Search - Chris Hillman :: Like a Hurricane

They just don't do 'em like this anymore ...

David Juliette | 12/06/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'd put off buying this album for a while, but shame on me, because this is really a nice acoustic rock record, the likes of which they just don't make anymore ... I've loved Chirs throughout his Byrds/Burritos/Manassas/SHF/Desert Rose/solo career, and this record was a canteen of cool, sweet spring water at the end of a long, dusty trail. One of the 10 albums I would insist on having if I were consigned to a desert island would be Chris' "Slippin' Away" album, and until that wonderful record is available on CD, "Like a Hurricane" fills the slot quite nicely. His writing and his voice haven't lost one bit of their energy and expression, unlike so many of his fellow travellers. This record is easily as good as anything he's done. I mourn for all those Eagles freaks who have never heard Chris at his best .. They really don't know what they're missing. Some of this stuff sounds like Byrds, some like Desert Rose, some like his solo work and some really new stuff I've never heard from him before. The musicanship is as superb as we've all come to expect from this consummate pro, and his musical vision is as fresh as it was when we were all so much younger ... You've just gotta love Chris Hillman, and although I should probably be going into much more detail on a track-by-track basis for this review, I'm too busy riding a sonic magic carpet piloted by this wonderful musician/writer/singer to be bothered by such trvial concerns. Forget everybody else associated with California country rock .. This guy's the Thomas Edison of the entire genre. Get this record. Listen to it. Love it."

Chris Can Still Do It

David Juliette | 05/05/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've followed Chris and his music for over 30 years, and I can tell you this album is terrific. You hear all the influences, Burrito's, Byrds, Desert Rose Band even his work with Stephen Stills and his debut solo effort "Slippin Away". And remember folks he and Gram Parsons, along with Poco were there before the Eagles. The combination of styles like the title track along with songs like "Sooner or Later" and "Run Again" blend well with "Second Wind". If your over 45, BUY THIS CD!"

A SOLID MUSICAL PORTRAIT FROM ONE OF COUNTRY ROCK'S GREATEST

Alan Rockman | Upland, California | 05/08/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Chris Hillman has always crafted great music - whether it be as a founder of the Byrds, or his pivotal role (along with the late Gram Parsons)in that band during the "Sweetheart of the Radio" period. Together with Parsons, Sneeky Pete Kleinow and Chris Ethridge, Hillman formed the sadly underrated Flying Burrito Brothers, bringing his friends Bernie Leadon, ex-Byrd Mike Clarke, and Rick Roberts (to replace Parsons). After the Burritos Hillman became "everybody's favorite second-in-command, with Stephen Stills in Manassass, where Hillman kept the band on its musical edge, through Souther-Hillman-Furay, and back again with old Byrds Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark. Then in the early 1980s Hillman and Herb Pedersen formed the Desert Rose Band, which kept the Country Rock promise betrayed by the Eagles and so many other second-rate bands. DRB lasted nearly a decade, with a string of great hit songs and fine albums. Now Hillman is back with a solo album that reflects his life and career. In "Like A Hurricane" Hillman explores relationships, survival, the present, past and future in a set of clear-voiced, non-cluttered songs - the 12-string jangle of "Back's Against The Wall" and the old Searcher's "When You Walk In The Room", the searing "Sooner Or Later" which beats Henley and Frey at their own game hands-down, "I'm Still Alive" Hillman's tribute to the tenacity of David Crosby, and the fine Folk-Country-Rock "Run Away" - reminsicent of DRB at it's best. If you're a Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Desert Rose Band or just plain Chris Hillman fan - then grab this album! If you're not, then odds are you will be - for this album reflects the man and his legacy in Country Rock - past, present and future."