Many legendary albums are getting special anniversary treatments and Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young’s seminal Deja Vu is another one in line. The album was released back in 1970, and to celebrate its 50th anniversary (Covid-19 delays everything), Rhino are releasing a special box set of the album on May 14, 2021.
As Rolling Stone (RS) and a number of other outlets report, the box set will span four CDs and one LP, containing the original record, unreleased demos, outtakes, and alternate takes. Its packaging replicates the original album’s deep-brown leather-like sleeve, paired with a hardcover book including rare photos and liner notes by Cameron Crowe. It was produced by photographer-archivist Joel Bernstein and Rhino’s Patrick Milligan, with each band member voting for their respective songs, yielding 38 bonus tracks in addition to the original album.
To announce this release, Rhino released a previously unavailable demo of Neil Young and Graham Nash taking on “Birds,” one of Young’s most iconic songs. Nash gave a comment to RS saying that “I know it’s just me and Neil doing it with his acoustic guitar, but that’s a beautiful piece of music. It’s me trying to be the best harmony singer I can be with somebody of the stature of Neil Young. I don’t want to stick out singing extra words that he’s not singing. I have to be on my game. And ‘Birds’ is a perfect example of that.”
