Cardiff Rose

Roger McGuinn | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 25, 1992)
• Original Release Date: 1992
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000256U
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #304,944 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JOLLY ROGER'S HIGH WATER MARK, April 15, 2005

By 

o dubhthaigh (north rustico, pei, canada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Cardiff Rose (Audio CD)

Former chevron leader of The Byrds, Roger McGuinn, along with George Harrison, put out arguably the best albums of the seventies, although they were often underappreciated. His eponymous solo debut was letter perfect in every regard. This, his third, was even better. Sony has sweetened the deal with a studio demo of David Bowie's "Soul Love" and a live take on Joni Mitchell's "Dreamland."
His spirit is completely infectious throughout this disc. His collaborations with Jacques Levy were never finer. His humour, his jangling 12 string, his lusty and robust vocals give these songs vivid immediacey and compelling authority. Dylan would have been just another long winded songwriter in desperate need of an editor had McGuinn not disovered the gems hidden in the Minnesota tramp's rambling semi-tunes. And yet McGuinn never sought the limelight. He was always in service to the music. You'll get that from the opening track, "Take Me Away", a celebration of his participation in the Dylan-Baez Rolling Thunder Review. When I caught the Review in Toronto, McGuinn was clearly in heaven. He and Gordon Lightfoot seemed the two most enchanted with how wonderful the music was and how important it was for all of them to be anonimously involved in Rock's greatest one-off tour. "Jolly Roger" and "Pretty Polly" present McGuinn as lusty pirate. "Jolly Roger" emboldens the swagger and spirit as much as Stan Roger's "Barret's Privateers." "Friend" is quintessentially troubador music. "Rock and Roll Time" is pure new wave rock, stripped of all the corporate baggage that continues to drag music down. "Partners in Crime" is absolutely dead on parody of the hypocrisy among the Chicago 7. "Up to Me" takes an unremarkable Dylan song and turns it into a classic, as only McGuinn could do. "Round Table" is maybe now the most amazing track, describing as it does, a Crusade to convert the Islamic world and steal back the Holy Grail. Leave the Pyhton analogies alone, and consider what this song says and you have to wonder did Roger know something, even way back then...
All through this disc, you'll catch premonitions of punk, power rock, world music. It all reaches an astounding conclusion with his take on Mitchell's "Dreamland." It is worth remembering that at this point, Mitchell had begun to shed her fan base as she moved into a quasi-jazz styling of songs. McGuinn came through with this gem to remind everyone just what a protean writer Mitchell still was.
The bonus stuff is icing on an incredible cake. I still love this CD! The remastering is perfect. This had all the elements to it: great songs, perfect deliveries, wonderful sound. The Byrd was as high creatively as he could be and it was all about the Music. When everything else was bombast or corporate, Jolly Roger pirated what was still real about music and kept it afloat. Rock owes him an enormous debt, and this is the proof right here.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, June 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Cardiff Rose (Audio CD)

This album has something for every fan. With a superb backing band (including guitar legend Mick Ronson), Mc Guinn has crafted an entertaining group of songs. Of particular note are "Take Me Away," "Jolly Roger," and the gritty "Rock and Roll Time" (co-written with Bobby Neuwirth and Kris Kristofferson). The rendition of "Pretty Polly" included on this album has a much folksier edge than the version on the Byrds box set, and features some of McGuinn's excellent banjo work. There is not a bad cut on the entire album, which is worth the effort to locate. Well done, Roger!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LEAR JETS AND PIRATES, July 9, 2006

By 

S. F Gulvezan (Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cardiff Rose (Audio CD)

Jolly Roger was going for broke on this 1977 release, the fourth of five albums he released in the 70's. He's playing and singing like a man with a pistol to his head on this one, like a man who's definitely trying to prove something after the disappointing commercial response to his previous solo efforts. And he delivers. His range of topics has never been broader, from the search for the Holy Grail ("Round Table"), to transforming Joni Mitchell's "Dreamland" to an ode to the angst of the space age, to raw punk rock ("Rock 'n Roll Time") before it became junk rock, to getting to the rock bottom of a murderer's intent with his searing vocal on "Pretty Polly", to looking into a pirate's soul on "Jolly Roger". All the songs are first-rate McGuinn, and that means first-rate, period. With the success of recent releases like LIMITED EDITION and THE FOLK DEN PROJECT, Roger is finally beginning to get his due, and people are discovering he's been flying in the stratosphere for a long time.