4 Way Street



4 Way Street is the third album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, their second as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and their first live album. It was originally released as Atlantic Records SD-2-902, shipping as a gold record and peaking at #1 on the Billboard 200. A document of their tour from the previous year, the live recordings presented were taken from shows at The Fillmore East, New York on June 2 through June 7, 1970; The Forum, Los Angeles on June 26 through June 28, 1970; and The Chicago Auditorium, Chicago, on July 5, 1970.

Background
At the time this album was recorded, tensions between the band members were high, with their dressing-room fights becoming the stuff of rock legend, even being referenced by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in their 1971 LP Fillmore East - June 1971. The tensions led to CSNY dissolving shortly after the recording of 4 Way Street; they would reconvene for a stadium tour in the summer of 1974. The next release of new studio material by the group proper would not be until the CSN album of 1977, without Neil Young.

Content
The original double album LP came packaged in a gatefold sleeve without a track listing. On the gatefold was a black-and-white picture of the band sitting on a bench, with the heads of Graham Nash and David Crosby perfectly framed by a wire clothes hanger hanging in front of them, with recording information and credits in the lower-right-hand corner. The only track listings appear on the album's labels and on the fold-out poster that also included full lyrics.

The album contained material previously available in studio versions, from both the combined and individual work of the four principals, except four songs which had not been officially released as yet: two by Nash, "Chicago" and "Right Between the Eyes" (the former to appear one month later on Songs for Beginners), and two by Crosby, "The Lee Shore" and "Triad." His controversial ménage à trois composition, "Triad" had been released by Jefferson Airplane on their Crown of Creation album. Crosby's former band The Byrds recorded but did not release it during their The Notorious Byrd Brothers sessions.

Reception
The album went to #1 upon its release and also garnered a positive review in Rolling Stone where the reviewer called it "their best album to date." Other more recent reviews have also been positive.

Nash produced an expanded form of 4 Way Street for compact disc, released on June 15, 1992. The expanded edition included four solo performances on acoustic guitars, one by each member. Neil Young performed a medley of three songs from his first two solo albums; Stephen Stills included "Black Queen" from his eponymous debut; Crosby contributed "Laughing" from his debut; and Nash performed "King Midas in Reverse", The Hollies' single from 1967, which although credited to Allan Clarke, Nash and Tony Hicks, was written solely by Nash.

Additional tracks from the tour appeared on the CSN box set released in 1991, as well as Young's The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972 released in 2009.

Track listing
''Bonus tracks for 1992 compact disc reissue appear appended to disc one after sides one and two. Disc two contains sides three and four.''

Personnel

 * David Crosby — vocals, guitar
 * Stephen Stills — vocals, guitar, piano, organ
 * Graham Nash — vocals, guitar, piano, organ
 * Neil Young — vocals, guitar
 * Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels — bass
 * Johnny Barbata — drums

Production personnel

 * Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young — producers
 * Bill Halverson — engineer
 * Gary Burden — art direction/design, photography
 * Joel Bernstein — photography
 * Henry Diltz — photography
 * Joe Gastwirt — digital remastering

Charts
Album