So Far (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album)

Last updated
So Far
So far.jpg
Compilation album by
ReleasedAugust 19, 1974
Recorded1968–1970
Genre Folk rock
Length42:36
Label Atlantic
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young chronology
4 Way Street
(1971)
So Far
(1974)
CSN
(1977)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
Christgau's Record Guide B− [2]
Tom Hull C− [3]

So Far is a 1974 compilation album by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Shipping as a gold record and peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, it was the band's third chart-topping album in a row. It has been certified six times platinum by the RIAA, and is the second best-selling album by any configuration of the quartet in tandem after their 1970 studio album, Déjà Vu .

Contents

Content

The album contains five of the band's six singles to date, omitting "Marrakesh Express", all of which had reached the Top 40. It is the first release on long-playing album of the single "Ohio" as well as its b-side "Find the Cost of Freedom", and the only place both can be found on one compact disc. [n 1] The other five tracks were taken from the band's two studio albums, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Déjà Vu, although the other singles appear here in their album-length versions and mixes.

The album's 11 studio tracks derived from a group that had only issued 22 to date. Graham Nash later insisted that the group was against the album's release, calling the concoction of a greatest-hits album from two LPs and one non-LP single "absurd". Atlantic Records wished to capitalize on the highly publicized and anticipated reunion tour of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in 1974, however, and such was the demand for any new product by the quartet that So Far topped the charts anyway and went gold immediately.

Young appears on only four of the album's 11 songs: "Ohio"; "Find the Cost of Freedom"; "Woodstock"; and "Helpless". He had only appeared on half the tracks of the Déjà Vu LP. The remaining songs without Young, with the exception of "Déjà Vu", also appear on Crosby, Stills & Nash's Greatest Hits compact disc of 2005.

The cover art was painted by the group's friend and colleague Joni Mitchell. The album was reissued on compact disc in 1988 and again in 1995 after being remastered by Joe Gastwirt at Ocean View Digital using the original master tapes. It was reissued yet again, with no apparent additional remastering, on September 30, 2008. The album has been rendered relatively superfluous with the appearance of the Crosby, Stills & Nash box set in 1991, which contains all of these tracks with the exceptions of "Helplessly Hoping", "Woodstock", "Guinnevere", and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", which are in either different versions or different mixes.

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)SourceLength
1."Déjà Vu" David Crosby Déjà Vu , 19704:10
2."Helplessly Hoping" Stephen Stills Crosby, Stills & Nash , 19692:38
3."Wooden Ships"David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Paul Kantner Crosby, Stills & Nash5:26
4."Teach Your Children" Graham Nash Déjà Vu2:53
5."Ohio" Neil Young Non-album single, 19703:00
6."Find the Cost of Freedom"Stephen Stills B-side of the "Ohio" single2:01
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)SourceLength
1."Woodstock" Joni Mitchell Déjà Vu3:52
2."Our House"Graham NashDéjà Vu2:58
3."Helpless"Neil YoungDéjà Vu3:34
4."Guinnevere"David CrosbyCrosby, Stills & Nash4:38
5."Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"Stephen StillsCrosby, Stills & Nash7:24

Personnel

Additional personnel

Charts

Chart performance for So Far
Chart (1974)Peak
position
Canadian RPM 100 Albums [4] 1
UK Albums Chart [5] 25
Australian Album Charts77
US Top LPs & Tape (Billboard)1
US Cash Box Top 100 Albums [6] 1
US Record World Album Chart [7] 2

Year End Album Charts

Chart (1974)Rank
Canada Album Charts [8] 16
US Cashbox Album Charts [9] 50

Certification

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [10] Gold50,000^
United States (RIAA) [11] 6× Platinum6,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Notes

  1. "Ohio" and "Find the Cost of Freedom" can also be found on separate discs of the box set CSN .

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References

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