Why is Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s So Far on my best 1,000 albums ever list?
So far so good.
What does Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s So Far mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?
While So Far is a bit of an oddball album in that it’s a mid-career “best of” compilation of earlier albums produced by both the Crosby, Stills & Nash trio and the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young foursome, in aggregate it captures an incredible swath of these four artists’ work and thus, in my ruling as Lord and High Chancellor of this project, is indeed best 1,000 albums ever worthy.
“Our House” is particularly blowing my mind as of this writing. It starts with a gentle, almost Harry Nilsson vibe – singer songwriter over a piano – before swelling into a gorgeous Beatles-esque number that fully expresses the harmonies and vocal dynamics that only David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young can bring to bear.
Many of you might be even more familiar with Madness’ cover of “Our House,” which became a huge hit around in the early 1980s. As a huge fan of Madness’ ska-based music (see: One Step Beyond…, #957 of best 1,000 albums ever as example), I’m always amused that this is what Madness is often best known for, as an aside.
“Ohio” is one of the defining songs of the Vietnam War era in the United States, shedding light on the tragedy of four students getting killed (“…four dead in Ohio”) by police at Kent State University during anti-war protests. It’s a beautiful and passionately angry folk rock song.
“Wooden Ships” is a more eclectic, psychedelic tune that shows of the groups’ musical chops quite nicely.
Some stats & info about Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – So Far
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Soft Rock, Album Rock, Singer Songwriter
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was So Far released? 1974
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #710 out of 1,000
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s So Far on YouTube
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.