Customer Reviews

Capitol Collection

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The original Byrds gradually reformed in 1977 and 1978, except for Michael Clarke who was committed to Firefall. David Crosby was still committed to Crosby, Stills, and Nash, but showed up for a few performances. Crosby also showed up, uninvited, to record the first album, but, for some reason, was never utilized. The band declined to call themselves the Byrds due to an agreement between Crosby and McGuinn that all five originals had to participate in order to use the name.

This collection presents every studio track recorded by MCH, released on three separate albums (plus four bonus tracks) from 1979 through 1981.

The first album (McGuinn, Clark & Hillman) benefits from some exceptionally strong songwriting and singing, but is compromised by a slick, faceless musical production which sounds like a cross between the Eagles and the Bee Gees. Highlights include Clark's "Backstage Pass" and "Feelin' Higher", McGuinn's "Bye Bye Baby" and "Don't You Write Her Off", and Hillman's "Long Long Time" and "Sad Boy". An enjoyable album which could have been so much better with a sympathetic production.

The second album (City) has a much more personal, enjoyable Byrds-like rock production, but with less consistent song writing. Clark left the group after contributing two songs. Clark's "Won't Let You Down" and McGuinn's "City" would add to any Byrds compilation, while McGuinn's "One More Chance" and Hillman's "Let Me Down Easy" aren't far behind.

The third album, (McGuinn/Hillman, aka Mean Streets) is dominated by relatively un-soulful covers of mediocre pop songs. About the only highlight is "Turn Your Radio On". "Making Movies" is a nice song from an associated single.

The real shame is that these guys were great live, and (at least Gene Clark) had a huge cache of great songs that weren't utilized.

There's a lot to love on this compilation, but you may find yourself jumping past the filler, or just not listening to the second disc too often.

After the legendary Byrds brokeup, in 1979, three surviving members, Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark and Chris Hillman, wanted to carry on the musical tradition, but were banned from using the Byrds name. This was probably a good thing, though as this band incarnation was quite good, but still a poor-man's version of the Byrds. They had three total albums: the first self-titled album, the 2nd album: "City" and the third and most forgettable of the trio: "McGuinn/Hillman." All of the songs on these three albums are contained in this 2 CD boxset.

The late 70's had many offshoot bands of the California soft Eagles-spirit rock. American Flyer, Fools Gold, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco, and Souther Hillman Furay bands are just a few of them. If you like this type of music, you will enjoy 2/3's of this cd collection by MCH. The last album by them is a waste of vinyl or cd. Like many of the bands, in order to salvage their music contract, they had to sacrifice a more basic style for a slick style that changed the folk-rock into some kind of decent pop morph.

If truth be told, MCH sounds more like a pop album by the Eagles than the folk rock it was probably intended to be. If you like soft-rock harmonies, with a southern rock flavor, this compilation will fit in nicely in your collection.
A Byrds collector has a choice here: buy the first two albums/cds invidually, or spend the $25+ needed to pick up this Import available only collection. In my mind, it's overpriced at $30 new, but if you can get it $15-25, its a decent pickup. I would rate the songs from the first two albums at 4 stars, and the songs from the 3rd album at 2 stars, so overall, I would rate this collection in the high 3-1/2's, but not a solid four since the Byrds original cds should all command that.

Jeff Feezle of Macafeez

To expect that a late-seventies reunion between three former Byrds would produce the same magical jingle-jangle of "Mr. Tambourine Man" or "Turn! Turn! Turn!" would be silly. However, one would assume that three of the main innovators behind folk- and country-rock would at least be able to make a decent album. They could have, but they chose not to. Instead, citing a desire "to make records that were forward-looking and contemporary," McGuinn, Clark, and Hillman decided to copy the sound of the Eagles and similar groups and make a radio-friendly pop album (McGuinn, Clark, and Hillman--tracks 1 - 10 on disc one), bereft of any elements that made the three of them great. The album is actually so commercial-sounding, I wonder if the record company forced them to make it sound that way. That said, it did spawn a #33 US hit, "Don't You Write Her Off," a decent pop song, but wasn't the style of music that Roger McGuinn's voice sounds comfortable in front of. Now, I respect the group for making the decision not to retread on old territory, but one has to wonder how sounding like everyone else is a better idea. In fact, all of the songs sound like other songs that were hits for other artists.
A year later, the City album (tracks 11 - 15 on disc one and 1 - 5 on disc two) came out. This time, the group played with an almost apologetic rock-oriented sound, but still sounded like they were catering to the radio audience. McGuinn's 12-string makes a return on a few of the songs, which is a plus. The next album (McGuinn/Hillman--tracks 6 - 16 on disc two) was basically more of the same.
A track-by-track review of the albums would be a waste of time because, for the most part, the songs all sound alike. However, a few slightly stand out. "Bye Bye Baby" is a pleasant acoustic number that somewhat recalls McGuinn's "pastel folk" stuff like "Kathleen's Song" and "Pale Blue." Gene Clark's "Won't Let You Down" has the classic folk-rock guitar riff, which reminds the listener of where these guys actually came from. "Skate Date" is another decent pop song which oddly sounds like a top forty from the fifties with an eighties beat!
The three bonus tracks are only OK. The demos "Little Girl" and "I Love Her" are welcome sounds after hearing the rest of the set, but do not represent McGuinn's best work. The acoustic demo of "Surrender To Me," despite the fact that the guys' timing is a bit off and they don't have an intro or ending, is a little better than the album version, and ends with the ironic quip, "it could be great."
Even though the albums are basically three (sometimes two) great musicians trying to reachieve frivolous commercial approval, I give this collection two stars because it's not embarassingly horrible. The musicianship and singing, though overly-slick, are professional and at the level you would expect from the Byrds and their off-shoot bands. Are these bad songs? Maybe not. Maybe they're just victims of "contemporary" music production. I don't see McGuinn or Hillman ever revisiting any of these songs again, so we'll never really know for sure.

This Capitol records collection is hard to review because it contains all three releases by the former Byrds at great compromise. Originally intended to be a 6-album deal, one can easily hear where things went wrong. It wasn't necessarily the faults of the three participants as much as the label, and desperate times calling for desperate measures with failed past solo projects.

I was inclined to give this two-disc set 3 stars, but felt inclined to be generous after a few more plays. For better or worse, as much like and unlike the debut album was, there is plenty to like here. Chris Hillman's country rockers are by far the best on here, and they are really a great pleasure to hear whether they remind you of the Burritos or the Eagles. "Long Long Time" is a piece of gentle adult contemporary pop paradise with lush, appealing harmonies, while "Surrender to Me" is just a very well-written and performed romantic ballad. True, "Stopping Traffic" and "Bad Boy" are very Glen Frey-like, but since when is that a crime? Look how many current so-called country artists have preyed upon it in the past decade and not nearly half so well as Hillman.
Gene's best song is definitely "Backstage Pass," although that one and "Release Me Girl(Originally "Forgive Me Girl")" are recycled from Two Sides to Every Story with some disappointingly trendy-for-the-70s disco-fied arrangements.

I realize that Capitol was giving the trio an un-Byrds-like facelift, but they knew about as much how to handle this group as Elektra did Badfinger around the same time with Airwaves. These are both worthy, if decidedly uncomfortable affairs. McGuinn being put "mostly on the bench," as he himself put it? Simply because he was the most audibly identifiable Byrd, and God forbid he play that Rickenbacher! Very sorely missed, but the huge joke is that his calypso inspired "Don't You Write Her Off" was the big hit here. I love that song, and "Bye Bye Baby," most reminiscent of "Chestnut Mare," makes his two gems all the better for it.

City, with only one worthy song from Gene, the very 1965-like "Won't Let You Down"--a promise that was soon broken--doesn't suffer much from his absence. In fact, McGuinn and Hillman put out a far more enjoyable album than the first because they fought the lable. The Rickenbacher's back, and this is all good! I recommend everything on City except Gene's distracted, half-finished teenage lust piece "Painted Fire." The title track is one of McGuinn's finest works, and--sorry people--but I think "Skate Date" is cute! McGuinn and Hillman close this album off with great harmonies on the gentle, beautiful "Let Me Down Easy," a song I love more with each play.

Our punishment via Capitol for City? McGuinn/Hillman. With the exception of pretty "Making Movies," the album is a piece of awful offal, and it was obvious that neither the label nor artists cared about the unlistenable and forgettable quality of the music. Too bad Capitol couldn't let them do what they wanted, because we all would have been better off.

There are some nice bonus tracks here, the particular standout being Chris Hillman's demo for "Surrender to Me," which I feel is superior to the finished product. Get this collection if you are truly a Byrds enthusiast and, even if you're not, the first two albums are worth the overall price of purchasing each one individually. Not recommended for die-hard Byrds fans if you are expecting a lot of that. With the exception of City, and unless you're open minded, you won't be pleased.

This set contains all three records produced by McGuinn Clark and Hillman, or McGuinn and Hillman (after the predictable departure of the predictably unpredictable Gene Clark). Unfortunately, the production is very much of the new wave/disco period and did not suit any of the erstwhile Byrds. Other than the infectious "Don't You Write Her Off" and "Won't Let You Down", this collection is a tad bland. One misses the chime of McGuinn's Rickenbacker, Hillman's natural country/bluegrass bent and Clark's pure songwriting. One gets the impression that MCH and their handlers imagined the same type of success predicted for Souther Hillman Furay or the wild success of Crosby, Stills, Nash and sometimes Young. The collective talent of this trio is sadly squashed by attempts to compete with contemporaries. Apparently any attempt to reunite the Byrds in any form was futile, also evidenced by the mediocre reunion album from 1973.

This was a nice surprise. It was recommended to me by another huge Byrds fan and he was right. Get this album!! While IMO this is certainly not up to the level of the orginal Byrds, there is not a single throw away cut here at all. All in all very enjoyable. Musically very tight, great voices,and well written songs. Don't expect to hear the Byrds without Crosby's voice, or the sometimes over use of McGuinn's Rick. Instead do expect to be impressed with probably the best overall effort out of McGuinn since the orginal Byrds, coupled with the usual outstanding efforts from orginal Byrds, Clark and Hillman.

I had been searching for the CD "City" for a long time now and purchased this collection as soon as I had seen that it was available. Roger McGuinn should release a Box Set of all of his recordings.