| 4 Way Street | |
| Type: | Live |
| Artist: | Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young |
| Cover: | CSNY_4_way_street.jpg |
| Released: | April 7, 1971 |
| Recorded: |
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| Genre: |
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| Length: | 85:59 109:44 (w. bonus tracks) |
| Label: | Atlantic |
| Producer: | Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young |
| Prev Title: | Déjà Vu |
| Prev Year: | 1970 |
| Next Title: | So Far |
| Next Year: | 1974 |
4 Way Street is a live album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, and their second album as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. It was originally released as Atlantic Records SD-2-902, shipping as a gold record and peaking at No. 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 City) on June 2 through June 7, 1970; The Forum (Los Angeles, California) on June 26 through June 28, 1970; and the Auditorium Theatre (Chicago, Illinois) on July 5, 1970.
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 CSN in 1977, without Neil Young.
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 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.
At the time of these concerts in mid-1970, many songs included on the eventual album had yet to be released as part of the combined and individual work of the four principals. Crosby's "The Lee Shore" had been recorded during the sessions for Déjà Vu but would not appear until the band's 1991 box set, and his controversial ménage à trois composition "Triad," which had been recorded but not released by his former band The Byrds, had been recorded by Jefferson Airplane on their Crown of Creation album but this is the first issued performance by Crosby himself. "Love the One You're With" would be the hit single taken from Stephen Stills, Stills's debut solo album, released later that year. "Chicago" by Nash would appear on his Songs for Beginners released in 1971, the same year as 4 Way Street, while "Right Between the Eyes" would be later surface as a demo on his box set Reflections. "Don't Let It Bring You Down" and "Southern Man" by Young would be released on After the Gold Rush, his third album also released later that year. Young's "On the Way Home" had appeared on the final Buffalo Springfield album, but with a lead vocal by Richie Furay rather than Young. Stills' "49 Bye-Byes/America's Children" medley interpolates the only top ten hit by Buffalo Springfield, his song "For What It's Worth." The band did include both sides of what was at the time of the shows their new record, the single "Ohio" and its B-side "Find the Cost of Freedom."
Sides one and two featured acoustic guitars and demonstrated the band as a group of individuals also pursuing independent careers while sides three and four featured the full band playing electric guitars and rock and roll. On sides one and two and on the 1992 bonus tracks, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young all performed solo while Crosby & Nash previewed their later partnership with "The Lee Shore" and "Right Between the Eyes" performed by the pair.
On April 13, 2019, for Record Store Day, Atlantic Records released a three-LP version of the 1992 Expanded Edition. It was mastered by Chris Bellman and pressed on 180-gram vinyl. Sides 1, 2, 3 and 4 contained the original track listing of the 1971 version, while the additional tracks "King Midas In Reverse", "Laughing", and "Black Queen" were pressed on Side 5, and "The Loner/Cinnamon Girl/Down By The River" were pressed on Side 6.
The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 upon its release and also garnered a positive review in Rolling Stone, in which critic George Edward Kimball called it "their best album to date."[1] Other contemporary 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 the at-the-time unreleased "Black Queen" from his eponymous debut; Crosby contributed his also yet to be issued "Laughing" from his 1971 debut LP; 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.[2]
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.
Bonus tracks for 1992 compact disc reissue appear appended to disc one after sides one and two. Disc two contains sides three and four.[3] [4]
Disc one: 42:58, 66:43 with bonus tracks
Disc two: 43:01
Musicians
Production
| US Billboard Top LPs | 1 | |
| UK Album Charts[5] | 5 | |
| Canadian RPM 100 Albums[6] | 2 | |
| French Album Charts[7] | 4 | |
| Danish Hitlisten Charts[8] | 10 | |
| Norwegian VG-lista Albums[9] | 8 | |
| Swedish Kvällstoppen Chart[10] | 13 | |
| Australian Go-Set Top 20 Albums[11] | 6 | |
| Dutch MegaCharts Albums[12] | 3 | |
| Italian Album Charts[13] | 11 | |
| Spanish Album Charts[14] | 3 | |
| Japan Oricon Album Charts[15] | 19 | |
| US Cash Box Top 100 Albums[16] | 2 | |
| US Record World Album Chart[17] | 1 |
| Chart (1971) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Dutch Albums Chart[18] | 37 | |
| Italian Album Charts[19] | 49 | |
| US Billboard Year-End[20] | 23 | |
| US Cashbox Year-End[21] | 15 |