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The package arrives and you find yourself the proud owner of CPR's second studio album "Just Like Gravity". Even better, you've got a pre-release copy and get to listen to it weeks before most of the rest of the world. (giggle) You shred the packaging, splash the disc into your player and give it a spin. Then you spin it again. And again. Then what? Well you call your friends of course, because after all, really good music isn't good until it's shared, right? Only there's one problem. You tell your friends you've got the new CPR disc and they think you're talking about some new on-line medical manual. (Note to self: Get new friends. Ok, scratch that. Keep old friends; educate them instead.) Fortunately this is a malady that "Just Like Gravity" will go a long way towards curing. CPR, as more and more music fans can tell you, is the trio of David Crosby, Jeff Pevar and James Raymond.
A long time friend, associate and band-mate of Crosby's, Pevar earned his stripes as a studio and performance musician playing with the likes of James Taylor, Joe Cocker, Jimmy Webb, Carly Simon, Shawn Colvin, Bonnie Raitt and Kenny Loggins. Raymond is Crosby's son. Or at least that's how it originally seemed to play out in the media. The reality is that Raymond is much more than Crosby's offspring. He's an incredibly talented piano playing, vocalizing, music-writing whirlwind who seems to serve, at least in some aspects, as the backbone of this mesmerizing group. Joined by bassist Andrew Ford and drummer Steve DisStanislao, CPR (yes, it's really a quintet) released its self-titled debut in 1997. The work was well received but somehow maintained a cloak of novelty brought about by the "rock star reunited with his long lost son" genesis of the group. With the release of Gravity any so-called novelty has clearly evaporated. And what we find remaining is a musical body of work that may be some of the best Crosby has ever been a part of. And when speaking about a two-time Rock 'n' Roll Hall-of-famer, well, that's saying a giant heaping mouth full.
"Dude. If you put band X on one corner of the street, and band Y on another corner and then band Z on the third corner and then crashed them all together, that's what these guys sound like." Come on, as sorry as it is, we've all done it. It's a dangerous and quite frankly unfair way to describe any artist's work. And yet... Listening to Gravity I just couldn't get it out of my head how much like something or somebody it sounded. And the light went on. Gravity sounds like David Crosby meets, well, er, uh, David Crosby. Only not the "Déjà vu", "Long Time Gone", "Almost Cut My Hair" David Crosby that generally comes to mind. It's a much older Crosby sound, as if he's been reaching back to his early balladeering roots... and yet somehow it's a newer sound as well, with the story telling and wisdom that only age, and hard-earned experience can bring.
Ok, the names are different, but there's no denying biology. When David Crosby and James Raymond sing together, it may be with two bodies, two sets of vocal chords, but it is definitely with one voice. Together they blend like the intertwined fingers of two hands holding each other; one the hand of a father, the other of his young son. Oh, there are differences. Though still melodic and strong, Crosby has with age acquired that edgy and if only slightly, rougher quality to his voice, while Raymond's has that sweet angelic purity that has always been attributed to his father. If one of them is singing alone, it's pretty easy to tell which one is which. But when they sing together? On "Breathless" and "Darkness", the second and third tracks respectively, or "Eyes too Blue" a Crosby-Raymond collaboration, they trade lead vocals and then follow by providing harmony for each other. And it's haunting. Really. Not haunting like in the early 80's when Julian Lennon cut an album that sounded like John had been resurrected. No, that was creepy. But haunting in a way that jumps inside you and in a moment leaves you, well breathless and bewildered, wondering just how many voices you're really listening to. At times it's as if David Crosby of today is singing harmonies with the David Crosby of 30 or more years ago. Only better.
I love it when music does that. With the release of the first album, the effects of what Pevar, Raymond, DiStanislao and Ford brought to the Crosby musical workshop were obvious and immediate. A driving jazz-infused rhythmic beat that seemed to take the elder statesman to new places in an all ready storied career. But with the release of Gravity it looks, feels and sounds as if perhaps the white sheet has been lifted from the sculpture and what we find is ... A band. A true band. This takes nothing away from power and musical majesty that is Crosby, Stills and Nash, or Crosby and Nash or any of Crosby's other collaborations dating back to The Byrds. And there is no direct comparison intended. But CSN, for all it has been and is, by the very proclamation of its own members, is a group of individual artists working together. And while the differences may seem minute, in listening to CPR's latest effort, they become crystallized.
And with CPR? Listening to Gravity is like looking at a group of small children playing around a picture window. By the time they move away the window is draped in tiny fingerprints, some blurry, some clear, some larger, some smaller, but each one a testimony to the children that touched it. Three of the songs from Gravity were written with input from each of the five band members. One of them, "Map to Buried Treasure", not only includes a credit to Crosby's wife Jan, but also was inspired by her sharing a lyric with her husband. The lyric gave birth to a wonderful song about love, loyalty and allegiance. (Breathless and Coyote King are the other two) Sure Crosby's name carries the most weight - and some venues have even been so short-sighted as to bill CPR appearances as "David Crosby and CPR" - but Crosby himself would likely be the first to dispel the myths that CPR is anything less than a committed group. And that may be the most telling sign of all. If his concerns were financial, instead of trying to break through old barriers with a new band, Crosby could as easily sling his twelve-string over his shoulder, put his name on marquees around the world and set about counting the receipts. But he doesn't. And apparently he's found a project to which he is committed - long term. And one that seems to have taken a priority in both his personal and professional lives. And you know what? It shows. To these ears Gravity accomplishes everything a band could hope to achieve from a second studio album. It takes the foundation laid by the first album and galvanizes it, launching a screaming red flare into the night as a proclamation that "We're here, and like us, love us or hate us, we ain't going nowhere. Now sit down and have a listen..." Perhaps the biggest challenge Gravity, and in fact CPR as a band faces, is that it's hard if not impossible to label. Weaving between Crosby's folk-rock background and the Pevar/Raymond jazz/pop/groove influence, it all seems to mesh together in a musical tapestry that can't quite be titled. While a growing number of fans consider that one of CPR's strongest appeals, I can just see record store managers around the world counting ceiling tiles all night long while trying to figure out where to stock this album or group. Every song is like a robust salsa that captivates your very last taste bud. Every bite, every song, is true to the intended flavor, but contains a new little nugget that keeps you going back for more. And more. If you've been a CPR fan, you're in for a treat. If you've yet to have your first CPR experience, it's not too late. You can be saved. In either case heed this warning. Play it once and you'll play it again. Play it a second time and you'll be sucked in. You'll walk away from the stereo with intensions of doing something else, look up and find you've been pulled right back to where you started, standing in front of the stereo listening - again. It will draw you in. Just Like Gravity.
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