Thursday, March 14, 2013

Chris Hillman, Slippin' Away (1976)




For a while, early upon first listening to the Byrds, I thought Chris Hillman was their secret weapon. Turns out that's because I was seduced and deceived by Younger Than Yesterday; his really sharp songwriting more or less began and ended with "Have You Seen Her Face?" 

After a post-Byrds decade spent kicking around in various groups, he began his solo career proper here. Is “a more boring Poco” even a legible phrase? It’s the most accurate description I can devise, and probably more thought than the album merits; it’s never less, but assuredly never more, than pleasant. There’s a song called “Take It On the Run” that isn’t that other “Take It On the Run” and makes one appreciate REO Speedwagon’s pop smarts. There’s a song co-written with Gram Parsons, which might well have been composed after his passing for all the presence it contains. And there’s a random bluegrass closer called “(Take Me In Your) Lifeboat,” which is really all you need to know. Dude is less pompous than David Crosby, is the most glowing comment I can muster.

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