Replay is the sixth album by Crosby, Stills & Nash and their second retrospective, appearing in 1980 on the Atlantic Records label. It contains no material with Neil Young, but does include CSN solo projects. It peaked at #122 on the Billboard 200, their first album not to chart in the top ten.
Background
In 1980, Stephen Stills invited Graham Nash to accompany him on a tour of Europe, both subsequently deciding to record songs together in this unexplored permutation of CSNY. The label, however, wanted more CSN product, and with the pair still in process, released this package for the Christmas sales season. The pair continued to work in the studio together, but again Atlantic Records insisted on the inclusion of David Crosby as the CSN brand increased sales potential greatly, which would result in their next album, Daylight Again. Apparently given his minimal number of writing credits and therefore low royalties, Crosby had no hand in the selection for Replay, dismissing the album as "an obvious money trip, nothing more." A strange compilation, it contains four album cuts taken from outside the parent CSN discography, and misses charting singles in "Teach Your Children," "," and "Woodstock." This may have been deliberate, however, to avoid duplication with songs on the still available So Far. All songs were previously released, with four having appeared on non-CSN albums. "Love the One You're With" and "First Things First" include Crosby and Nash on vocals; those as well as "Change Partners" derive from solo albums by Stills, the third of which entitled Stills had been released not on Atlantic but on Columbia. "To the Last Whale...," comprising the songs "Critical Mass" by Crosby and "Wind on the Water" by Nash, comes from their duo album on ABC Records. Two other songs were altered. Stills edited "Carry On" by removing the "Questions" section, adding a new guitar solo along with overdubbed bass and drums, and ending the song with a repeat of the "Carry on, love is coming..." line instead of the guitar solo fade out. "I Give You Give Blind" was remixed to remove the strings heard on the original version. For "First Things First", the percussion intro that was taken of Stills was left on for this album. Its out-of-print status allows copies on-line to fetch relatively high prices for a single disc as of June 2006.
Stephen Stills – vocals all tracks except "To the Last Whale"; guitars all tracks except "To the Last Whale" and "Cathedral"; bass on "Carry On," "Marrakesh Express," and "Pre-Road Downs"; keyboards on "Carry On," "Marrakesh Express" "Pre-Road Downs," and "Change Partners" congas, overdubbed drums on "Carry On"; steel drum, percussion on "Love the One You're With"
Graham Nash – vocals all tracks except "Change Partners"; rhythm guitar on "Marrakesh Express" and "Pre-Road Downs"; piano on "Just A Song Before I Go," "To the Last Whale...," and "Cathedral"; string arrangements on "Cathedral"; congas on "Carry On"
Additional musicians
Joe Vitale – drums, percussion on "Cathedral" and "I Give You Give Blind"; organ on "Shadow Captain"; electric piano on "Just A Song Before I Go"; tympani on "Cathedral"
Craig Doerge – electric piano on "Shadow Captain" and "To the Last Whale..."; piano on "Shadow Captain"; synthesizer on "To the Last Whale..."
James Taylor – acoustic guitar on "To the Last Whale..."
Dallas Taylor – drums on "Carry On" "First Things First," "Pre-Road Downs," and "Change Partners"
Russ Kunkel – drums on "Just A Song Before I Go," "Shadow Captain," and "To the Last Whale..."; congas on "Shadow Captain"; percussion on "Just A Song Before I Go"
