Anyway, I forgot how worthless "Lady of the Island" is- that thing can barely even be considered a song! In general, Nash had the cheesiest moments- "Our House" is one you didn't mention. But yeah, "Almost Cut My Hair" is inherently cheesy and made even cheesier by Crosby's overly emotive (my issue with his singing in general) delivery. "Helpless" is just boring.
And even on good songs like "Judy Blue Eyes", they've got lines like "ruby throated sparrow, thrill me to the marrow" which is one of the worst lyrics ever. I guess that's an example of their pretentiousness- I'd much rather have a shitty Beach Boys lyric about cars or surfing than a miserably failed attempt at being poetic like the "sparrow/marrow" line.
But as a whole, the debut is still fairly enjoyable (forgot how good "Helplessly Hoping" is despite the gimmicky lyrical motif). And yeah the harmonies are okay but not among the best ever like many fans claim. I generally prefer harmonies featuring voices/singing approaches that are more similar to one another than CSN's were (Beach Boys, Everly Bros etc).
Responses