DAVID CROSBY & GRAHAM NASH
Whistling Down The Wire (MCA)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are in the midst of a predictably successful reunion tour, which provides a perfect pretext for a reappraisal of the Crosby-Nash spinoff that filled the gap during the break CSNY took before reappearing in their original CSN configuration later in the seventies. MCA has advanced the cause by reissuing the Crosby-Nash output on CD, with production by original session engineer Stephen Barncard and perceptive notes by journalist Steve Silberman.

Whistling Down The Wire was the third studio effort by the duo, first appearing on ABC Records in 1976. While it's never been considered their peak performance, it's full of the kind of jazzy Crosby ballads and emotionally charged Nash pop that endeared them to a legion of fans. They were backed by The Section, an A-list ensemble that included guitarist Danny Kortchmar, drummer Russ Kunkel, keyboardist Craig Doerge, bassist Tim Drummond and instrumental renaissance man David Lindley on electric, slide and pedal steel guitars, violin and viola.

More than the songs or the band, though, there are the voices. David Crosby and Graham Nash stand nearly alone in the pantheon of male harmony duos. Fairness dictates a nod to the Everly Brothers as their peers, but for the last three decades there's been no serious competition. Whistling Down The Wire has taken some criticism over the years for the material offered. There's no doubt that the best songs from either pen are found elsewhere, but the singing here is as good as anywhere, and when it comes to singing, Crosby & Nash are as good as it gets. The vocal performances alone make this one worth having, and while it may be true that they both wrote better material, there are some damn fine songs here, too.

Track List:

Spotlight * Broken Bird * Time After Time * Dancer * Mutiny * J.B.'s Blues * Marguerita * Taken At All * Foolish Man * Out Of The Darkness

© 2000 - Shaun Dale