Graham Nash – Over The Years
Rhino – 29 June 2018
“Over the Years,” a collection of demos made from 1968 to 1980, is an outstanding new release from Graham Nash. The songs are brilliantly underproduced, raw and naked, mainly recorded with just acoustic guitar and piano over Nash’s vocals. And although several are flawed in some way – out of tune, flubbed lyrics, etc… they still feel fresh and original.
The oldest songs were recorded 50 years ago by the 76-year-old Blackpool, Lancashire native. That was around the time Nash left the Hollies and relocated to Los Angeles, a tumultuous time for the singer and the world around him. Recorded mainly on his acoustic, the songs perfectly reflect the warmth, energy and clean vocals for which Nash is known. As he sings in Simple Man, sung gently over piano chords that any second-year student could play, “I am a simple man, I sing a simple song.”
Album opener, Marrakesh Express, a tune penned in 1968 and rejected by The Hollies, is a good example. You hear Nash’s lilting vocals over a chugga chugga train track beat. This stripped-down version is played at a noticeably slower tempo, with less the feeling of racing toward a destination (like the official version), and more focus on the journey that is the song.
No need to worry above lyrical relevance either. The 1968 hippie call to arms, Chicago, is full of anxiety and a little venom. Cliché as it may sound, the desperate innocence of the lyrics is more than relevant in the current context. “We can change the world, re-arrange the world, it’s dying to get better,” he sang. Weak, corrupt leaders and great protest music do indeed co-exist at times.
Teach Your Children evidently began as a strummer, with the middle harmony line accented on the vocal. Nash enunciates the lyrics clearly, repeating the same melody on “don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you would cry…” The rough version is a bit different than the more familiar one, although again, the lyrics feel just as powerful today.
Wind on the Water, from the first Crosby-Nash album, is another highlight. The song was recorded with only guitar and piano before the orchestral sweep was added to the official version. It’s a beautiful rendition with the basic structure of the song already in place, minus the strings. The intensity in his voice is powerful for a demo. One wonders if Nash had the (equally powerful) full version in mind when he cut this track.
Just a Song Before I Go, famously written in 15 minutes before heading to the airport, switches up the piano intro, adds a Neil Young-inspired harmonica solo and adjusts the tempo. This take has a different feel for sure, but the foundation of their highest charting song is still very much evident.
Our House is even more plainly charming than the final version. (Is that even possible?) The simple piano arrangement and lightly inflected vocals will have you falling in love again with the song that Nash wrote for Joni Mitchell about their idyllic abode they shared in Laurel Canyon 50 years ago.
The CD comes as a two-disk set – the first disk contains original and re-mixed recordings that more or less serve as a greatest hits collection. Disc 1 is more than adequate, but nothing you haven’t heard before with remastered versions of Nash classics like “Military Madness” and “Simple Man.” They’re good for comparative purposes, but the demos are the real treat on this album.
Indeed, this release is far more than just a curious historical recording – you’ll hit repeat often. There’s raw, heroic quality hidden in these versions. After years of listening to the official (overplayed) tracks, these takes are quite refreshing, at least for now sounding superior to the songs we’ve known for so long.