For his third solo album,
Thousand Roads,
David Crosby increased the participation of his guests and attempted to redefine himself as an artist. Where previously, regardless of who was playing or singing on the track, the song was a
Crosby composition, on
Thousand Roads Crosby acts primarily as an interpretive singer, penning only one of the ten songs and contributing to two others. The result certainly is a craftsmanlike set of songs written by pop professionals --
Phil Collins,
Jimmy Webb,
Marc Cohn,
John Hiatt,
Paul Brady,
Stephen Bishop -- and produced by the cream of pop producers --
Don Was,
Glyn Johns,
Phil Ramone. The failings were, first, that
Crosby's individuality was lost and, second, that, as the list suggests, his choices were more calculated than inspired. The problem with
David Crosby as a solo artist was not how to make him sound more conventional, it was how to make his unconventionality work.
Thousand Roads solved the wrong problem; the album was
Crosby's least successful in the record stores. ~ William Ruhlmann