Lighthouse David Crosby
Album info
Album-Release:
2016
HRA-Release:
20.10.2016
Album including Album cover Booklet (PDF)
- 1 Things We Do For Love 04:15
- 2 The Us Below 03:43
- 3 Drive Out To The Desert 04:17
- 4 Look In Their Eyes 04:39
- 5 Somebody Other Than You 04:24
- 6 The City 04:45
- 7 Paint You A Picture 04:25
- 8 What Makes It So? 04:00
- 9 By The Light Of Common Day 06:15
Info for Lighthouse
Lighthouse is the new album from music icon David Crosby. The lighthouse image relates to Crosby’s deep love for the ocean—he has been an avid sailor since he was a child in Santa Barbara, and the sea has been a major muse in his song writing for decades (Wooden Ships, The Lee Shore, Carry Me are examples). But Crosby is not just a member of the aging baby boomers, beats and hippies. He remains- despite his age- a revered and respected musician to a host of young, alternative folk, rock and jazz musicians (ex: Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Iron and Wine, The National, Beirut, James Blake, Sufjan Stevens).
While there were 20 years between the 74-year-old David Crosby’s last solo album, 2014’s Croz, and its predecessor It's All Coming Back To Me Now..., Lighthouse arrives with what must be seen as exceptional speed. It’s also, despite being recorded at Jackson Browne’s studio (like Croz) and one co-write with singer-songwriter Mark Cohn, an album more dialled-in to today than Croz due to Snarky Puppy’s leader Michael League being on board as producer and main co-writer. Venerable figures like Mark Knopfler, Wynton Marsalis and Leland Sklar are absent. But there is a lot of Crosby himself. More than on any album he has previously made.
Collaborating with a jazz musician is no surprise. Crosby’s 1971 first solo album If I Could Only Remember My Name was defined by its jazzy tonal shifts as much as its drifting atmosphere. With Lighthouse, Crosby and League have clearly looked back to that debut: the floating mood, glistening guitar, close-miked voice and multi-tracked chorale evoke much of the solo debut. The crucial difference lies in the directness of the songs themselves.
Lighthouse lays familiarly impressionistic lyrics over nine straightforwardly structured short songs (nothing over four and three-quarter minutes). “Drive Out to the Desert” threatens to drift off into the blissed-out but instead returns to its main guitar and vocal refrain. The same with the clipped yet snappy “Paint You a Picture”. Although Crosby’s voice is not as flexible as it was, Lighthouse is defined by a sparseness foregrounding each of the elements that make it a whole, the most notable of which are Crosby’s chiming guitar and reflective voice. Not a classic but, like Croz, a tender restatement of what makes David Crosby unique.
David Crosby, vocals, acoustic guitar
Michael League, vocals, bass, acoustic guitar
Becca Stevens, vocals
Cory Henry, organ
Bill Laurence, piano
Michelle Willis, vocals
David Crosby
Legendary singer-songwriter and social justice activist David Crosby is a two time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, inducted as a member of both the iconic folk-rock band The Byrds — with whom he first rose to stardom — and the iconic Woodstock era-defining group Crosby, Stills & Nash.
A native Californian-and son of an Academy Award-winning cinematographer-Crosby originally intended to be an actor when he moved from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles in 1960. Music prevailed, however, and Crosby began his career as a folksinger, playing clubs and coffeehouses nationwide. Back in L.A. in '63, Crosby formed The Byrds with Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Gene Clark and Michael Clarke, winning widespread recognition for his songwriting and charismatic presence. Driven by hits including "Eight Miles High," "Turn! Turn! Turn!," and a cover of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man," The Byrds' signature electric folk-rock influenced countless musicians to come.
Crosby left The Byrds in 1967 to embark on a lifelong collaboration with Graham Nash and Stephen Stills. Renowned for vocal harmonies, stellar musicianship and timeless songs, Crosby, Stills, & Nash (CSN) have been called "the voice of a generation," and were GRAMMY-honored in 1969 as Best New Artist. The trio's self-titled debut album introduced classics including the Crosby-penned tracks "Guinnevere" and "Wooden Ships"—today, it is included on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Crosby continues to tour and record with CSN, as well as with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and as a duo with Graham Nash.
As a solo artist, Crosby debuted with the 1971 masterpiece If Only I Could Remember My Name, recently reissued as a two-disc set featuring a 5.1 mix, video footage, and other bonuses. David Crosby also performs and records with CPR, the jazz-flavored trio he formed in 1995 with his son James Raymond and Jeff Pevar.
Crosby's most recent release is 2004's Crosby-Nash, a 2-CD set with Graham Nash, their first as a duo since 1976's Whistling Down The Wire. Their debut LP together, '72's Crosby & Nash-featuring "Southbound Train" and "Immigration Man"-is regarded as one of the best side projects from the CSN&Y sphere. Their catalogue also includes 1975's Wind On The Water and the live gem Another Stoney Evening. Previously a CD-only release of a 1971 concert recording, the latter title is now available in digital and LP versions as the inaugural releases on Blue Castle Records, the independent label Crosby formed with Nash in 2011. Voyage, a 3-disc, career-spanning retrospective box set touching on all aspects of Crosby's oeuvre, was released in 2006.
Crosby is also the author of three books including Stand and Be Counted: Making Music, Making History/The Dramatic Story of the Artists and Causes That Changed America, which underscores his commitment to social activism, and belief that artists and musicians are potent agents for change. Crosby's two autobiographical volumes are Long Time Gone and Since Then: How I Survived Everything And Lived To Tell About It. The latter, per Entertainment Weekly, chronicles, "A fascinating life worthy of a sequel."
Booklet for Lighthouse