All respect to David Crosby. He is a musician who figured out his own path. Like nearly all great composers, his path involved a lot of borrowing and stealing; and like many, a great deal of bad behavior. But the results speak for themselves. He was a force.My comment deals with the article itself, not the man. The term ‘harmony’ in the discussion of popular music is applied so broadly and vaguely as to imply magic and mystery. Crosby (and his collaborators) learned the basics of western tonal harmony, same as Mozart, and applied them conventionally, though not necessarily smoothly. The author’s reference to Crosby’s early experience with Gilbert and Sullivan is apt— one could almost consider the experience a gateway drug in a musical sense. Vocal music at its best serves words.I don’t think it’s a stretch for the author to use the term ‘close harmony’ to place Crosby’s music in a well established vocal tradition, and move on to a more probing discussion of timbre. It is timbre (including diction) more than harmony that defines the singular sound of CSN, a unifying quality that made the whole greater than the sum of its parts. The timbre of Crosby’s voice (including diction) places words before music, inviting the listener to ‘hear’ the song, not just listen to it. Crosby didn’t add ‘his harmony’ to anything. He opened a new world of timbre in rock/folk (and beyond) that shaped the solo career of Neil Young and groups like Fleetwood Mac, even the BeeGees, and beyond.

All respect to David Crosby. He is a musician who figured out his own path. Like nearly all great composers, his path involved a lot of borrowing and stealing; and like many, a great deal of bad behavior. But the results speak for themselves. He was a force.My comment deals with the article itself, not the man. The term ‘harmony’ in the discussion of popular music is applied so broadly and vaguely as to imply magic and mystery. Crosby (and his collaborators) learned the basics of western tonal harmony, same as Mozart, and applied them conventionally, though not necessarily smoothly. The author’s reference to Crosby’s early experience with Gilbert and Sullivan is apt— one could almost consider the experience a gateway drug in a musical sense. Vocal music at its best serves words.I don’t think it’s a stretch for the author to use the term ‘close harmony’ to place Crosby’s music in a well established vocal tradition, and move on to a more probing discussion of timbre. It is timbre (including diction) more than harmony that defines the singular sound of CSN, a unifying quality that made the whole greater than the sum of its parts. The timbre of Crosby’s voice (including diction) places words before music, inviting the listener to ‘hear’ the song, not just listen to it. Crosby didn’t add ‘his harmony’ to anything. He opened a new world of timbre in rock/folk (and beyond) that shaped the solo career of Neil Young and groups like Fleetwood Mac, even the BeeGees, and beyond.

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