“Mind-boggling”: David Crosby on the best album no one has heard
If there’s one thing aside from his musical talents that is missed about David Crosby, it’s his ability to rile people up with his hyper-critical opinions of other artists, stirring chaos in the process. At the height of his career, he already had a reputation for being a curmudgeonly moaner, and that only increased with time as he grew older.
While this isn’t what he’s most remembered for, Crosby appeared in two separate episodes of the hit animated sitcom The Simpsons, and to use another reference from the show, Crosby epitomised the trope of ‘old man yells at cloud’. The songwriter hit out at the likes of The Doors, had beef with “shithead” Mike Love of the Beach Boys, dismissed entire genres in rap and disco, and he never seemed to care if people thought he was simply being a grumpy sod.
This did, however, get in the way of his career at times. His dismissal from the Byrds came due to him being far too outspoken for his own good, and his disparaging comments about Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young were the biggest reason for the downfall of CSNY’s reunions. However, despite his attitude towards some of his peers, he was highly regarded as an exceptional songwriter and played a huge role in co-creating some of the greatest and most expansive examples of folk rock throughout his career.
Considering his brilliant ear for melody, and in spite of him berating many of the greats, Crosby was able to pick out when a piece of music or a release had something wonderful to offer. In a 1998 interview with The Tapes Archive, Crosby was questioned about what records he thought everyone should own that almost no one has heard of, and his suggestion revealed a love for an unusual slice of folk history from a lesser-discussed part of the world.
Speaking about Music of Bulgaria, the compilation initially released by French publishing house Le Chant du Monde in 1955 and reissued by Elektra in 1966 and later Nonesuch in 1989, Crosby claimed: “It’s probably one of the greatest records ever made. And very few people know it exists.” Displaying a wealth of knowledge and facts about the release, Crosby went on to claim that it featured “some of the best singing that’s ever been done on the face of the earth.”
He would also mention that there was a follow-up to the album with “a French title”, which refers to the better-known Le Mystère de Voix Bulgares originally released in 1975. The album, which is a collection of original recordings and archival performances from Bulgarian radio accumulated by Swiss ethnomusicologist Marcel Cellier, has been cited as hugely influential to several contemporary artists, and was given a new lease of life through reissues and subsequent praise.
However, while Crosby acknowledged that “the follow-up is good,” he would further praise the first release, enthusing that “the original is mind-boggling”. Say what you want about Crosby having been a hard man to impress, but clearly, there weren’t ever enough people creating mind-boggling music that reshaped his perceptions of what music and the human voice could sound like.
