Once Upon a Time at the Top of the Charts: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, SO FAR

43 years ago today, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young found themselves atop the Billboard 200 for the third consecutive time, thanks to a compilation of their greatest hits up to that point.

The optimistically-titled SO FAR featured five of CSN&Y’s six singles up to that point, and while the sixth, “Marrakesh Express,” apparently didn’t warrant inclusion, there certainly wasn’t any issue with quality with a collection that included “Teach Your Children,” “Ohio,” “Woodstock,” “Our House,” and “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.” The reason the album came into existence in the first place was that the quartet had reunited for a tour in ’74, and Graham Nash pointedly called the idea of a greatest-hits album derived from two LPs and a non-LP single “absurd.” Still, the fans ate it up, sending it flying to the top of the Billboard 200 with some rapidity.

While SO FAR is admittedly an album that’s only a must-own for those who haven’t yet decided if they want to pick up Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s proper albums, it’s also a truly great sampler of the work the quartet was doing in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. In other words, it’s no wonder that it also ended up being a chart-topper.