Earth & Sky
	Produced by Graham Nash and Stanley Johnston
	Released on March 1980
	US CHART POSITION #117
	Find it at GEMM
SWAK-12014 cover [high resolution photo]

I read on the Internet (and, hooray, it still sounds illegitimate) that Graham had intended to keep the Crosby & Nash bicycle upright, but Crosby wasn’t up to it, so he went ahead and pedalled Earth & Sky on his own. (I don’t know if Crosby had to pull out or something, but I’m sure I don’t want to think about it. Really, really sure.) His first “solo” album since Wild Tales (the C&N albums were half solo, or han’s half-brother), Earth & Sky covers a pretty wide range: ballads, midtempo rockers, social stingers. It’s not a landmark album any more than the Crosby & Nash albums were, since for CS&N all roads pointed to the past (only Young kept moving forward). But it’s a professional, even sharp, session with some good material: “It’s All Right,” “Out on the Island,” “Magical Child.” Nash was usually good for a few songs on the CS&N albums; his tastes have always leaned toward treacly Anglophile pop, and I count on him for the sweet stuff. Nothing here is on the level of an “Our House,” and in fact I rarely walk away from this album humming anything. So I return to it periodically, suspecting my mild review guilty of softness, and walk away from it mildly charmed again. I’ve heard too many lousy solo albums form the Seventies (Chris Hillman, Jay Ferguson, Stephen Stills) to mistake the middle of the barrel with the black, gooey bottom. Earth & Sky is mead from the middle-barrel, intoxicating for a short spell just like those Crosby & Nash albums (no wonder, since the full-time absence of Crosby is the only thing that separates the two). Songs for Beginners is still the place to start, and then--well, you’ve probably got things to do. But Earth & Sky has a place in the world of CS&N alongside Wind on the Water, Whistling Down the Wire and the west of the woods cut from this interesting axis.

SWAK-12014 back cover	SWAK-12014 inner gatefold

TRACK LISTING

1. EARTH & SKY    3:34
2. LOVE HAS COME    3:47
3. OUT ON THE ISLAND    4:16
4. SKYCHILD    3:53
5. HELICOPTER SONG    2:43
6. BARREL OF PAIN (HALF-LIFE)    5:21
7. T.V. GUIDE    (Joe Vitale/Graham Nash)    1:54
8. IT'S ALL RIGHT    3:12
9. MAGICAL CHILD    3:40
10. IN THE 80'S    3:05
    
    All songs written by Graham Nash unless noted

CREDITS

GRAHAM NASH -- vocals, electric piano, acoustic guitar, organ, string arranngement, rhythm guitar, electric guitar, harmonica
CRAIG DOERGE -- acoustic piano, electric piano, string arrangement, organ
TIM DRUMMOND -- bass, six-string bass
RUSSELL KUNKEL -- drums, percussion
DAVID LINDLEY -- rhythm guitar, Hawaiian guitar, lead guitar
JOE VITALE -- drums, percussion, flute, timpani, synthesizer, acoustic piano
Tim Barr, Debra Pearson, Daniel Smith, Kevan Torfeh, Deborah Yamak, Sid Page, Debra Price, Peter Kent, Carol Shive, Margaret Wooten, Julie Rosenfeld, Jean Hugo, Rhonni Hallman, Vicki Sylvester, Ruth Kahn -- string players
Joel Bernstein -- acoustic guitar, art direction, photos
John Brennan -- rhythm guitar
Jackson Browne -- backing vocals (2)
Cece Bullard -- background vocals
Gloria Coleman -- background vocals
David Crosby -- backing vocals, acoustic guitar
Brenda Eager -- background vocals
Wayne Goodwin -- string arrangement, string conductor, string player
Armando Hurley -- background vocals (2)
Cleo Kennedy -- background vocals
Danny Kortchmar -- rhythm guitar, solo guitar
Leah Kunkel -- background vocals
Joe Lala -- percussion
Nicollette Larson -- background vocals (2)
Steve Lukather -- lead guitar (2)
Jackson Nash -- harmonica (9)
George Perry -- bass
Glen Rosencrans -- music preparation
Stephen Stills -- rhythm guitar
Joe Walsh -- lead guitar, rhythm guitar
Stanley Johnston, Steve Gursky, Ronnie and Howie Albert, Jerry Hudgins -- engineers
Gary Burden -- art direction

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