RhinoGraham Nash‘s new compilation Over the Years…, featuring classic songs from throughout the folk-rock legend’s long career plus many previously unreleased demo recordings, hits stores today, June 29.
“I realized that there had never been one of those greatest hits of my music. And quite frankly, I wrote a great many of [Crosby, Stills & Nash‘s] singles,” Graham explains to ABC Radio about his decision to put out the compilation. “But, I also realized that people have probably bought all those records that they love several times…So, I wanted to make it more interesting for them…so I came up with the idea of putting demos on there.”
Nash notes that putting both demo and studio versions of such well-known tunes as “Marrakesh Express” and “Teach Your Children” on the compilation gives fans the chance to hear “the transition [of a song] from my mind to the actual record.”
Listening to Over the Years…, you discover that the studio versions of some songs don’t differ greatly from the demo, while others have been completely transformed. “Teach Your Children” is an example of a tune that was significantly revised in the studio.
Nash recalls that when he first played the song for Stephen Stills, “Stephen…said, ‘That’s a really lovely song. Don’t ever play it like that again.’ [Then he] took my guitar, started to play that beautiful finger-picking, country kind of feel, and turned it into a hit record.”
Over the Years… is available as a two-CD set, a digital download and via streaming services. Meanwhile, a two-LP vinyl version of the record featuring just the demos, plus an etching of a self-portrait Nash created on the fourth side, will be released August 31.
Here’s the Over the Years… CD track list:
Disc One
“Marrakesh Express”
“Military Madness”
“Immigration Man”
“Just a Song Before I Go”
“I Used to Be King”*
“Better Days”*
“Simple Man”
“Teach Your Children”
“Lady of the Island”
“Wind on the Water”
“Our House”
“Cathedral”
“Wasted on the Way”
“Chicago/We Can Change the World”
“Myself at Last”
Disc Two: The Demos
“Marrakesh Express” — London, 1968**
“Horses Through a Rainstorm” — London, 1968**
“Teach Your Children” — Hollywood, 1969**
“Pre-Road Downs” — Hollywood, 1969**
“Our House” — San Francisco, 1969**
“Right Between the Eyes” — San Francisco, 1969
“Sleep Song” — San Francisco, 1969
“Chicago” — Hollywood, 1970
“Man in the Mirror” — Hollywood, 1970**
“Simple Man” — Hollywood, 1970**
“I Miss You” — San Francisco, 1972**
“You’ll Never Be the Same” — San Francisco, 1972**
“Wind on the Water” — San Francisco, 1975**
“Just a Song Before I Go” — San Francisco, 1976**
“Wasted on the Way” — Oahu, 1980**
* = previously unreleased mixes.
** = previously unreleased demos.
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