I got a bunch of LP's recently which were on sale by a Delft record shop. I stopped collecting vinyl some time ago, because of all the space it takes up and difficulty in use: you can't rip them to your portable device or listen on the car nor take them with you everywhere you move: at the moment I and my record player are residing in different countries. But these were 70's albums who have either never been released on CD or, like in this case, whose reissues are long out of print. Plus these items seemed so rooted in their period that it seemed right to own them on vinyl and, of course, one can't argue with the price: €5 for 3 LP's and you get to discover what former Byrds were up to at the dawn of the 80's. Also, the album cover is bonkers: Hillman and co. have exchanged their cowboy nudie suits with "sensible" haircuts & ties, posing dressed as their idea of city slickers amid pictures of skyscrapers while McGuinn proudly displays his mobile telephone: It'a a big square box with an antenna which seems to weigh at least a couple of kg's, but he's holding it to his ear - so a telephone it must be. |
| ...wait till you see the charger! |
Anyway, I figured that even if the music was bad (and I haven't heard anything really bad from these guys) at least its deliciously silly cover and relative rarity as an album would make it a worthwhile addition to my record collection. Well, the content proved to be satisfying beyond expectation (admittedly an easy task as my expectations were rather low) as it wasn't plagued by the sterile sound and "modern" recording techniques that ruined so many 80's productions. Surprisingly, it also rarely sounds like The Byrds as the blueprint seems to be the laid-back soft rock of The Eagles. Hillman's opener "Who Taught The Night" takes that West Coast sound and rocks it out a bit, while listening to the beginning of "One More Chance" was a mild shock: Was it obligatory that everyone must record a reggae song in the 70's? What could have driven McGuinn the world's whitest singer to attempt something so foolish? Eric Clapton I blame you for this abomination! But when the shock subsided and the folky chorus and blues-rock guitar kicked in, I found that it somehow worked well as a song. McGuinn emerged unscathed from flirting with ridicule and, to my knowledge at least, wisely never tried it again. "Won't Let You Down" is the most Byrds-sounding track here, with beautiful harmonies and McGuinn's trademark 12-string on the fore. It's the first of only two numbers written and sung by Gene Clark. They had released a fairly good album as a trio the previous year, but Clark dropped out of the project during the recording of "City" so he's downgraded to guest status here. "Street Talk", "Skate Date" and "Deeper In" are upbeat and kind of new wave-ish. "City" and "Givin' Herself Away" repeat the questionable trick of putting folk rock to a reggae-like beat and come out sounding like a mixture of Tom Petty and Police.
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"Ha, ha, we had you fooled with the ties -
this is what we really look like!" |
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| "But you said you have covers for all mobile types!" |
Worse crimes have been committed in the effort of sounding modern. The second Clark track "Painted Fire" is a kind of Southern blues rock with boogie woogie piano and "Let Me Down Easy" a country ballad with beautiful vocals and pedal steel guitar. It's a throwback to their earlier country rock sound, in an album going for a more contemporary sound. The trick is to play to your strengths while opening up to new influences and I daresay Hillman and McGuinn pull it off quite nicely. So kudos for that! While in no way essential listening, this album is certainly worth more than its current obscurity, as it should satisfy the numerous fans of the West Coast soft rock/country sound of The Eagles, America, Fleetwood Mac etc...
**** for Who Taught The Night, One More Chance, Won't Let You Down
*** for Street Talk, City, Skate Date, Givin' Herself Away, Deeper In, Painted Fire, Let me Down Easy
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