(32) David Crosby - If I Could Only Remember My Name (1971)

"If I Could Only Remember My Name" is the debut solo album by David Crosby, released in February 1971 on Atlantic Records. One of four high-profile albums released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their chart-topping Déjà Vu album,
A large grouping of prominent musicians from the era appear on the record, including Nash, Young, Joni Mitchell, members of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana. This ad-hoc ensemble was given the moniker of "The Great Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra" by longtime Crosby associate Paul Kantner;
This album is a one-shot wonder of dreamy but ominous California ambience. The songs range from brief snapshots of inspiration (the angelic chorale-vocal showcase on "Orleans" and the a cappella closer, "I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here") to the full-blown, rambling western epic "Cowboy Movie," and there are absolutely no false notes struck or missteps taken. No one before or since has gotten as much mileage out of a wordless vocal as Crosby does on "Tamalpais High (At About 3)" and "Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)," and because the music is so relaxed, each song turns into its own panoramic vista. Those who don't go for trippy Aquarian sentiment, however, may be slightly put off by the obscure, cosmic storytelling of the gorgeous "Laughing" or the ambiguous (but pointed) social questioning of "What Are Their Names," but in actuality it is an incredibly focused album. Even when a song as pretty as "Traction in the Rain" shimmers with its picked guitars and autoharp, the album is coated in a distinct, persistent menace that is impossible to shake. It is a shame that Crosby would continue to descend throughout the remainder of the decade and the beginning of the next into aimless drug addiction, and that he would not issue another solo album until 18 years later. As it is, "If I Could Only Remember My Name" is a shambolic masterpiece, meandering but transcendentally so, full of frayed threads. Not only is it among the finest splinter albums out of the CSNY diaspora, it is one of the defining moments of hungover spirituality from the era.

Track listing

1.  Music Is Love  (David Crosby, Graham Nash, Neil Young)  - 3:16
2.  Cowboy Movie  (Crosby)  - 8:02
3.  Tamalpais High (At About 3)  (Crosby)  - 3:29
4.  Laughing  (Crosby)  - 5:20
5.  What Are Their Names  (Crosby, Garcia, Lesh, Michael Shrieve, Young)  - 4:09
6.  Traction in the Rain  (Crosby)  - 3:40
7.  Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)  (Crosby)  - 5:53
8.  Orleans  (traditional)  - 1:56
9.  I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here  (Crosby)  - 1:19

Released:  February 22, 1971
Recorded at:  Wally Heiders, San Francisco, CA
Genre:  Rock
Length:  37:04
Label:  Atlantic
Producer:  David Crosby

Personnel
David Crosby – guitars, vocals
Laura Allan - autoharp, vocal
Jack Casady - bass
David Freiberg - vocal
Jerry Garcia – guitars, pedal steel guitar, vocal
Mickey Hart – drums
Paul Kantner - vocal
Bill Kreutzmann – drums, tambourine
Phil Lesh – bass, vocal
Joni Mitchell - vocals
Graham Nash – guitar, vocals
Gregg Rolie - piano
Michael Shrieve - drums
Grace Slick - vocal
Neil Young – guitars, bass, vibraphone, congas, vocals