CSN

Recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami with Ron and Howard Albert as co-producers and engineers, CSN was the trio's second studio album as three, after the 1969 debut. Rolling Stone's Cameron Crowe visited during the sessions and described a house routine of waking at 5 p.m., dinner at 6, the evening news at 6:30 and the studio at 8. The album featured strong writing from all three members, and a few tracks used a string section, a first on a CSN record. Stills's songs echo his marital problems, Nash wrote an elaborate piece called Cathedral about an LSD vision in Winchester Cathedral, and Crosby continued the existential probing of his earlier work.

It peaked at number two on the Billboard chart in the summer of 1977, held there for the month of August behind Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, and was certified four times platinum. It outsold the 1969 debut by 200,000 copies. Just a Song Before I Go reached number seven and Stills's Fair Game number 43.