what Frank is listening to #223 – ROGER McGUINN – Roger McGuinn – (Columbia) – 1973
I'm sorry to say I have precious little solo McGuinn material in my collection, whereas I have all the Byrds and a fair smacking of all the other Byrds members solo LPs.
And I say that I'm sorry because if Roger McGuinn never did a thing after the first Byrds album the guy would still be a bona fide legend.
Allmusic in opening a bio on him say: As the frontman of the Byrds, Roger McGuinn and his trademark 12-string Rickenbacker guitar pioneered folk-rock and, by extension, country-rock, influencing everyone from contemporaries like the Beatles to acolytes like Tom Petty and R.E.M. in the process.
The links below will give you McGuinn's bio but he was born in 1942 in Chicago.
McGuinn in a way had more vision that his contemporaries and always seemed to be pushing the envelope. That's not to say everything is good because some of his solo stuff I have heard is patchy as is a lot of the later Byrds stuff. But these are aberrations, and ultimately, I'm not sure if you can achieve greatness without putting out crap, as long as the crap is a result of risk taking. To take chances and to fail is always preferable to smug safeness. No ?
The scope of McGuinn's vision must be, in part, as a result of his background in music. It is widely assumed that he was a folkie who went electric. And that is right, though only partially. He was a bit of a folk music prodigy by the late 50s, but he had been turned onto music by Elvis' "Heartbreak Hotel" (a song he would reprise in his later autobiographical stage shows) as well as the southern rockabilly of Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, and The Everly Brothers. Clearly he loved rock 'n' roll and its mix of country and R&B as it was played by Elvis and his fellow southerners. His love of the "roots" of rock 'n' roll is something he also encouraged in others, like Gram Parsons, to pursue within the Byrds.
As a teen in the 50s McGuinn came under the influence of folkies like Bob Gibson, and ended up playing with folk groups The Limeliters and The Chad Mitchell Trio whilst playing session muso to the likes of with Simon & Garfunkel and Judy Collins. But at the same time he was also in Bobby Darin's band playing Vegas, and he was not adverse to writing a few "surf" songs. Clearly, in a lot of ways, he was a musical sponge and also the right person at the right time with the right amount of talent.
This album is his first solo LP after The Byrds imploded. He produced this album, wrote most of the songs (with Jacques Levy), plays a lot of instruments (vocals, guitar, banjo, moog synthesizer, harmonica, arrangements) and otherwise directs traffic. Whether the album succeeds or fails is because of McGuinn. Wisely, he has surrounded himself with good musicians: Buddy Emmons – pedal steel guitar, Chris Hillman – bass, Bob Dylan – harmonica, Jerry Cole – guitar, Bruce Johnston (of the Beach Boys)- piano, voices, Jim Gordon – drums (of Derek and the Dominos), Hal Blaine – tambourine, Michael Clarke – drums, Chris Ethridge – bass, John Guerin – drums, Spooner Oldham – organ, piano, David Vaught – bass, Spanky McFarlane – vocals, Charles Lloyd – saxophone, Leland Sklar – bass, David Crosby – guitar, harmony vocals, Graham Nash – guitar, harmony vocals.
This is a who's who of music legends. Having said that the sound is not fractured like you would hear on a "special guests" album. McGuinn clearly is the man in the middle and the rest drop in to do their bits quietly and leave. Otherwise, sound wise, the album fits in with the Byrds oeuvre, not surprisingly, but by the same token it is also more individual. McGuinn is given the opportunity to do whatever he wanted without consult of the other Byrds, who were all talented in heir own right, and he does … and he does so without restraint as he tackles a number of styles and sounds.
Tracks (best in italics)
- I'm So Restless – (McGuinn, Levy) – a catchy acoustic old sounding folk song which sounds like Dylan, with, err Dylan on harmonica. Perfect in it's economy.
- My New Woman – (McGuinn, Levy) – a spacey jazz type number with most of the Byrds playing and not unlike later Byrds material. You have to love the free sax (did the Laughing Clowns have this record?). A excellent groove.
- Lost My Drivin' Wheel (David Wiffen) – country rock
- Draggin' – (McGuinn, Levy) – a Beach Boys type tune (with piano and backing vocal by later Beach Boy, Bruce Johnston). Also the crazy sax is back. Not great but not bad, and it sort of grows on you.
- Time Cube (McGuinn, R. J. Hippard) – a banjo and "spacey" themes. As if late era Donovan was singing Pete Seeger.
- Bag Full Of Money – (McGuinn, Levy) – also done by the Byrds. A excellent track. Supposedly about hijacker DB Cooper but obviously other things can be read into it.
Floatin' I'm floatin' on down through the sky
Never had no ambition to learn how to fly
I'll be glad when it's over and ready to land
With this bag full of money I've got in my hand
Never had no ambition to learn how to fly
I'll be glad when it's over and ready to land
With this bag full of money I've got in my hand
Oh I grew up believin' in Jesse and Frank
Cause I never had nothin' or no one to thank
And I came pretty close to unloadin' a bank
But I was saved by my draft board who made me a yank
Cause I never had nothin' or no one to thank
And I came pretty close to unloadin' a bank
But I was saved by my draft board who made me a yank
Floatin' I'm floatin'…
If you can't get a job and they think you're insane
If the years of your youth have been washed down the drain
And you wake up some mornin' with nothin' but pain
It was then I decided to grab me a plane
If the years of your youth have been washed down the drain
And you wake up some mornin' with nothin' but pain
It was then I decided to grab me a plane
- Hanoi Hannah – (McGuinn, Levy) – a blues about Vietnam.
- Stone (Spooner Oldham, Dan Penn) – a gospel type number with a choir even.
- Heave Away (Trad., arranged by McGuinn) – a sea shanty(!) with Spanky McFarlane supplying backing vocals. Fun, and not dissimilar from some early Pogues work.
- M' Linda – (McGuinn, Levy) – a calypso tune. There is not enough steel drums (or moog) on records. This one is out there, but I like it.
- The Water Is Wide (Trad., arranged by McGuinn) – a beautiful country lament ala Pete Seeger done in the Byrds style.
And…
This is certainly eclectic but a winner … I'm keeping it.
Chart Action
US
Singles
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Singles
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Album
#137
England
Singles
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Singles
Album
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Sounds
I'm So Restless
My New Woman
attached
Lost My Drivin' Wheel
Bag Full Of Money
attached
Stone
Heave Away
The Water Is Wide
live
Others
Review
Bio
Website
Trivia
- for the guitar nerds: wikipedia: During his time with The Byrds, McGuinn developed two innovative and very influential styles of electric guitar playing: "jingle-jangle" – generating ringing arpeggios based on banjo finger picking styles he learned while at the Old Town School; and secondly, a merging of saxophonist John Coltrane's free-jazz atonalities, which hinted at the droning of the sitar – a style of playing first heard on The Byrds' 1966 single "Eight Miles High".
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