Venice

David Crosby once described Venice as "the best vocal group in the country and one of the best bands of any kind I have ever heard." Their close affinity for the Crosby, Stills & Nash songbook makes the compliment unsurprising, since the band appears to have absorbed that catalog completely. The debut album Born and Raised sits squarely inside the mellow California sound of the 1970s associated with CSN and the Eagles, to the point that it could pass as a long-lost 1975 release. Although such committed revivalism has its appeal, even admirers of the style might admit that Venice bring little that is new to the tradition. Spinart followed in 1999.