- Record Label: Reprise
- Release Date: May 14, 2021
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Jun 4, 2021A massive reissue box set has shed a glowing and loving light on this classic collection. ... Starting with the first disc, the remastered version improves the separation of the instruments and restores the warmth of the priceless harmonies that flowed from the original vinyl release. ... The box set is dominated by the acoustic wooden music on which the group built their reputation, but not surprisingly it is Stills who plugs in and cranks it up on several tracks. The tracks come in a bit jarring, but soon grab your ear.
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MojoJun 4, 2021The quantity and quality of the songs they have unearthed that didn't make it onto Deja Vu is pretty amazing. [Jun 2021, p.99]
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Jun 4, 2021“Déjà Vu: 50th Anniversary Edition” is again like those aforementioned Beatles boxed sets in that we can see how close some of those songs came to not being classics, quite, without the final bit of vocal arrangement or an extra melodic element that sent them over the top.
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Classic Rock MagazineJun 4, 2021The highlights have lost none of their lustre. ... What's abundantly clear is that each of the band members was squirrelling away material for their respective solo projects. [Jul 2021, p.90]
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Jun 4, 2021The bulk of the material comes from Crosby, Nash and especially Stills. These include early versions of several tracks that would soon appear on the trio’s own solo albums. ... There are more Stills rarities – “Same Old Song”, “Right On Rock’N’Roll” – and the musician accounts for seven of the eleven songs on the outtakes CD, making this something of a Stills mother lode. Added to these are several completed CSN tracks, complete with the harmonies that brought them together in the first place.
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Jun 4, 2021(The CSNY versions of Young’s Sea Of Madness and Everybody’s Alone would’ve been nice for starters), but there’s still a huge amount here for fans. The demos include some absolute stunners: Young and Nash’s wonderfully languid take on the former’s Birds; a delicate and heady solo version of Crosby’s Laughing; and Nash’s reflective solo rendition of Sleep Song. The outtakes, meanwhile, reveal just how much control Stills took in the studio, with enough material here for a fine standalone solo album of gutsy, soul-steeped jams.
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Jun 4, 2021The original Déjà vu presented CSNY as a united front even as the group was already fraying. This excavation tells the other part of the story: four men working together and, at the same time, starting to drift into their own separate, occasionally colliding worlds.