A veritable holy grail, this recording from CSNY’s first tour captures their harmonies in amber. Better, the integrity of the audio has been strenuously maintained, as guitarists Neil Young and Stephen Stills helped mix the original eight-track tape. Young said recently, “[We] have the tapes, and they sound so real. We mixed at Sunset Sound… staying all-analog throughout the production.”

Despite decades of fractious infighting, cue up “Helplessly Hoping” to hear the foursome crack up laughing mid-song, a reminder of the joy they once wove. Their cover of the Beatles’ “Blackbird” is a showstopper, a stunning reinvention in four-part harmony with Stills adding lead vocals and fingerstyle. Buffalo Springfield’s “On the Way Home” is given fresh life in acoustic form.

Plugging in electrics, the full band hits the stage for “Long Time Gone” with David Crosby on vocals and Young handling lead guitar. Co-written by Crosby and Stills, “Wooden Ships” was already a guitar tour-de-force. Young sings his Woodstock rocker “Sea of Madness,” with Stills on lead, but takes the soloing chair on his own “Down By the River.”

In all, Fillmore East is a gem, letting us hear CSNY during their sweetest, most-harmonious era.

This article originally appeared in VG’s January 2025 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.