Five soft rock albums that deserve more love

David Crosby - If I Could Only Remember My Name

Crosby’s solo work seems to be always overshadowed by the one he did with The Byrds, Crosby Stills and Nash, and Crosby Still Nash and Young, even with the albums that lagged a bit in the output of these bands. At the time when this album was released back in 1971, it actually got quite a lot of flak, particularly from the critics, and its real re-assessment has only begun recently.

Crosby’s solo debut included quite a wide group of his colleagues and stars, from Neil Young and Graham Nash to Jerry Garcia and other members of The Grateful Dead as well as Crosby’s good pals from Jefferson Airplane.

It turns out that the album caught Crosby at the moment of creative fire he was in when he wrote his material for CSNY. These tracks include the elongated “Cowboy Movie” equalling the excellence of “Deja Vu” with the rest of the album, particularly the introductory “Music Is Love” and soothingly gentle “Laughing” leading the way.

The 2021 reissue of the album with the inclusion of additional material started the much-deserved re-evaluation of this excellent album. Everybody should actually remember the name of the late legend.