DAVID CROSBY & THE LIGHTHOUSE BAND : LIVE AT THE CAPITOL THEATRE

  1. The Us Below
  2. Things We Do For Love
  3. 1974
  4. Vagrants of Venice
  5. Regina (Becca Stevens)
  6. Laughing
  7. What Are Their Names
  8. By The Light of Common Day
  9. Glory (with Becca Stevens & Michelle Willis)
  10. The City
  11. Look in Their Eyes
  12. Guinnevere
  13. Janet (Becca Stevens & Michelle Willis)
  14. Carry Me
  15. Déjà Vu
  16. Woodstock

Label : Three Blind Mice

Venue : The Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, New York, USA

Recording Date : December 8, 2018

Length : 72:53

Release Date : November 25, 2022

Review (AllMusic) : Continuing to forge new paths in his eighth decade, Crosby again joins forces with Becca Stevens, Michelle Willis and Michael League, the three musicians known as The Lighthouse Band, who he’s been working with since 2016’s Lighthouse album. Far from just a solo live album/DVD, working with his first new band since CPR (Crosby, Pevar and Raymond), Crosby and The Lighthouse Band quickly discovered their chemistry took a collaborative leap during their 2018 tour together in support of Crosby’s seventh solo album Here if You Listen (2018, BMG) culminating in this live recorded set on the last night of the run. Recorded and filmed at the historic Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY, in a particularly meaningful turn for Crosby, the sixteen track live offering includes an uncut gem with the song “1974” - a long-lost demo track that Crosby had floating around on his computer hard drive for decades.

Review (Americana UK) : David Crosby’s work with The Byrds and the various permutations of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is legendary, making him one of the most famous and heard musicians of the last sixty years. However, while his solo career hasn’t always matched his achievements as part of a band either commercially or artistically, his first solo album ‘If Only I Could Remember My Name’ is now regarded as a major influence on the psychedelic and jazz folk genres. Crosby’s career also started a late-career artistic resurgence in 2014 with ‘Croz’, and 2016’s ‘Lighthouse’ saw Crosby working with members of Snarky Puppy, and this is where ‘Live At The Capitol Theatre’ comes in. Recorded live in Port Chester, New York in December 2018 in support of 2018’s ‘Here If You Listen’, with The Lighthouse Band, comprising guitarist and vocalist Becca Stevens, keyboardist and vocalist Michelle Willis, and bassist and guitarist Michael League, and taking their name from their work on the ‘Lighthouse’ album. A key word here is band because this isn’t a David Crosby solo performance, rather this group of musicians has the interaction of a true band rather than being simply supporting musicians. There are sixteen songs on ‘Live At The Capitol Theatre’, with ten of them coming from recent records recorded with The Lighthouse Band. The remainder of the songs come from Crosby’s heyday in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s including ‘Crosby, Stills & Nash’, ‘Déjà Vu’, ‘If I Could Only Remember My Name’, and ‘Wind On The Water’ with one cover, Joni Mitchell’s ‘Woodstock’, which Crosby recorded with Crosby, Stills & Nash and later with The Lighthouse Band. What is amazing is that all the songs, whatever their vintage, form a seamless whole with the female voices of Becca Stephens and Michelle Willis ensuring a rich vocal mix. Snarky Puppy’s Michael League adds a significant part of the instrumental background which together with the instrumental skills of Stephens and Willis bring Crosby’s music right up to date while honouring the groundbreaking and influential ‘If I Could Only Remember My Name’. The fact that Crosby entered his eighth decade in 2021 means that his voice and instrumental capability may not be what it was in the ‘60s, but this is not a problem because of the capability of The Lighthouse Band who carry their share of the musical load to help Crosby deliver his lifelong musical vision. There has been some speculation that David Crosby will not tour again, and if this is true, then ‘Live At The Capitol Theatre’ which is the first CD & DVD release of Crosby’s career, is a very fine record of how a musician who has had a career that mixes massive success with more troubled times, was able to ensure his music moved with the times but remained rooted in his original vision. Anyone who is a fan, or is even curious about David Crosby, will not be disappointed by ‘Live At The Capitol Theatre’, and this is not to ignore or underestimate the significant contribution of The Lighthouse Band who have helped Crosby exceed expectations so late in his career.

Review (Holler) : David Crosby might have burned musical and personal bridges with members of his other bands, but the 81-year-old singer/songwriting icon (The Byrds/CSNY) still attracts plenty of fans. He’s been on a career high prolific streak too, crafting five solid studio releases since 2014. This, his first live one as a frontman, was recorded at the titular venue in December 2018. Croz toured with support from the three-member Lighthouse Band who helped create his 2016 and 2018 albums. It’s a drum-free, predominantly acoustic affair with Michael League (from jazzers Snarky Puppy) and Becca Stevens on various stringed instruments along with keyboardist Michelle Willis. Crosby sticks to vocals. As the instrumentation implies, this is a laid-back folk show. The foursome coheres musically, especially when harmonizing together for the 16-song, hour-and-fifteen-minute performance. About half the selections are from two albums he recorded with The Lighthouse Band, the rest are rearranged versions of older fare such as ‘Carry Me’ (Crosby and Nash), ‘Guinnevere’, ‘Laughing’, and ‘What are Their Names’, all played with grace and subtlety. The mood turns jazzy on a 10-minute version of ‘Déjà Vu’ that starts with Crosby scatting before entering the song’s main sections. It’s the highlight of the gig, one where the band solidifies around Crosby’s amazingly (for his age) agile and youthful vocals. It’s all quite lovely, charming and sedate, although at times the adjective snoozy rears its head. The newer material is pleasant but the songs are often wispy and Crosby’s predilection for twisty, oblique compositions yields aloof melodies with complex arrangements. Classically trained singer Stevens turns in wonderfully sweet vocals, especially on her own ‘Regina’. A closing delicate cover of ‘Woodstock’ evokes Crosby’s past while paying tribute to Joni Mitchell, whose music he was an early proponent of. It’s understandable that Crosby wants to promote his recent songs, but the lack of any Byrds tunes, and only a handful of gems from his CSNY days is disappointing. While few would expect him to rock out like his ex- comrade Neil Young, the overall hushed nature of the evening could use some extra oomph to connect more effectively.