PREMIERE: Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young – Pre-Road Downs

TAKEN FROM RHINO’S NEW deluxe 4-disc box set documenting Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s historic summer 1974 arena tour, Pre-Road Downs shows the group ripping through a highlight from CSN’s epochal 1969 debut album. The track, written by Graham Nash about the hurt of leaving a loved one to perform on the road, is a grooving soft-rocker which David Crosby describes as “a Nash song after he realised he could write rock’n’roll”.

This raggedly ballsy live version sees Stephen Stills recreating the wild backwards guitar solo on the original recording, his Gibson Firebird edgily counterpointed by Neil Young’s Gretsch White Falcon. The tour – organised by notorious West Coast promoter Bill Graham – marked a CSN&Y ‘reunion’ after a three-year break from touring, and sent fans into raptures with three-and-a-half-hour sets showcasing the band members’ collective and solo triumphs.

CSNY 1974 is out on July 8 via Rhino, and features three CDs of live tracks and a DVD of unreleased footage shot at Wembley Stadium and the Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland. Pre-order it here.