You no longer need feel “helpless” waiting for the official announcement of Crosby Stills Nash and Young’s mega-box set celebrating the band’s legendary – and notorious – 1974 tour.  On July 8, CSNY 1974 arrives with 40 live tracks and bonus video footage in a variety of formats, including:

• a 3-CD/1-video DVD set;
• a Pure Audio Blu-ray (192kHz/24-bit)/1-video DVD set;
• a 16-track single CD distillation;
• a 12-track Starbucks-exclusive single-CD; and
• a limited edition set featuring a coffee-table sized book and six 18o-gram 12" vinyl records, limited to 1,000 copies.

It’s been a bumpy road to this release with squabbles over release date, audio format and quality, and even the title of the album.  Back on April 22, 2013, we published the following:

In 1974, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young embarked on a highly-publicized reunion tour of their own, although their first performance was a mere five years earlier, in 1969.  The tour was marred by rock star excesses, but the legend of “The Doom Tour” has loomed large for fans of the supergroup.  Now, nearly forty years later, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills and Neil Young have finally agreed to the release of an album of tour performances originally scheduled to arrive decades earlier.  Neil Young told Jimmy McDonough that “the tour was disappointing to me…they [CSN] wanted to put out a live album, and I wouldn’t put it out.”  But Graham Nash and David Crosby have confirmed to Rolling Stone that the as-yet-untitled album is finally due for release on August 27.

Crosby, who wishes to call the album What Could Possibly Go Wrong?, calls the recordings “startlingly good” in Rolling Stone, and Nash agrees that the recordings are “fuckin’ magic” before adding “it is true there were so many drugs and it was chaotic.”  With Young finally on board, fans can expect the album to be in pristine sound quality, or at least as much as is possible in the standard CD format.  Crosby confirms, “[Young’s] got it at two million bits.  He’s a fanatic.  You can get him mad by just saying ‘MP3.’ This is getting mastered at the highest quality available in the world.”

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young haven’t toured in seven years. “What do we do after this live album comes out?” Nash pondered to Rolling Stone. “Do we just let it lie there and fucking die, or do we do limited promotion? That’s not cowardly, but that’s not the way to do it. In my perfect world – and I’m only talking about what I would do – I would delay the release of this until the spring of 2014. I would ask David and Stephen and Neil to take three months off their busy lives and go out on tour to promote this record.”  As such a turn of events seems unlikely – though hardly as unlikely as another Beach Boys reunion – the as-yet-untitled 1974 live album is currently on the schedule for August 27.  We’ll have more details (such as a track listing and pre-order link) as soon as they’re confirmed by the CSNY camp, so watch this space!”

August 27, 2013 came and went, but the package that will arrive this July 8 looks like it will prove worth the wait.  After the jump, we have a full rundown of specs for all formats including the full track listing!

CSNY 1974 has been produced by Joel Bernstein and Graham Nash and is designed as a companion to the series of lavish box sets for Crosby, Stills and Nash.  The 40 songs have been culled from nine performances captured on multi-track tape.  Nash told Rolling Stone that “we  wanted the best performances of each song for this collection.  So Joel and I listened to every single minute of the multi-track shows and chose the best. We'd take, say, the best performance of 'Almost Cut My Hair' and send it to David [Crosby] for his approval. We did the same with Stephen [Stills] and Neil." You can listen to an exclusive stream of "Almost Cut My Hair" at Rolling Stone’s website.

The 40 songs will be available on one Blu-ray Pure Audio disc or on three CDs.  Both the BD and CD sets include a special 8-song bonus DVD filmed at the Capital Center in Landover, Maryland and London’s Wembley Stadium.  The audio portion has been sequenced in three sets, even though the songs have been drawn from multiple performances on the trek.  A box set limited to 1,000 copies housed in a birch LP case will be available only at CSNY's website and will include all 40 songs on six 180-gram 12" vinyl records as well as the Blu-ray, DVD and a digital download card.  A 188-page booklet with never-before-seen tour photos is included with the BD/DVD and CD/DVD sets; the limited edition box features a coffee-table version of the book.  Two single-disc highlights CDs will be available to both regular retail and to Starbucks stores, each with a unique track listing.

Pre-order links can be found below!

Crosby Stills Nash and Young, CSNY 1974 (Rhino, 2014)

3 CD/1 DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Blu-ray Audio/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.  Link TBD

Highlights Disc: Amazon U.S. Link TBD / Amazon U.K.

CD 1 – First Set

1. "Love The One You’re With"
2. "Wooden Ships"
3. "Immigration Man"
4. "Helpless"
5. "Carry Me"
6. "Johnny’s Garden"
7. "Traces"
8. "Grave Concern"
9. "On The Beach"
10. "Black Queen"
11. "Almost Cut My Hair"

CD 2 – Second Set

1. "Change Partners"
2. "The Lee Shore"
3. "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"
4. "Our House"
5. "Fieldworker"
6. "Guinevere"
7. "Time After Time"
8. "Prison Song"
9. "Long May You Run"
10. "Goodbye Dick"
11. "Mellow My Mind"
12. "Old Man"
13. "Word Game"
14. "Myth Of Sisyphus"
15. "Blackbird"
16. "Love Art Blues"
17. "Hawaiian Sunrise"
18. "Teach Your Children"
19. "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"

CD 3 – Third Set

1. "Déjà Vu"
2. "My Angel"
3. "Pre-Road Downs"
4. "Don’t Be Denied"
5. "Revolution Blues"
6. "Military Madness"
7. "Long Time Gone"
8. "Pushed It Over The End"
9. "Chicago"
10. "Ohio"

Bonus DVD (Video)

1. "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"
2. "Almost Cut My Hair"
3. "Grave Concern"
4. "Old Man"
5. "Johnny’s Garden"
6. "Our House"
7. "Déjà Vu"
8. "Pushed It Over The End"

Single CD Edition:

1. "Love The One You're With"
2. "Wooden Ships"
3. "Immigration Man"
4. "Helpless"
5. "Johnny's Garden"
6. "The Lee Shore"
7. "Change Partners"
8. "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"
9. "Our House"
10. "Guinevere"
11. "Old Man"
12. "Teach Your Children"
13. "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"
14. "Long Time Gone"
15. "Chicago"
16. "Ohio"

Starbucks Exclusive CD:

1. "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"
2. "Change Partners"
3. "The Lee Shore"
4. "Johnny’s Garden"
5. "Guinevere"
6. "Our House"
7. "Prison Song"
8. "Old Man"
9. "Blackbird"
10. "Hawaiian Sunrise"
11. "Teach Your Children"
12. "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"