Allies (Crosby, Stills & Nash album)

Allies is the eighth album by Crosby, Stills & 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 at No. 43 on the Billboard 200.

Allies
Live album by Crosby, Stills, & Nash
Released	June 6, 1983
Recorded	1977–1983
Venue	New Universal Amphitheater, Universal City, California; The Summit, Houston; Studio tracks in Los Angeles
Genre	Rock
Length	42:32
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, Stanley Johnston, Ron Albert, and Howard Albert
Crosby, Stills, & Nash chronology
Daylight Again (1982) Allies (1983) American Dream (1988)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

Content

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 No. 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.[2] 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.

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"War Games" (studio track)	Stephen Stills	2:18
2.	"Raise a Voice" (studio track)	Graham Nash, Stephen Stills	2:31
3.	"Turn Your Back on Love"	Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Michael Stergis	5:04
4.	"Barrel of Pain"	Graham Nash	5:46
5.	"Shadow Captain"	David Crosby, Craig Doerge	4:30

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Dark Star"	Stephen Stills	4:48
2.	"Blackbird"	John Lennon, Paul McCartney	2:30
3.	"He Played Real Good For Free"	Joni Mitchell	3:48
4.	"Wasted on the Way"	Graham Nash	3:04
5.	"For What It's Worth"	Stephen Stills	5:38

Personnel

• David Crosby – vocals, guitars
• Stephen Stills – vocals, guitars, keyboards
• Graham Nash – vocals, guitars, keyboards

Additional musicians

• Danny Kortchmar – electric guitar on "War Games" and "Raise a Voice"
• Michael Stergis – electric guitar on "Raise A Voice"
• James Newton Howard – keyboards on "War Games", "Turn Your Back on Love", "Barrel of Pain", "Dark Star" and "For What It's Worth"
• Mike Finnigan – additional vocals on "Barrel of Pain," keyboards on "Turn Your Back on Love", "Barrel of Pain", "Dark Star" and "For What It's Worth"
• Craig Doerge – keyboards on "War Games", "Raise a Voice" and "Shadow Captain"
• George "Chocolate" Perry – bass
• Joe Vitale – drums all tracks except "War Games" and "Raise a Voice"
• Jeff Porcaro – drums on "War Games" and "Raise a Voice"
• Efrain Toro – percussion on "Turn Your Back on Love", "Barrel of Pain", "Dark Star" and "For What It's Worth"
• Joe Lala – percussion on "Shadow Captain"

Production

• Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Stanley Johnston – producers
• Ron Albert, Howard Albert – co-producers on "Shadow Captain" and "For Free"
• Steve Gursky, David Hewitt, Stanley Johnston, Jay Parti— engineers
• Jeff Kallestad, Gerry Lentz, and Doug Williams — assistant engineers

Charts

Chart performance for Allies

Chart (1982)	Peak position
US Top LPs & Tape (Billboard)	43
Canadian RPM 100 Albums[3]	92
Dutch MegaCharts Albums[4]	39
West German Album Charts	44
US Cash Box Top 100 Albums[5]	59

Tour dates

Tours
Date	City	Country	Venue
5 June 1983	Chicago	United States	Chicago Stadium
Europe Tour
11 June 1983	Paris	France	Hippodrome de Patin
12 June 1983	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Ahoy
14 June 1983	Hamburg	Germany	Willem-Koch-Stadion
15 June 1983	Berlin		Waldbuhne
17 June 1983	Essen		Georg-Melches Stadion
18 June 1983	Darmstadt		Stadion Am Bollenfaltor
19 June 1983	Augsburg		Rosenaustadion
21 June 1983	Toulouse	France	Palais De Sports
26 June 1983	San Sebastian	Spain	Velodrome de Aneota
28 June 1983	Rome	Italy	Ippodromo delle Capannelle
30 June 1983	Milan		Palasport di San Siro
1 July 1983
2 July 1983	Frejus	France	Arenes de Frejus
3 July 1983	St Gallen	Switzerland	Sittertobel
5 July 1983	Lyon	France	Palais de Sports
7 July 1983	Lorient		Stade de Moustoir
9 July 1983	Birmingham	England	National Exhibition Center
11 July 1983	London		Wembley Arena
12 July 1983

References

1. Allies at AllMusic
2. Chicago Tribune article retrieved 6 January 2014
3. Canada, Library and Archives (2013-04-16). "The RPM story". www.bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
4. "Dutch Charts - dutchcharts.nl". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
5. "CASH BOX MAGAZINE: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.