purchase [Stephen Stills: Love the One You're With]
There are various multi-guitar version on the U_tube with any combination of CSNand/orY - acoustic/electric/mixed, many of them satisfying (tho not always), but few come close to the sweet harmony that the original version from Stills' album brings. CSNY aren't related - as in family - except that they are known to fight like members of a family are known to do, and, after so many years, they must be just one notch down from family. But this post isnt about them as family. It's about the Isley Brothers doing a Stephen Stills song:
Love the One You're With: strikes me as rather "hippie" in theme. Take a minute to think it through:
If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with
(a phrase ascribed to Billy Preston, but with likely earlier versions dating back to the '40s or possibly Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello in the 50s)
Peace and Love, man. It's OK to love anyone on the moment/ go with the flow. Why not make the best of the moment: the time only comes around once.
The structure of this song seems to call out for the incorporation of an organ (or whatever takes its electronic place). The Isely Brothers turned out a version of a CSNY song that almost matches Steven Stills' original. In the original, Stills (Wow) plays guitar, organ and various percussion (along with the vocal). Crosby, Nash and Rita Coolidge add to the original.
The 1971 Isley Brothers rendition is decidedly more gospel - see the vocals (gospel: may include clapping and foot stomping along with the focus on vocal harmonies) - the version linked to at the top
