Title: CSN – Crosby Stills & Nash
Release Date: 2012
Genre: Rock, Folk Rock, Soft Rock
Artist: David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash featured: Todd Caldwell – organ, Shayne Fontayne – guitar, Steve DiStanislao – drums, Kevin McCormick – bass, James Raymond – keyboards
Production/Label: CSN Records
Duration: 02:33:08
Quality: Blu-ray
Container: BDMV
Video codec: AVC
Audio codec: DTS
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 16150 kbps / 1920*1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1654 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Size: 22.5 GB
• Crosby, Stills & Nash join forces for their first live performance video in over 20 years! Filmed during their 2012 tour, CSN 2012 includes many of the trio’s classic hits as well as new songs, “Radio,” “Almost Gone”, and “Girl From The North Country” (a cover of Bob Dylan’s 1963 release). The disc also includes interviews with David, Stephen, and Graham, plus their band and crew. A must-have for any CSN fan.
CSN 2012 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Alternative Distribution Alliance (evidently a consortium of artists releasing their own material) with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. Though there are occasional slight combing artifacts on display throughout this high definition presentation, overall this is one of the nicer looking live concert Blu-rays of the past several months. Though the stage is frequently bathed in shades of blue and red, posterizing is at a minimum and banding is virtually nonexistent. Black levels are good and contrast is generally excellent. Some of the midrange shots are a bit on the fuzzy side, but close-ups really pop very nicely, with abundant fine object detail.
CSN 2012 features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo mix, and only a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo mix. This is the only live concert Blu-ray I personally can think of that doesn’t include at the very least a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix, if not an actual lossless surround mix. As was mentioned above in the main body of the review, was this done intentionally to “bury’ some of the wandering vocals? It’s especially odd in that this was evidently done in conjunction with HDNet, which at least occasionally offers surround mixes of its concert fare. Whatever the reason, the good news is that this mix, while obviously narrow and rather dense sounding, offers excellent fidelity and clarity, ironically so much so that the intonation problems in some of the vocals are only too readily APParent. The band sounds great here, with some really appealing low- and midrange frequencies.
Tracklist:
SET ONE
1. Carry On/Questions 8:44
2. Marrakesh Express 3:45
3. Long Time Gone 6:31
4. Military Madness 4:17
5. Southern Cross 5:10
6. Lay Me Down 5:09
7. Almost Gone 4:34
8. Wasted On The Way 3:34
9. Radio 3:49
10. Bluebird 7:18
11. Déjà Vu 13:18
12. Wooden Ships 10:41
SET TWO
13. Helplessly Hoping 5:03
14. In Your Name 5:07
15. Girl From The North Country 4:52
16. As I Come Of Age 4:10
17. Guinevere 7:02
18. Johnny’s Garden 5:22
19. So Begins The Task 4:04
20. Cathedral 7:58
21. Our House 3:47
22. Love The One You’re With 7:14
ENCORE
23. For What It’s Worth 5:56
24. Teach Your Children 5:07
25. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes 9:20
BONUS:
• A conversation with David Crosby, Graham Nash & Stephen Stills
• On the road interviews with band and crew