Just Roll Tape

Product Description:

Personnel: Stephen Stills (dobro).

Recording information: New York, NY (04/28/1968).

Over the years since Neil Young's godlike status has grown, it is easy to forget about the jaw-dropping breadth of talent that was Crosby, Stills & Nash, his sometimes former bandmates. Crosby had the silken voice, Nash the impossibly high harmony, but as the remarkable official bootleg JUST ROLL TAPE: April 26th 1968 proves the trio was Stephen Stills's. Reportedly recorded in one long take after he bribed the engineer of a Judy Collins session on the titular date to continue recording long into the night, JUST ROLL TAPE is what its title suggests: a roll of inspired performances of songs from Still's embryonic catalog just before Crosby and Nash's angelic voices stormed the pop charts with him.

In fact, the whole night seems designed by the infamously raw producer David Briggs: tracks are brisk, mistakes are kept, the sound is rough, and every song sounds like a first take. And what a string of first takes: "So Begins the Task"--later released on MANASSAS--presages the finger-picked bleakness of DEJA VU's "4 & 20"; "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" finds particular starkness as a solo song despite the jubilant open chords; and "The Doctor Will See You Now" holds its own against anything in Young's catalog. While his songwriting and guitar playing are stellar, Stills' voice is equally stunning, with its tender, affecting rasp making an AM weeper like "Helplessly Hoping" sound tough. A rough gem of a listen, but a must-have for any fans of Stills or Crosby, Stills & Nash.