what Frank is listening to #212 – CHRIS HILLMAN – Clear Sailing – (Asylum) – 1977 
Anyone even remotely interested in country rock knows Chris Hillman. His PR is not as successful as many others in the genre but he was a key player in country rock and the west coast sound. He was in many groups including: The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, The Hillmen, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Bros, Manassas, The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, McGuinn Clark & Hillman, Ever Call Ready, Desert Rose Band, Rice Rice Hillman & Pedersen and Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen.
Look at his resume…..there is a lot going on and he is still quite active in music. Go to the links for his bio. But for the sake of placing him in context I refer to wikipedia for some short background:
Christopher Hillman (born December 4, 1944, Los Angeles, California) was one of the original members of The Byrds, which in 1965 included, Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke.
Along with frequent collaborator Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock, virtually defining the genre through his seminal work in The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, and later became the leader of the country act Desert Rose Band.
That whole country rock genre threw up a lot of errr, cow shit, but Hillman is the real deal and perhaps a natural cornerstone of the movement having been a lad born in LA and brought up on a California ranch listening to cowboy and country music. Country stylings appear in all his music from the very earliest to the most recent.
Having said that it is also true that as the 70s progressed "country rock" grew increasingly slick and dull, despite or because of it's popularity. The rough regional accents were ironed out, lyrics were toned down, authentic country instruments were replaced with standard rock ones or worse, were played to fit into a MOR sound and most unfavourably of all the elation and emotion in the best of country was replace by a cool, stoned detachment. It reached it's peak with with the amazingly facile Eagles who despite their limitations managed a handful of good tracks.
Of course there is room for this smooth country rock but with a few exceptions it doesn't date particularly well and isn't all that memorable, though some idiots will champion it.
At the time country rock sold bucketloads but most musical genres gravitate to the middle to sell more records and if there ever was a genre where the good in the genre was marginalised in the music charts it would have to be this one.
This album unfortunately is very much of it's time …a late 70s country rock album with all the limitations described above.
It's a slippery slope from country rock to soft rock with country overtones …..
Produced, slickly, by Jim Mason who did a lot of country rock production the album also has Richard Marx on backing vocals and rhythm guitar (remember him?…the MOR rocker who hit in big in the late 80s, briefly) as well as a number of country rock session muso stalwarts in support, including Michael Clarke (former band mate and Byrd) on tambourine on one song.
They play well but what does give the LP character is Hillman.
The biggest fault and this is almost unforgivable is that music of this ilk inspired many lesser talents to imitate the sound.
Tracks (best in italics)
- Nothing Gets Through -Hillman, Knobler- any country rock album that opens with a song that starts with horns, and not of the mariachi kind, makes me uneasy. Having said that the harmonising is distinctly country rock and the song isn't all that bad.
- Fallen Favorite – Hillman, Knobler – very slick …. but persuasive in it's own way.
- Quits-OKeefe – a cover originally done by the vastly underrated Danny O'Keefe. This is effective though at odds with the other tracks.
- Hot Dusty Roads- Hillman, Knobler, Stills – Co-writing is added by fellow country rock traveller (and former Manassas band mate) Stephen Stills. Country rock and familiar themes.
- Heartbreaker- Sager, Wolfert – Carole Bayer Sager and David Wolfert was a hit (#1 Country, #37 pop) for Dolly Parton in 1978. It seems that Dolly was covering Hillman. Song co-writer Wolfert also played session for Dolly on her version. Hillman's version, at least in it's album form, is clearly album material with an extended and slightly 70s trippy guitar solo. It would have been a pretty good pop country ballad without the wankery at the end.
- Playing the Fool- Hillman, McCorison – I'm cutting Hillman a lot of slack here. This is jazzy soft rock …and not good jazzy soft rock, if there is such a thing.
- Lucky in Love- Hillman, Knobler – hmmm
- Rollin' and Tumblin'- Hillman – a dramatic relationship song …
- Ain't That Peculiar -Moore, Robinson, Rogers, Tarplin – here is a cover out of left field …. the 1965 Marvin Gaye song and hit (#1 R&B, #8 pop), written by Smokey Robinson, .
- Clear Sailin'– Hillman, Marx, Roberts – yet another slick mid tempo ballad but with some persuasive lyrics …
And…
Pleasant but not especially memorable ….but for the sake of completeness I'll keep it ….
Chart Action
US
Singles
Singles
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England
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Singles
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Sounds
Quits
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Clear Sailin'
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Others
Review
Bio
Website
Trivia
- co-writer on many of the tracks was Peter Knobler who was editor of US rock magazine Crawdaddy.
Other Comments
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(originally posted: 05/06/2011)
