I hate to be the one to say it, but somebody has to do the hard jobs - Graham Nash was the weak link in Crosby, Stills & Nash, and by extension CSNY (It's obviously not Neil). It baffles me when people call Stephen Stills the weak link in the group when he's the same guy that gave us "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," "Helplessly Hoping," "Carry On," and "Everybody I Love You," by the way. Nash is not an incapable writer obviously, but I always found moments like "Teach Your Children" to be lacking the same bite or appeal to me as moments like "Almost Cut My Hair" or "4+20" just as examples. That being said, he was the most pop-minded out of the three (certainly his tenure with The Hollies is to blame), so a Graham Nash solo album has plenty of potential for a collection of sweet little folk songs with a hell of a lot of hooks. Well, this hurts - Songs for Beginners is easily the weakest of the four initial CSNY solo albums. While Nash does occasionally deliver on the hooky nature of his CSNY material, most of the record is too sleepy or ho-hum for its own good, even with its brilliant polish - it doesn't help that Nash's songwriting is somewhat hit or miss on this album. The end result is a fine record, but not a good one.
The strongest aspect of Songs for Beginners is not the songs, nor the writing, nor even Graham Nash's voice (more on that later), but the production. Granted, I am listening to the 2008 remix, but even still this is a pretty clean album - Nash produced it all himself, and it regularly has a down-to-Earth feel and style to most of the songs, which is probably the one thing most suited for Nash on this record. I don't mean to say that this is the only good thing about the record, because Graham does prove his tunefulness at a decent amount of points throughout the record - "Wounded Bird" is a sweet little acoustic ballad that bursts into some beautiful harmonies in the final verse, which makes it the album's first real victory, even with some simple lyrics. "Man in the Mirror" is a solid folk/country number with what is probably the best hook on the entire album. For what it's worth, it's also probably the best song on the album lyrically outside of the soaring "Chicago" at the end of the album. Speaking of, "Chicago" is an angry protest song that reflects on the violence of the '68 Democratic Convention, and it's easily the album standout - there's a reason this was so frequently performed by CSN afterwards. "I Used to Be King" and "There's Only One" are decently strong numbers in their own right, as well, but not nearly as noteworthy as the aforementioned songs.
Now, what's wrong with this record? Simply put, I don't think Graham Nash is that great of a solo singer. This was an immediate issue that I noticed straight out of the gate with "Military Madness," although that song also showcases the second issue with the album - Nash's lyrics are pretty rough at points. While he can certainly hold his own on songs like "Chicago" or "Man in the Mirror," really read the lyrics to some of these; "Sleep Song" is easily the worst case of this. "When I return, I will kiss your eyes open / Take off my clothes and I'll lay by your side / Then I will wait till the Sandman has done with you." Jesus. Enough about the lyrics, what do I mean about Graham Nash? He sounds great on CSNY albums, doesn't he? Yes, he does, but he's also harmonizing with two other folks on that album, and I think that does a great deal to make his voice sound as lovely as it does - without some harmonizing, I just find his voice to be hit-or-miss. "Better Days," the album's most popular tune, is a key example of this - what could've been a pretty good CSNY song is half of its strength when it's just Nash singing it, and ultimately because of it, this excellent break-up song becomes lesser.
If only Nash got a little help from some CSNY friends along the way - David Crosby played guitar on one song, but you're telling me he couldn't have stepped up to the mic for a little bit? Songs for Beginners could've been a fun time with a few minor tweaks, and some of the album's best moments really do show what the rest of the album could be. Unfortunately, there's quite a handful of issues throughout that ultimately make Songs for Beginners a fine enough debut album, but one that lacks a good amount of the excitement or quality of his contemporaries. It seems the best of Nash's material either ended up on Déjà vu or is regularly performed live on early records by CSNY, including "Chicago" - check those out, grab a few of these tunes, and lay the rest to bed.
RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
Listen to Songs for Beginners.
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