Cardiff Rose
	Produced by Mick Ronson
	Released on June 1976
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
PC 34154 cover [high resolution photo]

U nderstanding and appreciating an album like Cardiff Rose today requires a little historical context. I was a kid in 1976, and stuff like the mythology of the Byrds and Bob Dylan just didn’t trickle down to my little world, so the idea of Roger McGuinn being recharged by The Rolling Thunder Revue didn’t mean squat to me. However, I recall that 1976 was a turbulent time when heroes were in short supply, and for many people McGuinn was a guitar-slinging hero who hadn’t had a good gunfight in a while. As a member of the Mystery Man’s traveling circus in the mid ‘70s, McGuinn was the most high-profile member of the Revue, which also included Mick Ronson (last seen on Mars), Howard Wyeth, Rob Stoner and David Mansfield. It might have seemed that McGuinn had slipped to the status of a hired gun, so when he came out with both barrels blazing on “Take Me Away” singing about how great it felt to be on tour again, it felt like the sleeping phoenix had risen again. And McGuinn is clearly engaged on every track here; in fact, energy is sometimes the only thing that ties these tracks together (“Partners In Crime,” “Jolly Roger”). Produced by Mick Ronson, Cardiff Rose does sometimes sound like the work of Ian Hunter (“Rock And Roll Time”), but Bob Dylan is the most obvious reference point (“Pretty Polly,” “Round Table”). There’s even a Bob Dylan song on here, “Up To Me,” that sounds a lot like the Hard Rain rendition of “Shelter From The Storm.” In their defense, though, McGuinn and Ronson take Joni Mitchell’s “Dreamland” to a different place than you’d expect (would have loved to hear Jerry Garcia cover this one). Cardiff Rose is ultimately a good album, not a great one like Desire or Blood On The Tracks. Given that Back From Rio really played up the Tom Petty factor, I’d declare Cardiff Rose the ultimate McGuinn-er in the battle of his best solo elpees. Note that the 2004 CD reissue includes a live version of “Dreamland” and a demo of the Ziggy nugget “Soul Love” that already has me very intrigued.

PC 34154 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. TAKE ME AWAY    (Roger McGuinn/Jacques Levy)    3:00
2. JOLLY ROGER    (Roger McGuinn/Jacques Levy)    4:56
3. ROCK AND ROLL TIME    (Roger McGuinn/K.Kristofferson/B.Neuwirth)    2:46
4. FRIEND    (Roger McGuinn)    2:07
5. PARTNERS IN CRIME    (Roger McGuinn/Jacques Levy)    4:52
6. UP TO ME    (Bob Dylan)    5:36
7. ROUND TABLE    (Roger McGuinn/Jacques Levy)    4:05
8. PRETTY POLLY    (arranged & adapted by Roger McGuinn)    3:17
9. DREAMLAND    (Joni Mitchell)    5:20
   
   CD reissue bonus tracks
   
10. SOUL LOVE (DEMO)
11. DREAMLAND (LIVE)

CREDITS

Sorry, my copy didn't come with any lyric sleeve, so this is all I've got:
Ron Coro -- art direction
John Kehe -- design
Ethan Russell -- photography

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