Crosby, Stills & Nash, Allies (1983)

While the early 80s fell like an asteroid on most classic-rock dinosaurs, I’m kind of partial to Stills' “War Games,” perhaps because at 2:18 it’s a nice zippy respite from the crushing bloat of these guys’ typical songs. Mostly-live Allies has almost nothing else to offer—Graham Nash doesn’t like nuclear weapons or pollution, and wrote some bad songs to prove it—but at least the drugs keep Crosby largely sidelined. Nash’s “Wasted on the Way” is a pretty self-satisfied taking-stock song from a guy who can’t keep his asshole bandmate off the smack and has to resort to padding albums out with half-decade-old live cover songs, but remains more forgivable than Stills’s lumbering closing rendition of “For What It’s Worth,” beaten and battered into arena-rock mush, and just horrid. Neil Young flopped this year too, but not this much; even at his goofy worst, he still towers over these gasbags.