McGuinn, Clark & Hillman (1979)

This must have made sense in 1979: three former Byrds, all equally washed up artistically and commercially, getting back together for some of that old magic. It doesn’t happen, of course, though Hillman’s lead track “Long Long Time” has some power-pop zest all too absent from his other solo work. I could see the Plimsouls rocking this.

McGuinn and Clark phone their songs in; the only moxie they bring is in their apparent competition to see who can unbutton his shirt the furthest on a cover shot, with McGuinn winning at near-belly-button depth. With a cross-bearing necklace, Clark looks sleazier, though, grizzled and mean like Rip Torn in Payday, which probably wasn’t far off (his lazy groupie-grabbing “Backstage Pass” only adds to the image). “Release Me Girl” answers the question, what would Gene Clark sound like with a disco-lite arrangement, if anyone was wondering, like some watered-down leftover from No Other, and McGuinn’s closing “Bye Bye, Baby” is fairly lovely if one can hold awareness of the abysmally insipid lyrics at bay. Otherwise, nothing to report here.

Oh, there are unfortunately-placed liner notes on the cover that declare the album has “a timeless quality … that renders analysis insignificant.” Whoever Stephen Peeples is or was, hopefully he felt shame for writing that. Which is not to say further analysis would be effort well spent.