Search - Clarke Mcguinn & Hillman :: Capitol Collection

The Byrds Again

Robert Felton | Little Rock, AR USA | 04/25/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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.

"

...The Eagyles? For Byrds completists only.

The Man On The Flaming Pie | The Foothills of the Headlands | 03/29/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"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."

McGuinn Clark & Hillman 1/3rd Eagles, Byrds & Flying Burrito

Jeff Feezle | Indiana | 11/25/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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

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