Reviews:

Recorded at Wally Heiders Studio III, Los Angeles and Studio "C", San Francisco.
Personnel: Graham Nash (guitar); Rita Coolidge (vocals); Jerry Garcia (guitar); Joe Yankee (piano); Chris Ethridge (bass instrument, tambourine); Calvin Samuels (bass instrument); John Barbata (drum); Larry Cox (background vocals).
Probably Graham Nash's most famous solo album--he never recorded as many solo projects as his CSN&Y cohorts, for some reason--1971's SONGS FOR BEGINNERS is the quintessential Graham Nash experience. The ex-Hollies frontman overdubs his distinctive harmonies over unfailingly pretty piano and guitar melodies, letting his pop instincts, which were always more finely attuned than those of his folkier chums, lead him.
Part protest songs--"Military Madness" and "Chicago" are as impassioned as Young's "Ohio"--and part singer-songwriter introspection, the songs are a uniformly strong lot. "Wounded Bird" and "Simple Man," among Nash's most beloved tunes, are highlights, but the lovely "Sleep Song" is among Nash's finest tunes ever. Jerry Garcia and Dave Mason are among the many heavy friends who make cameo appearances.

Personnel includes: Graham Nash (vocals, guitar, piano, organ, tambourine); Dorian Rudnytsky (cello); Seemon Posthuma (bass clarinet); Bobby Keys (saxophone); Joel Bernstein, Joe Yankee (piano); Calvin Samuels, Chris Ethridge (bass); Johnny Barbata, Dallas Taylor (drums); Pat Arnold, Vanetta Fields, Shirley Matthews, Clydie King, Dorothy Morrison (background vocals).