Wind on the Water
Wind on the Water is the second album by Crosby & Nash, released on ABC Records in 1975. Cassette and 8-track tape versions of the album were distributed by Atlantic Records, to which Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were signed. It peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 album chart and was certified gold by the RIAA.[2] Three singles were released from the album, "Carry Me," "Take the Money and Run," and "Love Work Out," of which only the first charted, peaking at #52 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.[3]
| Wind on the Water | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 15, 1975 | |||
| Recorded | Rudy Records, San Francisco, CA Sound Labs and Village Recorders, Los Angeles, CA | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 40:57 | |||
| Label | ABC Records (1975) MCA Records (2000) | |||
| Producer | David Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Barncard | |||
| Crosby & Nash chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Background
After the summer 1974 tour by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the quartet made a second attempt at a new CSNY studio album. Like the attempt from 1973, this proved fruitless, although the track "Through My Sails" showed up on the 1975 Zuma album by Neil Young. The quartet pursued their own directions, Young forming a new version of Crazy Horse to record Zuma, and Stephen Stills resuming his solo career with a new album in early 1975. David Crosby and Graham Nash opted to reactivate the partnership that had yielded tours in 1971 and 1973 and an album in 1972. This time they made it a going concern, signing a three-album deal with ABC Records, of which this album was the first of their contract.
Content
As on their debut album, most of the instrumental backing was provided by the group of session musicians known as The Section. This quartet consisting of keyboardist Craig Doerge, guitarist Danny Kortchmar, bassist Leland Sklar, and drummer Russell Kunkel, along with multi-instrumentalist David Lindley and bassist Tim Drummond, would be dubbed by Crosby as 'The Mighty Jitters' and provide support for the duo both on stage and in the studio for the remainder of the decade. Sessions for the album took place at Rudy Recorders in San Francisco, and the Sound Lab and Village Recorders in Los Angeles.
Entering their mid-thirties, Crosby and Nash explored darker, trenchant themes in their lyrics for this album, "Carry Me" referencing the death of Crosby's mother, with "Wind on the Water" an elegiac plea concerning the slaughter of whales. As usual, songs topics included personal issues and friends: "Mama Lion" purportedly about Joni Mitchell; "Cowboy of Dreams" about Young; and "Take the Money and Run" concerning the financial aftermath to the mammoth CSNY 1974 tour. Two songs feature the first issued writing collaborations of Nash and Crosby. The one on side two that closes the album, "To the Last Whale...," links two separate compositions: an a cappella sketch by Crosby "Critical Mass," into the title track by Nash.
Wind on the Water was reissued for compact disc on January 11, 2000, on MCA Records. On April 24, 2001, the album was repackaged as Bittersweet on the European budget label Hallmark Records from a second-generation master tape and issued in Europe only. Circa 2002, the album was released in Holland for European distribution under the title The Magic Collection : Crosby and Nash, on the low-budget label ABC Records, in the series "The Magic Collection" (a division of Telesonic Holland). There was a vinyl-only reissue of the original album on Invisible Hands Music in August 2016.
In 2008, the album was reissued with a live concert from an FM broadcast recorded at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium, 14 December 1974 at a concert to benefit the United Farmworkers' Union and Project Jonah.
Track listing
Side one
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Carry Me" | David Crosby | 3:35 |
| 2. | "Mama Lion" | Graham Nash | 3:17 |
| 3. | "Bittersweet" | David Crosby | 2:39 |
| 4. | "Take the Money and Run" | Graham Nash | 3:23 |
| 5. | "Naked in the Rain" | David Crosby, Graham Nash | 2:27 |
| 6. | "Love Work Out" | Graham Nash | 4:45 |
Side two
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Low Down Payment" | David Crosby | 4:54 |
| 2. | "Cowboy of Dreams" | Graham Nash | 3:30 |
| 3. | "Homeward Through the Haze" | David Crosby | 4:06 |
| 4. | "Fieldworker" | Graham Nash | 2:47 |
| 5. | "To the Last Whale..." (A. Critical Mass B. Wind on the Water) | David Crosby, Graham Nash | 5:33 |
2008 bonus disc
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Deja Vu" | David Crosby | 5:25 |
| 2. | "Lady of the Island" | Graham Nash | 3:55 |
| 3. | "Prison Song" | Graham Nash | 3:41 |
| 4. | "Carry Me" | David Crosby | 4:30 |
| 5. | "Calley's Song" | Graham Nash | 2:37 |
| 6. | "Another Sleep Song" | Graham Nash | 3:43 |
| 7. | "King of the Mountain" | David Crosby | 3:58 |
| 8. | "Time After Time" | David Crosby | 3:41 |
| 9. | "Guinevere" | David Crosby | 6:12 |
| 10. | "Fieldworker" | Graham Nash | 4:29 |
| 11. | "The Last Whale" | Graham Nash, David Crosby | 4:02 |
| 12. | "Wooden Ships" | David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Paul Kantner | 5:33 |
| 13. | "What Are Their Names?" | David Crosby | 0:58 |
| 14. | "Chicago" | Graham Nash | 5:04 |
| 15. | "Long Time Gone" | David Crosby | 6:30 |
Personnel
- David Crosby — vocals; electric guitar on "Carry Me", "Mama Lion", "Love Work Out", "Low Down Payment", "Homeward Through the Haze" and "Fieldworker"; twelve-string guitar on "Carry Me"; guitar on "Naked in the Rain"; piano on "Bittersweet"
- Graham Nash — vocals; electric guitar on "Mama Lion", "Low Down Payment" and "Cowboy of Dreams"; piano on "Love Work Out", "Fieldworker" and "To the Last Whale..."; organ on "Homeward Through the Haze"; congas on "Naked in the Rain"
- Additional personnel
- Craig Doerge — electric piano on "Bittersweet", "Naked in the Rain", "Low Down Payment", "Homeward Through the Haze" and "To the Last Whale..."; piano on "Carry Me", "Mama Lion", "Low Down Payment" and "Cowboy of Dreams"; organ on "Love Work Out"
- Carole King — organ on "Bittersweet"; vocals, piano on "Homeward Through the Haze"
- Stan Szelest — electric piano on "Fieldworker"
- David Lindley — slide guitar on "Mama Lion", "Take the Money and Run", "Naked in the Rain", "Love Work Out", "Low Down Payment" and "Fieldworker"; fiddle on "Take the Money and Run" and "Cowboy of Dreams"
- Danny Kortchmar — electric guitar on "Mama Lion", "Bittersweet", "Take the Money and Run", "Naked in the Rain", "Love Work Out" and "Low Down Payment"
- Joel Bernstein — guitar on "Mama Lion" and "Naked in the Rain"; backing vocals on "Cowboy of Dreams"
- James Taylor — guitar on "Carry Me" and "To the Last Whale..."; backing vocals on "To the Last Whale..."
- Ben Keith — slide guitar on "Fieldworker"
- Tim Drummond — bass on "Mama Lion," "Take the Money and Run", "Naked in the Rain", "Love Work Out", "Cowboy of Dreams" and "Fieldworker"
- Leland Sklar — bass on "Carry Me", "Bittersweet", "Low Down Payment", "Homeward Through the Haze" and "To the Last Whale..."
- Russ Kunkel — drums on all tracks except "Fieldworker"; percussion on "Fieldworker"
- Levon Helm — drums on "Fieldworker"
- Jackson Browne — backing vocals on "Love Work Out"
- Jimmie Haskell — string arrangements on "Wind on the Water"
- Sid Sharp — orchestra leader on "Wind on the Water"
- Production personnel
- Crosby & Nash — producers
- Stephen Barncard, Don Gooch — engineers
- Stanley Johnston — assistant engineer
- Gary Burden — art direction
- Joel Bernstein — photography
- Stephen Barncard, Mike Ragonga — reissue producers
- Erick Labson — remastering engineer
Charts
|
Singles
|
Certification
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[10] | Gold | 500,000^ |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Tour[11]
| 1975 Acoustic Tour | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | City | Country | Venue |
| 14 August 1975 | Los Angeles | United States | Universal Amphitheatre |
| 15 August 1975 | |||
| 16 August 1975 | |||
| 17 August 1975 | |||
| 26 August 1975 | Philadelphia | Tower Theater | |
| 27 August 1975 | |||
| 29 August 1975 | Lenox | Tanglewood Music Center | |
| 30 August 1975 | Columbia | Merriweather Post Pavilion | |
| 1 September 1975 | Troy | Pine Knob | |
| 2 September 1975 | Akron | Blossom Center | |
| 3 September 1975 | Chicago | Chicago Auditorium Theater | |
| 5 September 1975 | Holmdel | Garden State Music Center | |
| 7 September 1975 | New York City | Beacon Theater | |
| 8 September 1975 | |||
| 13 October 1975 | Berkeley | Greek Theater | |
| 14 October 1975 | Santa Barbara | County Bowl | |
| 1975 Electric Tour | |||
| 10 October 1975 | Williamsburg | United States | Wiliam and Mary College |
| 11 October 1975 | Washington | Georgetown University | |
| 12 October 1975 | |||
| 15 October 1975 | Macomb | Western Illinois University | |
| 17 October 1975 | Champaign | University of Illinois | |
| 18 October 1975 | Oxford | Ohio University | |
| 21 October 1975 | Boston | Boston Music Hall | |
| 22 October 1975 | Springfield | Civic Center | |
| 24 October 1975 | Lafayette | Purdue University | |
| 25 October 1975 | Carbondale | Southern Illinois University | |
| 28 October 1975 | Dallas | Moody College | |
| 29 October 1975 | Houston | ||
| 31 October 1975 | Miami | Jai Alai Fronton | |
| 1 November 1975 | St. Petersburg | ||
| 2 November 1975 | Gainesville | University of Florida | |
| 5 November 1975 | Atlanta | ||
| 7 November 1975 | Erie | ||
| 8 November 1975 | South Bend | Notre Dame University | |
| 9 November 1975 | Ypsilanti | Eastern Michigan University | |
| 11 November 1975 | Pittsburgh | Carnegie-Mellon University | |
| 13 November 1975 | Bowling Green | Bowling Green State University | |
| 14 November 1975 | Mt. Pleasant | Central Michigan University | |
| 15 November 1975 | Kalamazoo | Wings Stadium | |
| 21 November 1975 | Berkeley | Zellerbach Auditorium | |
| 22 November 1975 | |||
| 23 November 1975 | |||
| 24 November 1975 | |||
| 26 November 1975 | Anaheim | Anaheim Convention Center | |
| 1 December 1975 | Tokyo | Japan | Nippon Budokan |
References
- Elias, Jason. Wind on the Water at AllMusic
- RIAA database retrieved 16 August 2014
- Wind on the Water MCA 088 112 043-2, 2000 reissue, liner notes.
- "Stephen Stills". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
- Canada, Library and Archives (2013-04-16). "The RPM story". www.bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
- "CASH BOX MAGAZINE: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
- "RECORD WORLD MAGAZINE: 1942 to 1982". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
- "CASH BOX MAGAZINE: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
- "RECORD WORLD MAGAZINE: 1942 to 1982". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
- "American album certifications – David Crosby & Graham Nash – Wind On The Water". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 9 June 2016. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.
- Dunn, Dean A. "Crosby Stills & Nash 1975 Concerts". www.geocities.ws. Retrieved 2018-08-19.
