Customer Reviews

Mcguinn Clark & Hillman

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

 

 

Yes, that was my original thought when i bought this CD years ago being a long time Byrds fan... i was expecting the jingle jangle of McGuinns guitar work and soaring vocals throughout, but instead it sounds like an "AM radio middle of the road 70s rock/contemporary disco" album that was produced maybe with some session musicians on songs filling in (check out the disco violin/horn hints in the album lol!!!). BUT the funny thing is, even though it doesnt sound like the Byrds, as you listen to the album, you really start to like it! The last song, Bye Bye Baby though does sound like ol' Jim McGuinn. Gene Clark really comes through on vocals-- i really think that if he were alive, he could of been singing in Vegas or something because he had such good folk rock voice-- move over Tom Jones! lol Chris Hillman has what I call a "middle-of-the-road radio voice"-- its nice, but just not exciting. All in all, add this album to your Byrds collection... its just a good crafted late 70s studio album of music veterans and is enjoyable to listen to!

If you love the Byrds, you will want this to support your collection. Not a great cd, but a solid effort. This cd is overly produced and too smooth sounding and the quality of songwriting is only average (why didn't McGuinn write more songs?), but it is a good example of california folk pop of the times (late 70's, think America, the Eagles and Seals and Croft). 'Long long time' is a beautifully played acoustic number, 'Stopping traffic' sounds very much like the Eagles, and 'Bye Bye Baby' is the closest thing to sounding like the Byrds on the cd. I finally purchased this cd when I was able to track down the cd with the bonus tracks on it and they are the songs that make the purchase worthwhile. The demo of 'Surrender to me (all acoustic, no overlaying production as on the original) is great, 'Little Girl' acoustically beautiful, and 'I love her' is naked sincerity. This would have been a great album if the production was cut back and the music was stripped down (as on the bonus tracks). But, it is a good listen nonetheless.

This CD may be offensive to Byrds fans for they were forces to make them go Las Vegas (in a way) on this. But this is completely enjoyable and at the time we fans were starved for any release. McGuinn and Hillman put out highly enjoyable songs, but be prepared to be impressed in the the pop vein still, by Gene Clark's 4 entries. His songs cut through the desert with a bit of a fine meal still left. As always during his career, and for whatever reason, he is underated here. But as a whole an enjoyable CD.

A much under-appreciated record. As many did when this album was released, I dismissed it as being over-produced and even a sell-out to disco music, then in its heyday. Worse still, it didn't retain anything resembling the original Byrds sound, understandably still cherished by many including myself. After recent listenings I feel altogether differently about the album. First, it has several terrific songs, notably Hillman's "Long, Long Time" and "Surrender to Me," and no less than four superb Clark compositions. These, especially "Feelin Higher," anticipate the reach of Clark's masterpiece album "No Other," which I believe soon followed this record. (Listen for a reference to this album's title in this song.) And his "Release Me, Girl" contains, for my money, some of Clark's most impassioned, recorded singing. Also, the album's song's are rhythmically diverse and experimental, such as the Caribbean inflections of McGuinn's "Don't You Write Her Off" and the reved-up funk of "Release Me, Girl."
I have to say that these three fine artists were ahead of me with this one when it was originally released, but thankfully it wasn't too late to catch up.

After the very fine BYRDS 1973 (reunion) album, which ranks as high as the first "perfect" five Byrds albums, (Mr.Tambourine Man, Turn, Turn, Turn, 5th Dimension, Younger Than Yesterday and The Notorious Byrd Brothers), McGuinn, Clark and Hillman did it again, even not having the great Crosby with them. Even with no Neil Young nor Dylan songs, they reminded us of who they were, and of what heights they were capable of reaching. No one has the finesse that McGuinn has for compositions and for singing, and Hillman has proven to be the George Harrison of the Byrds, with totally original compositions, always with a fresh and honest sound. Also, who can sing (and write) like the late Clark? No one. McGuinn did it again in Back from Rio, which ranks as high as the above mentioned works. Hillman has proven over and over to be a great composer, with songs like Angel, on the McGuinn-Hillman album, reissued on the Ruturn Flight (I) album.
Clark the same with a unique song like Rain Song, out of the This Byrd Has Flown CD.
Critics who dislike the use of orchestation on this album would probably hate (and rightfully so) if these three extremely talented artists would have sounded just like in their early albums.
Unfortunately they, (including Crosby), did not follow, in the following 18 years, the pattern set on the Byrds 1973 album:
Two or three compositions from each one, possibly a song by Dylan, and essentialy two to three songs by Neil Young, to prove once and again that Clark was possibly the greatest wasted folk rock singer of all. So let's hope Roger, Chris and David shall provide us with some reunion works in the future.

I got this album back in 1979 when it first came out, mainly on the strength of two songs that were getting some airplay, "Long Long Time" and "Don't You Write Her Off". I can't say that I was ever too impressed with the rest of the album, though. The main problem is the intrusive orchestration, which ruins several songs that might have worked well otherwise. Most glaring example: "Backstage Pass". But even aside from that concern, the album is marred by a sense that these vets are just going through the motions to collect a paycheck. Following this release McGuinn and Hillman put out two more rather pedestrian albums, "City" (which was credited to "Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, featuring Gene Clark", because Clark was on two songs), and "McGuinn-Hillman", both from 1980. While neither boasts a single song as strong as "Long Long Time", they are both nonetheless superior to "McGuinn Clark & Hillman" because they thankfully dispense with the orchestration. "McGuinn-Hillman", by the way, features covers of two Graham Parker songs, "Soul Shoes" and "Between You And Me", but they really don't do much of interest with them.

This work done by Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark and Chris Hillman is different than the work they have done before. It does have the disco flavor of the seventies but I find that not to be a negative thing (even though I was never a disco fan). The first side of the LP appeals to me the most with the sadness that laces the songs that continues to ring long after it has stopped playing.

This album appears to be highly refined in the studio, which to some seems to be a bad thing, I don't hold that view.(The CD with the extra tracts, which are demo versions, gives a peek at what can be done with the raw song in the studio.) The harmonies are splendid, the variation of instruments is nice and I hope that the ones who truly love music will sit down and really listen to the beautiful work these three men (and the other musicians and professionals) have created.