Probably the only album in rock history in which a band
recovers from a 3rd album slump by having the bass player take the
lead songwriting role. What’s amazing is that Chris Hillman, for one record and
one record only, very nearly fills Gene Clark’s shoes. “Have You Seen Her
Face,” “Time Between,” Thought and Words,” they just roll out so seemingly
effortlessly, pop-rock manna from four-string heaven. Throw in the slightly lesser
(but still wonderful) “The Girl with No Name” and the Hillman/McGuinn co-written opener
“So You Wanna Be a Rock ‘N’ Roll Star,” and this is Hillman’s greatest moment,
a triumphantly jangly revitalization. Like floating garbage lifted by a rising tide, even David Crosby writes an actual song for once with “Renaissance Fair,” perhaps his finest turn.
This was probably the end of the line for this particular
style of music; by the next year, you’d have to up your artistic ambitions or
become the Monkees. It’s a delightful departure (I’m just gonna keep pretending
Crosby’s “Mind Gardens” never happened).
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