1983 Crosby, Stills and Nash – Allies

Allies is the eighth album by Crosby, Stills and Nash, their second concert document, and released on Atlantic Records in 1983. A live concert clip for “Wasted on the Way” received some rotation on MTV and VH1 at the time, as did the single “War Games.” It peaked #43 on the Billboard 200, and is currently out of print.

The album starts off with two studio recordings. The lead track “War Games” was written for the 1983 film WarGames and was released as a single by the group, which peaked at #45 on the Billboard Hot 100. This song was used in initial early promotional theatrical trailers and in a promotional video for MTV, but their participation in the project was cancelled at the last moment. The MTV video for the song was composed solely of scenes from the movie. The second studio track, “Raise a Voice” by Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, was appended to the 2006 re-issue of Daylight Again as a bonus track.

The rest of the album consists of live recordings from two different tours. The tracks “Shadow Captain” and “For Free” were recorded in Houston, Texas, on the 1977 tour for the CSN album. Presumably they were chosen as they were strong David Crosby performances, something becoming more difficult for Crosby to muster evidenced by his minimal participation on the band’s previous studio album as he dealt with personal difficulties that would eventually lead to his time in prison. The rest of the album derives from a show at the new Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City, California, on the 1982 tour to promote Daylight Again.

David Crosby would spend time in prison in Texas during 1986, putting the group on temporary hiatus. As a result, there would not be another Crosby, Stills & Nash album until 1988 and their reunion with Neil Young, that five-year gap the longest between releases by the group to that point in time.