In the fall of 1999, the quartet began preparing for the first CSNY tour since 1974, even bringing out the same type of rugs from their first tour, as seen in this shot of the ever-in-charge Young at rehearsals. In spite of everything that had gone on - Crosby was just coming back from prison - these guys were essentially lifelong friends as well as fellow musicians.” They seem very relaxed and comfortable with each other. In 19, the quartet reassembled at the studio on Young’s ranch to make ‘American Dream,’ the first CSNY studio album since ‘Déjà vu.’ The band would ultimately be dissatisfied with the results, but as Zimmer says, “This particular shot captured a moment of levity. They would shop for flannel shirts and patched Levi’s.” In my mind the shot would have made a great cover for ‘Harvest,’ but it never got used for anything.” Adds Zimmer of Young’s period look, “He had this hippie look copied by a lot of fans. There was his barn we went into one day and there was this little guitar and Neil started playing a tune. “In the morning we’d get up and walk around and I’d take photos,” says Diltz. In 1971, Diltz and his friend, art director Gary Burden, drove up to Young’s ranch in northern California. I have more photos of him giving me the finger than anybody else I ever shot.” “He liked to take the piss out of people. ![]() “It captures his bad boy side,” says Diltz. The result was this iconic photo, which Crosby would later use for his Twitter account. In a Minneapolis hotel room during CSNY’s 1970 tour, Nash tossed Crosby a gift from a fan - a pillow in the shape of a gun made from an American flag, which Crosby then put up to his temple while smoking one of his omnipresent joints. Stephen had played with Neil in the Springfield and they still spurred each other on.” “They were rehearsing.” Adds Diltz of the determined look on Young’s face, “Neil added some kick-ass to the band. They were right up in front of the stage.” The use of a Persian rug onstage was their way of reminding themselves of the early days, when they would sing together in friends’ living rooms in L.A.Īt the Warner Brothers studio lot, Diltz captured CSNY (with drummer Johnny Barbata and bassist Calvin “Fuzzy” Samuels) preparing for their 1970 tour, right after the release of ‘Déjà vu.’ “This wasn’t a staged photo at all,” says Zimmer. “You get a sense in this shot of how close the band was to the audience. “As you can tell, this was years before security was considered a problem,” says Zimmer. Taken at UC Santa Barbara in November 1969, this shot captures the group soon after Woodstock made it a rock household name. (Thanks to the house being demolished soon after, the attempted reshoot didn’t happen.) “It was all locked up and boarded up and no one was around, and they jumped on the coach, in random order.” An alternate version of this photo would grace the cover of the group’s first album, even though they weren’t in the right order. “Graham said, ‘There’s a great little cottage on one of these streets I drove by the other day,’ and we found it,” Diltz said. In need of a first-ever group photo, in the spring of ’69, CSN invited Diltz to drive around L.A. “In all the pictures, Clapton is staring at Joni Mitchell, right at her fingers,” Diltz says. Mitchell used the occasion to play songs from her not-yet-recorded debut album - and show off her irregular approach to guitar chording and tunings. When Cream were playing L.A., Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Papas threw a party at her house in Laurel Canyon and invited over her friends David Crosby and Joni Mitchell along with Cream’s Eric Clapton. ![]() This was a band that was still so new that they didn’t now how to pose.” “They kind of just stood there looking at me and then they started getting goofy.” Adds Zimmer, “Dewey Martin has a broomstick and Bruce Palmer is holding the Springfield sign upside down. “I said, ‘Stand right there in front of that mural,’” he says. The band had just walked outside after doing a soundcheck at a club in Redondo Beach, California. The first group photo of any kind that Diltz took was this 1966 shot (an outtake from a well-known session) of Buffalo Springfield, which included Young and Stills.
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