McGuinn, Clark & Hillman
	Produced by Ron Albert & Howard Albert
	Released on January 1979
	US CHART POSITION #39
	Find it at GEMM
SW-11910 cover [high resolution photo]

I ’m going backwards in my pursuit of The Byrds, moving from the solo music of Roger McGuinn to McGuinn, Clark & Hillman. This was actually my first adventure in byrding, having netted it for “Don’t You Write Her Off,” then releasing it, then capturing it anew in a used record store. (The great cycle of something, I suppose.) It caused a small stir at the time and contained three wonderful tracks: “Long Long Time,” “Don’t You Write Her Off” and “Surrender To Me.” These songs are representative of what was right about the ‘70s soft rock movement. The rest of the album flirts with disco, adopting the city-slicker-in-cowboy-boots stance of Eagles and others. Honestly, the album begins to fall apart after “Surrender To Me,” though the closing “Bye Bye, Baby” is an awfully pretty ballad. Like the CS&N alliances, the three songwriters came to this project as individuals, choosing to write with outside collaborators rather than each other. Where they meet is in the harmonies, though even here other artists cloud the picture. That the trio couldn’t came up with better material is a bit disappointing, but that they left any kind of keepsake behind is a plus. However, this isn’t The Byrds in their natural setting. The pointless plug from Stephen Peeples on the cover and the staged cover photography scream “Cheese factor nine and scaling.” In fact, I’d rate this as some of the worst album packaging of all time. What’s inside is occasionally very good, especially the opening four cuts, which compare favorably to Bob Welch, Eagles et cetera. Still, the world needed The Byrds, not more songs about groupies, maneating women and soured relationships. At some point in your life, you should hear “Long Long Time,” “Don’t You Write Her Off” and “Surrender To Me.” The rest of this record you can live without.

SW-11910 back cover	SW-11910 lyric sleevesleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. LONG LONG TIME    (Chris Hillman/Rick Roberts)    3:06
2. LITTLE MAMA    (Gene Clark)    4:13
3. DON'T YOU WRITE HER OFF    (Roger McGuinn/Robert J. Hippard)    3:13
4. SURRENDER TO ME    (Rick Vito)    3:33
5. BACKSTAGE PASS    (Gene Clark)    4:22
6. STOPPING TRAFFIC    (Chris Hillman/Peter Knobler)    3:13
7. FEELIN' HIGHER    (Gene Clark/Terri Jean Messina)    5:18
8. SAD BOY    (Chris Hillman)    4:00
9. RELEASE ME GIRL    (Gene Clark/Thomas Jefferson Kaye)    3:52
10. BYE BYE, BABY    (Roger McGuinn/Robert J. Hippard)    3:54
    
    CD reissue bonuis tracks
    
11. SURRENDER TO ME (DEMO)
12. LITTLE GIRL
13. I LOVE HER

CREDITS

GENE CLARK --
CHRIS HILLMAN --
ROGER McGUINN --
PAUL HARRIS -- keyboards
JOE LALA -- percussion
GEORGE TERRY -- acoustic & electric guitar, piano
GREG THOMAS -- drums
Mike Lewis -- string & horn arrangements
Rhodes, Chalmers & Rhodes -- vocals
John Sambataro -- vocals
Don Gehman -- engineer, mixing
Roy Kohara -- art direction
Phil Shima -- design
Jim McCrary -- photography

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