Déjà Vu, is the second studio album by American folk rock group Crosby, Stills & Nash, and their first as a quartet with Neil Young.
Stephen Stills estimates that the album took around 800 hours of studio time to record; this figure may be exaggerated, even though the individual tracks display meticulous attention to detail.
His other contribution, "Country Girl", combined two Buffalo Springfield songs, "Down, Down, Down" and "Whiskey Boot Hill," (also released on his Archives) with a recently written title chorus.
"[6] It was during these sessions that Crosby would break down and cry due to the recent death of his girlfriend Christine Hinton, telling Crawdaddy in 1974 "I was not at my best as a functioning person, ... completely unable to deal with it all.
"[8] During this time members were not getting along, as they would critique each other's contributions, causing friction, with Crosby stating to Rolling Stone, "I kept "Almost Cut My Hair" in there over the protestations of Stephen, who didn't want me to leave it in 'cause he thought that it was a bad vocal.
"[5] Stills also made Nash change "Teach Your Children" from a "Henry VIII" style song to a hit record with a "country swing".
[10] Drummer Dallas Taylor and bassist Greg Reeves play on the majority of tracks, and are credited on the cover with their names in slightly smaller typeface.
The album was issued on compact disc a second time on September 6, 1994, after being remastered from the original tapes at Ocean View Digital by Joe Gastwirt.
Contemporary reception was mixed, with Robert Christgau saying that there were "five or seven memorable tunes" and that it was "Young's guitar—with help from Stills and hired hands Taylor and Reeves—that make the music work, not those blessed harmonies".
[19] Langdon Winner wrote for Rolling Stone that, despite the addition of Young, the sound "is still too sweet, too soothing, too perfect, and too good to be true".
Side Two has "precision playing, glittering harmonies, a relaxed but forceful rhythm, and impeccable twelve-string guitars" but no first rate songs.
"[17] Nick Logan and Bob Woffinden, of ZigZag and The New Musical Express, were critical of Crosby's and Nash's contributions, while stating that all of the other songs were "easily outclassed by the immensely superior material of Young.