Sold Date: March 20, 2024
Start Date: March 20, 2024
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CSNY - 'LIVE AT L. A. FORUM' 6-26-70 LID RECORDS 2-LP 'COLLECTOR' LP ~ RARE & VERY COOL
CROSBY STILLS NASH AND YOUNG "LIVE AT L.A. FORUM" RECORDED 6-26-70 LOS ANGELES (INGLEWOOD) FORUM LABEL: LID RECORDS S-2282 BLACK VINYL ~ CUSTOM LABELS ~ SLIP SHEET COVER  2-LP LIVE 'COLLECTOR' RECORD MATRIX (SIDE A): CSNY - A - 1 S-2282 MATRIX (SIDE B): CSNY - B - 2 S-2284
CONDITION:  VINYL: VG-VG+  JACKET: VG-VG+
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I've been going thru my massive vinyl record collection these past few weeks and pulling out some LPs that I thought that someone else would want for their collection. I've been collecting records for over 45 years and it's time to pass some of them on to the next generation of collectors.
This week on EBay I am offering up this classic CSNY 'collector' album "Live At L. A. Forum," an early release and pressing of CSNY recorded live on their 1970 tour.
This is my original copy, purchased 'used' back in the 70's, that I've taken great care of for many years. See details on Condition below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a lovely, classic, vintage, well-done 'collector' record. 
This was recorded at the Los Angeles Forum on June 26th, 1970.
This is an audience recording, but the fidelity is very good, better than what is usually heard on these 'collector' records. A really terrific album and a very desirable classic piece of American rock history.
A nice sounding recording, especially for this period, and a great example of CSNY's early live act from the 1970 tour.
~~~ The L.A. Forum shows were considered some of the best gigs of the tour. The band were back 'home', in good form, the songs were well-rehearsed, and the hometown crowd was appreciative.
This album has some of the best versions of the classic songs performed on that 1970 tour. I beleive this 2-LP album includes the complete show, recorded at Los Angeles' Forum on June 26, 1970, although the final encore, "Find the Cost of Freedom" is tacked onto the end of side One for timing reasons.
This classic 'collector' record was originally released shortly after the concert was performed, on the famous "Rubber Dubber" (70-004) label with their classic rubber stamped cover.
It was an immediate success. It was such a popular, good sounding, and classic title that it was quickly re-issued by many other labels. Over the years, this 'classic' CSNY show has been re-released by many labels: Ruthless Rhymes/Vicky Vinyl, TMOQ, Dittolino, TAKRL, and many others. 
This pressing is on the rare, obscure, 'Lid' record label.
Lid records were released with simple slip-sheet paper insert covers, in plain white jackets, but keeping with the 'rubber stamp' theme of the earliest collector records, Lid records used a rubber stamped 'roach' placed perfectly on the inside of the opening side of their jackets. 
On first impression, the 'roach' looks like a Face, sticking his tongue out, mocking the commercial record companies, but on closer inspection, it's a cool, intricately drawn Cockroach. A very cool, clever, trademark or logo.
The jacket for this album is just a standard plain white sleeve. Two thick, heavy records inside a single jacket, not a gatefold.
The cover artwork is simple Black & White, printed on a sheet of paper that was just inserted into the record, between the jacket and the shrink-wrap.
If the cover art to this album looks familiar, that's because it's just a re-arranging of the photos from inside the gatefold of the just recently released "Déjà Vu".
Not the most imaginative artwork, but better than the simple rubber stamped titles of the 'Rubber Dubber' original and other early collector records.
The original slip-sheet was 'loose' inside the record, but sometime in the past, the original owner taped the insert down to the cover. They also taped and re-enforced the 3 seams of the cover with tape. The heavy records, in a single 60's jacket, were starting the weaken the seams, so the owner taped the seams to strengthen them. 
The tape was obviously 'archival' and has remained 'clear' all these years. I've owned this record over 30 years, and it still looks just like I found it in the Greenwich Village shops backin the day. No 'yellowing'  I tried to show the 'tape' in one of my 'close-up' photos.
The labels are very nice and custom printed with blue ink. The album title and songs are listed on each side. 
The labels have the song titles, but as is common, they are mis-titled or misspelled. Also, unfortunately, it appears that the original owner 'stamped' his name on 2 of the 4 sides in big bold letters.
Overall, the condition is a little 'rough', but the whole record has a great 'vintage' vibe and look and is a very cool 'relic' from the times.
~~~ Both the jacket and the individual album sides list the song titles on this 2-LP set. As is typical of 'Collector' records, the song titles are not quite correct. Sometimes that was intentional to deceive, but, in this case, the songs were 'new' and the 'correct' titles weren't known at the time this record was made.
The songs on this 2-LP set, as printed on the labels are: 
Side 1: Suite Judy Blue Eyes / On the Way Home / Teach Your Parents  / Tell Me Why / The Cost of Freedom
Side 2: Guinevere/ Old Man by the Road w/ Don't Let It Bring You Down / Carry On
Side 3: 49 Reasons/ Love the One You're With / Pre-Road Downs / Long Time Gone / Helplessly Hoping
Side 4: Southern Man / Ohio / Woodstock
This album contains several classic early Neil Young songs, including some gems, and would be of interest to Neil Young collectors.
"On The Way Home", "Tell Me Why", "Southern Man", "Don't Let it Bring You Down' and "Ohio" are all included. Much more Neil than Crosby, Stills or Nash on this L.A. Forum show.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ People forget that many of the songs performed on this tour were brand new, and fans were hearing them for the first time. "Déjà Vu" came out on March 11, 1970, just before the 2nd leg of the tour, and the solo albums by the individual members had not come out yet.
Seeing CSNY live in 1970 was the only way to hear them perform songs like Stephen Stills' "Love the One You're With",  Crosby's "Guinevere", Nash's "49 Reasons" or Neil's "Southern Man", which is part of the reason that this live 'collector' album was so popular at the time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were very famous and basically a 'Supergroup' by 1970, and their 2 albums were very popular. They essentially discovered, or invented, a new way of singing, of creating a unique vocal blend, fusing their three voices into one.   Fans wanted anything new or different that they released and this album really filled that demand.
These 'collector' records are very rare and only getting rarer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In 1969, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's music was in high demand, so Atlantic Records sent them out on tour.
The first 'leg' of the 39-date tour started at the Chicago Auditorium on August 16th 1969 with Joni Mitchell opening.
That first tour was carefully planned so that the group could perform at many of the era's major rock & pop festivals as well as in many University towns, to get their music and image out to new fans. One has to remember that they were a 'new' band of somewhat known musicians at the time, and promotion was key.
The next date, their second gig ever, was in a place called 'Woodstock'. The band had no idea that it was THE Woodstock. They just thought it was just another town. Imagine their surprise, and fear, when being helicoptered in.
Their performance at Woodstock in the early morning of August 18, 1969 is legendary. The band was thrown before a crowd of nearly 400,000 fans, many of which had no idea who they were.
They pulled off a great, short, one hour set which got their music, name and west-coast hippie image out to thousands of new fans.
Their appearance at the Woodstock festival and in the subsequent movie, really helped promote the band's record. Sales and live concert demand took off.
For some strange reason, Neil refused to be filmed at Woodstock and threatened the cameramen if they took any pictures of him. 
Neil does not appear in the film and many fans, to this day, don't realize he performed there at Woodstock with the rest of the group.
Cutting Neil out, made the cameramen focus on the other three members, showing them up-close, revealing their personalities, and giving them much wider publicity.
CSNY also performed at the Big Sur Folk Festival (on the grounds of the Esalen Institute) on September 13–14, 1969. Parts of that performance were also filmed .
Few fans remember that they also appeared at the Altamont Free Concert on December 6, 1969, but the band has tried to downplay their involvement in that violence-plagued concert ever since.  
Inbetween shows on the 1969 tour, they also appeared on various American TV shows including the Tom Jones show, and 'Music Scene'. Neil's version of "Down By The River" from the 'Music Scene' show is great and worth catching on U-Tube.
The first leg of the tour finished up with three shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London in January 1970. 
During breaks on the 1969 tour, and after the first leg of the tour ended, the band recorded and released their second studio album, and their first as a quartet with Neil Young, "Déjà Vu".
~~~ Then the band went back on the road, starting in Denver on May 12th 1970, and doing 23 more shows before finishing in Minneapolis on July 9th, 1970.
The 2nd leg of the tour got off to a rocky start and was full of problems, egos, excess, rivalry, and personal problems within the band.
Crosby's girlfriend Christine was killed in an auto accident, sending him into darkness and drugs, Neil was having success on his own with his solo albums and was becoming disenchanted with the whole tour, and Stills was diving deeper into alcohol and cocaine abuse. 
Marijuana, harder drugs, success and money were turning them all into crazed megalomaniacs. The tenuous nature of their partnership was very strained and the delicate CSNY vocal fabric began to fray.
Graham Nash, no angel himself, did his best to keep the excesses of Stephen Stills and David Crosby in check and acted as the 'glue' trying to keep it all together.
Just as the tour was set to begin, Stills fired bassist Greg Reeves from the group. The exact reasons are still unclear, but Reeves apparently became an acid casualty, suddenly deciding that he wasn't a Bass player, but actually an Apache Indian Witch Doctor and started playing freakily on Bass, sometimes sneaking his own compositions in under the band's songs.
He was replaced by Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels, a Jamaican musician, discovered by Stills, working at Island Studios in London.
Drummer Dallas Taylor was also an early casualty. Neil and Dallas often clashed over the tempo of Neil's slower songs. When Dallas sped up Neil's songs during the first show in Denver on May 12th, Neil had enough.
Stills insisted on keeping Dallas in the band, but Neil threatened to quit if he stayed, so Dallas was fired.
Dallas Taylor was out, replaced by drummer Johnny Barbata, formerly of The Turtles, who stayed on for the rest of the tour.
Tensions remained high within the band as the 23-show tour progressed.
On May 4, 1970, a week before the tour started, unarmed college students were shot at by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, during a mass protest. Four students were killed and nine were wounded, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.
David Crosby showed Neil Young the May 15th, 1970 copy of 'Life' Magazine, which covered the story. Neil, with Crosby's encouragement, quickly wrote the song 'Ohio', which was rehearsed, recorded and released in just a few weeks.
The single "Ohio" b/w "Find the Cost of Freedom" was released in early June 1970, during the tour, and both songs were played frequently, to the crowds delight. They are both on this record.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fans were also mad at the tour's new ticket prices. Most 'name' acts in those days charged $4-$7 dollars for tickets, but for the second leg of the 1969/70 Tour, CSNY had raised the price of tickets to $10, unheard of in 1970.
CSNY's management realized that there was huge demand to see the band, so they knew people would pay the higher fees. Some local promoters threatened to cancel shows unless ticket prices were lowered.
Despite the cost, every show sold out, setting a new higher 'standard' price for concert tickets going into the early 70's.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ Despite internal issues, the concerts were generally fantastic and typically followed a pre-planned set list, but there were lots of substitutions, and sequence changes during the shows.
Shows started off with an acoustic set, with "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" typically opening, followed by solo/duo sets from Crosby, Nash, Young, then Stills.
The songs in the solo spots were continually changing, sometimes going too long, and sometimes including 'digs' at each other, furthering band tensions.
After a break, the band came out and did an Electric set, usually starting with "Pre-Road Downs", and generally finishing off with "Carry On". 
After another break, they would come out for an Encore, which usually included "Woodstock" and/or "Find The Cost Of Freedom"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ During the electric set of the shows, instead of blending their guitar skills, Neil and Stills often ended up in competitive guitar 'duels', that had their roots going back to the Buffalo Springfield days, with each one trying to outshine and outplay the other.
This led to the two musicians 'squaring off' and sparring, which often carried over to backstage after the show. Their dressing-room arguments and fights became the stuff of rock legend.
One night, Stills was even 'fired' by Crosby, Nash and Young, during the band's two-night stint in Chicago in July 1970, due to his attitude & behavior. 
Following his reinstatement, the tour ended a few days later, as scheduled, in Bloomington, Minnesota on July 9, 1970.
The group broke up immediately thereafter. 
~~~ After releasing "Déjà Vu", the 'Ohio' single, and back to back successful tours, CSNY were on top of the rock music world.
The Beatles had just broken up in the spring of 1970, Bob Dylan was missing in action, somewhere in upstate New York, and The Rolling Stones were still reeling from the dark vibes and bad publicity of Altamont.
CSNY were on top of the world in the summer of 1970 and were in position to be major rock stars and the new 'American Beatles,' but that was never to be. 
Instead, the individual members went their sparate ways to work on Solo projects. During 1970-1971, all four members made solo albums.
The four members would not come back together peacefully until their 1974 reunion tour.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Atlantic wanted a live album made from the recent tour.
The only member that was sane enough after that tour was Graham Nash, who went to work putting together the new live album.
Nash used what he thought were the best performances from the tour. He thought the shows from the Fillmore East, the L.A. Forum in June 1970 and Chicago Auditorium in July were the best.
The L.A. Forum shows were considered some of the best of the tour and this album from 6-26-70 has some of the best versions of those classic songs.
Graham, with help from Atlantic, assembled the 1971 double album "4 Way Street"
~~~~~~ Instead of '4 Way Street' being a fusion of 4 different talented artists and voices coming together and blending into one, in retrospect, it was 4 talented artists, each on their own one-way streets, all steering away from each other.
After the tour ended in July 1970, CSNY took the summer off, to do their own thing, and get a break from each other. 
Their much anticipated 3rd album never happened. Their glory days were over. The next CSN album wouldn't happen until 1977.
~~~~~~~~~ This album deserves to be in any Crosby, Stills, Nash, Neil Young, or classic Rock collection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONDITION: I tried to show good hi-resolution photos of the cover, labels and vinyl in my pictures.
I purchased this copy 'used' back in the mid 70's, 50 years ago, and have taken great care of it since, but as I mentioned above it has taped seams and the original owner's name stamped on one side of each record's label.
VINYL: The vinyl looks decent but there are some light scuffs and dings in places. Nothing severe, but not minty clean either. This album was loved and played.
Despite that, I'm sure there's a collector out there that will be very happy with it.
The Deadwax has the 'CSNY-A, B, C, D stamp and the S-2282, 3, 4, 5 etched numbers. See the full Matrix above.
I tried to show some close-up pictures of the vinyl to show how it looks. Not bad, but it does show some scuffs and 'dings'. 
I haven't messed with it or cleaned it, other than my trusty 'DiscWasher' brush, in 50 years, since Nixon was in office. It could really use a good deep cleaning to make it bettter looking and better sounding.
LABELS: This is pressed with custom white labels with the printing in Blue. Each side lists the name of the album and the slightly misspelled songs. 
The labels look clean and bright. No major marks or damage. Looking closely, in the right light, you can still see some spindle marks around the spindle holes. The spindle holes are still sharp and clean, suggesting infrequent playing and my careful handling over the years. 
JACKET: As you can see from my pictures, this looks gently loved for a 50 year old OG copy.
As mentioned above, the seams are taped and re-enforced. The tape is still clear after all these years. The artwork is taped down. The back cover is blank. The paper insert is decent, no tears or damage, but shows it's age. Still, a nice, cool, vintage survivor.
Overall, I'll call the whole record VG to VG+. It does have some issues, but also has plenty of charm, history, and collectability.
This record has been poly-sleeved and stored properly for decades, and is still decent for an original early pressing. This copy is all original, and a real gem. I'm sure someone out there will love it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** NOTE: I'm selling this rare 'Collector' record "AS IS" and "NO RETURN". It's rare and as described and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 45 years of vinyl record collecting. Check out the many other fantastic 45s and 33s coming soon to my page!
All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable to get a true picture of condition. Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words. 
My grading is fair and honest. I have had over 3,500 happy and satisfied EBay customers over the years, with 100% positive feedback, and I have been buying/selling on EBay for well over 25 years, so please bid with confidence!
I'm a 0ne-man operation, this is a hobby, not my job. I do this for fun. I do this because I love music, love collecting vinyl and want others to share in that same experience. I take my time listening, researching, grading, listing and packaging. I will NOT sell any record that I personally would not want in my collection.
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THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far.  -- JOHN