byrdsongs, lxxii

You’d think that with McGuinn, Clark and Hillman getting together again, this time without having to contend with Crosby’s ego and general douchebaggery, they could have created something so much better. You’d think they’d have learned a thing or two from the horrible Byrds reunion album they’d done a few years earlier.  You’d think that by 1979 they’d have had their ear to the ground a bit more, noticed the workability of revivalism, and gotten back to what made them so great in the beginning. On the other hand, maybe these implicit criticisms are unfair. Maybe they didn’t want to go back to making Byrdsy music because doing so would have felt like taking steps backwards. I don’t know the reasons why the reunion this time around replicated the bland corporate rock stylings of the previous reunion. I really don't. Ask yourself this question: If McGuinn Clark and Hillman weren’t McGuinn, Clark and Hillman but released the same music that’s on the McGuinn Clark and Hillman album, would anybody have given them the time of day? ...When you watch tonight’s clip, in which MC&H perform the only good song on their self-titled album, you'll notice that Clark is completely out of it. He's there but he’s not there. Is his mic even turned on? Is his guitar plugged in?  What near-lethal concoction do you think is coursing through his body as he's 'performing'? And elsewhere on the stage, who’s the dude with the black Stratocaster, wearing that horrible puke-colored shirt with the white tassels? He's like an archetype of the tacky 70s LA session player. On the plus side, Roger’s using a capo on his 12-string. I wonder if this is because it’s one of those old-style acoustic twelves where the truss rod isn’t strong enough to keep the guitar in standard tuning, or whether he just wanted to take things a few steps higher.  I know you don’t care, and I’m sorry.  I’m just vamping, looking for something interesting to point out. It hasn’t been easy these past few weeks.  As far as I’m concerned, the 70s couldn’t end soon enough when it came to those guys who'd once called themselves the Byrds…