Arriving nearly a decade after the career-spanning 2009 box
Reflections
,
Over the Years...
isn't nearly as ambitious a compilation as its predecessor. In its simplest form, it's a collection of 15 highlights from
Nash
's career, using the first
Crosby, Stills & Nash
album as its starting point and running until his 2016 album,
This Path Tonight
. Despite that designation,
largely lingers on material made during the '70s and early '80s, anchored on
CSN
standards ("Marrakesh Express," "Just a Song Before I Go," "Teach Your Children," "Our House," "Wasted on the Way") and featuring two
Crosby & Nash
tracks ("Immigration Man," "Wind on the Water") in addition to five solo cuts. All of this makes for a nice capsule introduction, but for the dedicated, the selling point is the second disc on the Deluxe Edition, which collects 15 demos. The great majority of these -- 12, as a matter of fact -- were recorded between 1968 and 1972, with three of the previously mentioned
classics from the twilight of the '70s rounding out the disc. A few of these were previously released, but taken as a collective, these unadorned recordings -- just a guitar and a voice, save "Wind on the Water" and "Just a Song Before I Go," where
plays piano, and "Wasted on the Way," which features
Stephen Stills
on harmony -- strip away not just the studio polish but nostalgia, revealing the delicate craft that lies behind them. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine