POP MUSIC REVIEW : CSN KEEPS PLUGGING IN IRVINE

Just recently a Southland man and his VW Bug made headlines after the car logged 1 million miles, the moral of which, apparently, is that longevity of any kind automatically commands a certain degree of celebrity.

So it’s no surprise that in the 20th anniversary of the “Summer of Love,” any group with ties to the ‘60s is treated with a respect approaching down-on-your-knees reverence. Even the Turtles are being hyped as the “next Monkees” on the comeback circuit.

After 18 years (plus or minus) of togetherness (more or less), Crosby, Stills & Nash have pretty much become rock’s million-mile Volkswagen: Just when you think they’ve sputtered their last breath, they’re off and running again.

CSN probably typifies the ‘60s, the Woodstock generation and the hippie mentality better than any group extant. Indeed, they had the hit version of Joni Mitchell’s song, “Woodstock.”

Yet mere nostalgia only partially explains the thunderous, emotional outpouring from a sellout crowd of 15,000 fans on Saturday when the tattered but only slightly worse-for-the-wear trio played Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.

Much of the response, predictably, was directed at David Crosby, who is reunited on this tour with his longtime sparring partners for the first time since being paroled last August from a Texas prison where he was serving a five-year sentence for drugs and weapons convictions.

Living up to his public confessionals in numerous publications, Crosby did project the image of a humbled and revitalized man whose voice and songwriting appear to be back in shape, which is more than can be said for the rest of his body. (Let’s just say that his multicolored suspenders served as more than a mere fashion statement.)

Introducing “Compass,” a song he wrote while in prison, Crosby shared with fans his fears during the years when drug abuse put his songwriting skills into suspended animation and his joy at rediscovering that talent after coming clean. It was a warm and human moment from a man who is obviously willing to accept responsibility for his mistakes.

There were also plenty of jokes about the life styles of the rich and incarcerated from Crosby and Nash (who introduced Crosby prior to a solo set as having traveled “all the way to Irvine via Dallas”). At one point Crosby himself wryly noted: “I’m not going to preach to you about drugs--you have to figure that out for yourselves; but if you’ve watched my life for the last 10 years it should take you about two seconds to figure it out.”

Personal redemption is a potentially powerful theme, but even with all that emotional subtext, other than three or four new songs, the nearly three-hour performance was in most respects standard CSN.

And face it: A lot of CSN’s lyrics haven’t improved with age; the years have only intensified the sophomoric sogginess of songs like “Guinnevere” and “You Don’t Have to Cry.”

Of course, much of the interest in CSN centers on the trio’s three-part harmonies and everything locked in place exquisitely on portions of signature tunes (including “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” and “Teach Your Children”), underscoring the celebration of the unadulterated human voice that the group’s shows represent.

But too often the triumvirate’s singing fell short. The success of CSN’s intricate harmonizing depends on balance. Once the trio steps from the safety of the recording studio, the singers lose absolute control, and on Saturday the middle and top harmonies frequently obscured the melodic line. Like a circus balancing act, the man with the melody provides the foundation without which all the other vocal gymnastics mean nothing.

Throughout the show, a few boisterous fans kept shouting for Neil Young (the former partner in the band whose presence was rumored because he also plays locally on Thursday), but they had to settle for former Orange County resident Jackson Browne.

Backed by keyboardist Craig Doerge and Crosby and Nash on harmonies, Browne offered “Jamaica Say You Will,” a composition with greater timelessness than most everything in the CSN repertoire.