Album of the Day

On this day in 1970, the trio of Crosby, Stills & Nash was named Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards. Featuring an ex-Byrd, a former Buffalo Springfield member and a Hollies refugee respectively, CSN were a supergroup for the Woodstock generation, filtering a sometimes-guarded optimism through glorious three-part harmonies on their epochal self-titled debut for Atlantic Records. The trio's songwriting skills were as impressive as their singing, and the material here is uniformly strong; the ten originals include Top 40 hits “Marrakesh Express” and “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” as well as such could've-been-singles as “Guinnevere,” “Wooden Ships” and “Helplessly Hoping.” The musical high-water mark of the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers remains a beguiling listening experience.