching feedback,” according to Wikipedia. I’d say saner minds prevailed.

Apparently the song was trimmed after ‘Take Me With U’ was added to the album lineup, though I’m not sure what one thing has to do with the other.

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Song of the Day #2,826: ‘Easy Way Out’ – Plain White T’s

plain_white_tsPlain White T’s are best known (perhaps only known) for their hit single ‘Hey There Delilah.’ Looking back at Song of the Day #38, when I first posted that song, it’s amusing to see that I discovered it in an episode of iCarly about a year and a half after it was released. Guess I should have been doing the Billboard thing back then.

‘Hey There Delilah’ is such a simple, beautiful song and the other tracks I’ve heard from Plain White T’s just don’t compare. Today’s SOTD isn’t bad, but it’s not in the same league as ‘Delilah.’

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Song of the Day #2,825: ‘Ballad of a Well-KNown Gun’ – Elton John

tumbleweed_connection_elton_johnElton John’s third album, Tumbleweed Connection, received some of the best reviews he’d ever get. The album isn’t chock full of hits, though ‘Burn Down the Mission’ became a concert staple through the decades.

This is a concept album about the West, leaning on the country and blues genres and schewing simple verse-chorus-verse structure for a more experimental songwriting style.

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