DAVID CROSBY : FOR FREE

1. River Rise (with Michael McDonald)
2. I Think
3. The Other Side of Midnight
4. Rodriguez for a Night
5. Secret Dancer
6. Ships in the Night
7. For Free (with Sara Jarosz)
8. Boxes
9. Shot at Me
10. I Won't Stay for Long

Label : Three Blind Mice / BMG

Release Date : July 23, 2021

Length : 37:19

Review (AllMusic) : In some ways, For Free plays like the culmination of David Crosby's late career purple patch. Working once again with James Raymond - his son who has turned out to be an unusually empathetic and intuitive producer - Crosby mines similar territory as he has on the records he's released since 2014's Croz, yet For Free contains its own distinctive vibe. It's smoother, for one, lacking the twilight haze of Lighthouse as well as the loose-limbed adventure of Here If You Listen, the 2018 record he made in concert with Snarky Puppy's Michael League, Becca Stevens, and Michelle Willis. The slickness is reminiscent of the glory days of pre-MTV soft rock, a connection underscored by two key guests: Michael McDonald and Donald Fagen, who both contribute songs redolent of their signature styles. McDonald lends his signature harmonies to "River Rise" while Fagen offers "Rodriguez for a Night," a song that sounds as if it could've been excavated from the Gaucho sessions. These, along with the Joni Mitchell cover that lends the album its title, anchor For Free, allowing Crosby to ease into reflective jazz-funk grooves that give him plenty of space to harmonize and reflect. The nimble beats and warm surfaces give For Free an appealing buoyancy while also putting the quiet coda of "Shot at Me" and "I Won't Stay for Long" in sharp relief. Here, Crosby hints at his folkier origins without dispensing with the musical elasticity that characterized the rest of For Free, an expansion that serves as a gentle reminder that Crosby is in the midst of the longest sustained burst of creativity in his entire career.

Review (De Volkskrant) : Rond 1990, hij was nog niet eens 50, leek David Crosby op sterven na dood. Hij was tonnetjerond, diabeet, alcohol- en cocaïneverslaafd en diep verbitterd. Een levertransplantatie redde hem, hij overleefde twee hartaanvallen en was nauwelijks nog in staat tot lopen of zingen. Moet je hem nu eens zien: afgeslankt, levenslustig, een stralende ex-hippie in blessuretijd, die op 14 augustus 80 hoopt te worden en met For Free, echt waar, zijn vijfde opmerkelijk geïnspireerde soloalbum sinds 2014 aflevert. For Free heeft de zwoele, wat Steely Dan-achtige sound die het Crosby, Stills and Nash-album Daylight Again (1982) of het debuutalbum van zijn band CPR (1998) kenmerkte. Songs en teksten, over levensvreugd met het einde in zicht, klinken overal begeesterd. De titelsong is een juweel van een Joni Mitchell-cover. In het ontroerende I Won't Stay for Long lijkt Crosby zelf het meest verbaasd dat hij nog (nee, wéér) zo prachtig kan zingen. Crosby's portret op de hoes werd geschilderd door Joan Baez. En kijk eens, opnieuw een album waarvan het bestaan een wonder mag heten.

Review (NME) : In recent interviews, 79-year-old Dave Crosby has been blunt when addressing mortality, putting it as any gracefully ageing hippy might: "Man, I could have two weeks; I could have 10 years," he told shock-jock Howard Stern. It's something he's had to come to terms with, having pulled through health issues including diabetes, a liver transplant and multiple heart attacks for good measure. The icon who has given so much to music, including co-founding two bands who form part of the fabric of American culture - The Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash - has a refreshing outlook. "It's not how much time you've got because we really don't know," he went on to say. "It's what you do with the time that you have. I'm trying to really spend it well. I'm very grateful for each day that I get and I try to do it making music because I think the world needs music." The beauty behind this sentiment courses through 'River Rise', the sun-soaked opener to his seventh solo studio album, which begins with Crosby's sweet, gentle vocal atop plaintive piano. It's a pensive and poignant love letter to his native California, capturing his 'seize the day' ethos. The track steadily builds into a grand soul healer as he sings, with true abandon, "Let the clock run out / Don't care about it / Not today." Though there's little ground he hasn't covered in his six-decade career so far, from societal and political issues to love and grief, this record is among his most beautiful and reflective works yet. 'I Think I' toils with a sensation of feeling lost and coming through the other end: "There's no instructions / And no map / No secret way past the trap / It's so confusing I keep losing my way." The lyrics will make sense to anyone familiar with Crosby's journey; he's spent a hefty chunk of his life battling drug and alcohol addiction. Despite his candidly addressing some of these harrowing topics, there's incredible warmth and soul-searching joy throughout. The likes of 'The Other Side Of Midnight' show an artist at the highest level staying true to his early vision; the song features the signature intricate finger picking style he's well-recognised for (and which old age is slowly taking from him due to tendonitis in both hands). As he has throughout his career, Crosby leans on friends and loved ones for this treasure-packed album. The artwork is a portrait painted by Joan Baez and he's enlisted his son James Raymond on production duties. Steely Dan's Donald Fagen and Michael McDonald appear on the record, the latter's writing shining brightly on 'Rodriguez For A Night', a swaggering jam depicting outlaws, angels and drugstore cowboys. It's all too easy to see it clearing heads on a lazy Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. The most notable nod comes with the title track, a Joni Mitchell jewel Crosby's returned to many times over the years. While he isn't currently on the best of terms with the folk legend he dated in the '60s, his respect for Mitchell's artistry and songwriting remains paramount. "Joni's the greatest living singer-songwriter," he recently said, "and 'For Free' is one of her simplest." The fragile piano ballad is very much a centrepiece of the record, a chance to take stock of Crosby's vocal, which still sounds youthful and disarmingly open. Somehow the record takes an even more moving and heartbreaking turn with 'I Won't Stay For Long'. A tear-jerker of a finale, it's the unmistakable sound of a man nearing the end of his days, and while it was written by Raymond rather than Crosby, the singer gives each word profound magnitude: "I'm standing on the porch / Like it's the edge of a cliff / Beyond the grass and gravel / Lies a certain abyss." It's as haunting as it is devastating before the track allows romantic optimism shine through: "If I could just remember the smell of your skin / Then I could live / I could breathe." Crosby isn't alone in delivering some of his most moving, sparse and poetic music in later life - in-fact he's upholding a rich tradition, from Johnny Cash's weathered and soulful 'American IV' to Leonard Cohen's 'You Want It Darker', which broached death with humour and grace. Despite all he's been through and some of the challenging themes on this record, Crosby isn't always one to take life too seriously - he did, after all, spend lockdown rating his fans' joint rolling abilities on Twitter. This surge of creativity and zest for music is something we can all be grateful for, and hopefully there's more to come - he's said there are two more albums planned. If 'For Free' does prove a parting gift, it's as fitting as any, an album that can only be made after a life lived. And it's another glimmering triumph from the counterculture great.