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 No. 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.[3]

Wind on the Water
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 15, 1975
RecordedRudy Records, San Francisco, California
Sound Labs and Village Recorders, Los Angeles, California
GenreRock
Length40:57
LabelABC Records (1975)
MCA Records (2000)
ProducerDavid Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Barncard
Crosby & Nash chronology
Graham Nash/David Crosby
(1972)
Wind on the Water
(1975)
Whistling Down the Wire
(1976)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]

Background

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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

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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. In 2002, the album was released in the Netherlands 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). In 2008, the album was reissued in the UK, for the local and European distribution, on Landmark label (a division of Entertain Me Europe Ltd.), this time under the title Take the Money and Run. 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

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Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Carry Me"David Crosby3:35
2."Mama Lion"Graham Nash3:17
3."Bittersweet"Crosby2:39
4."Take the Money and Run"Nash3:23
5."Naked in the Rain"
  • Crosby
  • Nash
2:27
6."Love Work Out"Nash4:45
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Low Down Payment"Crosby4:54
2."Cowboy of Dreams"Nash3:30
3."Homeward Through the Haze"Crosby4:06
4."Fieldworker"Nash2:47
5."To the Last Whale..."
a. "Critical Mass" (Crosby)
b. "Wind on the Water" (Nash)
  • Crosby
  • Nash
5:33

2008 bonus disc

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No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Deja Vu"Crosby5:25
2."Lady of the Island"Nash3:55
3."Prison Song"Nash3:41
4."Carry Me"Crosby4:30
5."Calley's Song"Nash2:37
6."Another Sleep Song"Nash3:43
7."King of the Mountain"Crosby3:58
8."Time After Time"Crosby3:41
9."Guinevere"Crosby6:12
10."Fieldworker"Nash4:29
11."The Last Whale"Nash, Crosby4:02
12."Wooden Ships"Crosby, Stephen Stills, Paul Kantner5:33
13."What Are Their Names?"Crosby0:58
14."Chicago"Nash5:04
15."Long Time Gone"Crosby6:30

Personnel

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  • 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"; acoustic piano on "Bittersweet"
  • Graham Nash — vocals; electric guitar on "Mama Lion", "Low Down Payment" and "Cowboy of Dreams"; acoustic piano on "Love Work Out", "Fieldworker" and "To the Last Whale..."; Hammond organ on "Homeward Through the Haze"; congas on "Naked in the Rain"
Additional personnel
  • Craig Doergeelectric piano on "Bittersweet", "Naked in the Rain", "Low Down Payment", "Homeward Through the Haze" and "To the Last Whale..."; acoustic piano on "Carry Me", "Mama Lion", "Low Down Payment" and "Cowboy of Dreams"; Hammond organ on "Love Work Out"
  • Carole King — Hammond organ on "Bittersweet"; backing vocals, acoustic piano on "Homeward Through the Haze"
  • Stan Szelest — electric piano on "Fieldworker"
  • David Lindleyslide 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 Drummondbass 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 Haskellstring arrangements on "Wind on the Water"
  • Sid Sharp — orchestra leader on "Wind on the Water"
Production personnel

Charts

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Certification

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[10] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

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 Theatre
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 William 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

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  1. ^ Elias, Jason. Wind on the Water at AllMusic
  2. ^ RIAA database retrieved 16 August 2014
  3. ^ Wind on the Water MCA 088 112 043-2, 2000 reissue, liner notes.
  4. ^ a b "Stephen Stills". Billboard. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  5. ^ Canada, Library and Archives (16 April 2013). "The RPM story". www.bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  6. ^ "CASH BOX MAGAZINE: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  7. ^ "RECORD WORLD MAGAZINE: 1942 to 1982". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  8. ^ a b "CASH BOX MAGAZINE: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  9. ^ "RECORD WORLD MAGAZINE: 1942 to 1982". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  10. ^ "American album certifications – David Crosby & Graham Nash – Wind On The Water". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  11. ^ Dunn, Dean A. "Crosby Stills & Nash 1975 Concerts". www.geocities.ws. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
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