If I Could Only Remember My Name is the debut solo album by David Crosby, released in February 1971 on Atlantic Records. A number of guest musicians appear on the record, including Graham Nash, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and members of Jefferson Airplane, Santana, and the Grateful Dead, including Jerry Garcia who helped to arrange and produce the album. The ensemble was given the informal moniker of The Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra. Two singles were taken from the album, including "Music Is Love", a collaboration with Nash and Young that was released in April 1971 and reached #95 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was one of four high-profile albums released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their chart-topping Déjà Vu album. It peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200 and earned a RIAAgold certification for selling over 500,000 copies in the United States. The album gained new recognition in 2010 when it was listed second on the "Top 10 Pop Albums of All Time" as published in the Vatican City newspaperL'Osservatore Romano. It was voted number 156 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. He stated "if you are not familiar with this miraculous record, please take the risk."
Recording
Many prominent musicians of that era appear on the record, including Nash, Young, Joni Mitchell, members of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Santana. The ensemble was given the informal moniker of The Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra by Jefferson Airplane bandleader, longtime Crosby associate and fellow science fiction fanPaul Kantner; the core of this agglomeration also worked on Kantner's Blows Against the Empire and the Grateful Dead'sAmerican Beauty, both recorded concurrently with Crosby's album at San Francisco's Wally Heider Studios.
Release
If I Could Only Remember My Name was released in February 1971 on Atlantic Records. Two singles were taken from the album, including the minor hit "Music Is Love", a collaboration with Nash and Young that was released in April 1971 and subsequently peaked at #95 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album has remained continuously in print. In October 1990, a compact disc version was released, having been digitally remastered from the original master tapes, using the equipment and techniques of the day, by Barncard. A double-compact disc version appeared in November 2006, with an audio disc remastered in HDCD, including a bonus track and a second DVD Audio disc of the original album remixed for 5.1 digital Surround Sound.
On 18 November 2013, Crosby appeared on an edition of the BBC Radio 4 programme Mastertapes, which was dedicated to the making of the album. The following day, he took part in the programme's "B-side" edition, answering audience questions and performing songs from the album. Japanese musician Cornelius included it in his list of "10 Experimental Albums that Everyone Should Own." The title of the album served as basis for the title of the documentary .
