When Graham Nash originally started making music in Salford, he did so with the intention of getting people dancing. Conscious music could have a real impact, and that realisation changed things for Nash.
While he was performing in Salford, locals and friends alike were having a great time dancing to the jaunty tunes of The Hollies. It looked like Graham Nash’s career might have been set; however, things changed when he paired his voice with that of Stephen Stills and David Crosby. Three voices, coming together to harmonise with one another and creating one voice, a voice more angelic and euphoric than anything else on the radio. Who could possibly turn their back on that?
Despite enjoying performing in The Hollies, Nash knew that he had to chase whatever it was he had stumbled upon with his two musical counterparts. At the drop of a hat, he was on his way to Salford to talk to his band and deliver the bad news. Once goodbyes were exchanged, a new door was opened for Nash, both musically and thematically.
Nash left behind the desire to write songs just with the intention of getting people dancing, and instead tried to make music that was a reflection of the moment he was living through. This meant digging deep inside himself emotionally and laying himself bare for the listener, giving them honesty with every single track and allowing his music to be a true reflection of the specific period. Equally, his music also took on political and societal themes as he was dedicated to allowing sound to reflect the world at large as well as himself.
Robert Plant, despite having a totally different vocal tone to Crosby, Stills and Nash, could appreciate them as musicians. It was hard not to be drawn in by the angelic tones the three of them came up with, and as a devoted lyricist, Plant admired the trio’s willingness to use music as a mirror to society. He liked the band so much that when he was on Desert Island Discs, he named their track ‘Ohio’ as one of the essential tunes that would be coming with him to an isolated paradise.
The track was actually written by Neil Young when he joined the trio for a period, but it was all four members who were able to make the track resonate so deeply with listeners. “This is a song that was written at the time following an event at Kent State University, Ohio,” explained Plant, “Where four students were shot by authorities. So this is the song that was written which will remind us forever how it can go nastily badly wrong.”
So, given Plant was such a big fan of the band, you can only imagine his disappointment when he saw them perform live and they didn’t live up to his expectations. Fair enough, getting the sound right for a group who rely on harmonisation so much can be incredibly difficult, but it was these problems with mixing and some other electrical components that led to Plant calling the show an “experience” as opposed to an actually good piece of musicianship.
“I’ve met so many people who’ve read things in the Beat Beat who’ve said ‘Well, what a load of bulldust’,” said Plant, “They’re just not relating what they say. I’ve been to concerts like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and things and they haven’t been particularly fine musically.”
Plant continued to discuss what exactly it was about the band that didn’t work when he went to go and see them, and it all came down to those fiddly technicalities. “(It was at the Royal Albert Hall) but the electric setting was a bit too crowded and things like that,” he explained, “But nevertheless, what they gave was the seed. That was the fire that people really had to have. It’s sort of like going away and going phhhh at the end of it.”
Plant concluded by simply describing the show in the most unoffensive and simple way he could: “It’s an experience”.