CIS less by the burnished production finish. if not obscured altogether. Broad washes of strings. busy horn charts. clavinet CRISPIN CIOE JOHN STORM ROBERTS funk, and Latin syncopations KEN EMERSON JAMES SIMON relentlessly argue that this is music of the TODD EVERETT SAM SUTHERLAND moment. informed by the trends of TOBY GOLDSTEIN NICK TOSCHES 1979-not by the older and presumably outmoded fashions a DON HECKMAN KEN TUCKER of lost decade. For all the precision of the studio ensemble. STEPHEN HOLDEN JOHN S. WILSON for all the craftsmanship of the featured artists and their producers. contempo- raneity is achieved at the expense of dis- tinction. "McGuinn. Clark & Hillman" is more consistent than any of its mem- bers' solo efforts in recent years. but it also projects far less personality. On his solo LPs. McGuinn has toyed with the lilting Caribbean accents that surface here. while Hillman has ex- plored similarly Latin -styled contexts McGuinn, & with the group Manassas and on his own Clark Hillman: Asylum solo works. In those projects. however, both artists' original country The Gamble of Contemporaneity and folk influences remained tangible. Here. the common ground covered in by Sam Sutherland past collaborations-particularly country music. the prime mover for both Clark and I lillman at the inception of their ca-

McGuinn, Clark & Hillman. Ron & I coward Albert. prod ucers.Cupito/ S N 11910..7.98. Tape: 4XV11910. 8X W 11910, $7.98.

Roger McGuinn. Gene Clark. and Chris Hillman have stressed that their new collaboration isn't intended as a resurrection of the Byrds, and it's easy to understand why, even without the evi- dence of their new Capitol album. No one wants to compete with a legend. even one of his own devising. In retrospect. the Bvrds cast a for- midable shadow over rock's last fifteen >e years. despite a career that was both ar- tistically and commercially more check- ered than the hand's lofty niche suggests. From the jangling folk/rock of the origi- nal quintet to later forays into psyche- delia and country/rock. traces of its mu- sic have shown upon acts throughout the '70s from the Eagles to Tom Petty. The intervening years since I973's disap- pointing reunion album (which led founder McGuinn to formally retire the band name) have only served to magnify the group's mythic proportions. Such a legacy makes the trio's current wish to look forward. not hack. admi- rable. But under the guidance of produc- ers Ron and Ilowie Albert. their intent has become a gesture of renunciation. 1 1 Any aural signatures of the original style-McGuinn's chiming electric twelve -string. Hillman's cascading bass lines, and the close, high harmonies of their voices-have been rendered face- //i!lman, McGuinn, Clark-not what we expected

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