Old Enough to Forget

I was perusing the dollar section and found this one. The jacket was in immaculate condition, and while there was no insert the record itself looked shiny. I also mistakenly thought it was another SFH Band release (J.D. Souther, Richie Furay and Chris Hillman), and while the one I had was rather forgettable, it was enjoyable, so why not? It wasn't until I dropped my buck that I realized this was McGuinn, Clark & Hillman. Now, I'm a casual fan of The Byrds, and I enjoy most of what I've heard over the years - except for "Eight Miles High." Yeah, it's a classic, but for goodness' sake Roger McGuinn spent most of the song trying to get his fingers untangled from the 12 strings on his Rickenbacker. It may be a cacophonous masterpiece to some, but to me it's a reminder that not everyone can play lead guitar. As a casual fan I knew that Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn were former Byrds, but didn't know that Gene Clark was as well. Turns out here were...

Sometimes the anticipation and mystery of the unknown are greater than the reality once it's revealed. I found this album the same day I found the debut album by The Karroll Brothers, and at the time I mentioned I was pretty stoked to find this one. The Karroll Brothers album was a wonderful surprise. This one was a surprise too, but for different reasons. Let's get a couple of things out of the way right up front. I'm a casual J.D. Souther fan. I have a couple of his albums and, aside from his "hit" "You're Only Lonely," they were rather forgettable. However, his contribution to the 1988 movie Permanent Record (where I became a fan of Keanu Reeves), "Wishing on Another Lucky Star," is one of the finest pop songs EVER written. For that alone, I consider myself a fan. Chris Hillman is another guy I know more about than I actually know. I do have one of his albums, and I remember enjoying it, but I can't actually remember any of the songs...

I am going to try and mostly write this one in real time. "Mostly" because I think the songs will go by faster than my brain can process the music, but I'll try to see what my gut says as I spin the album. First, a preamble of sorts, because every good story (even the bad ones) starts with an introduction. I'm hoping this is more like how The Hobbit fit with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and not how the prequel Star Wars movies were fitted into the franchise. Dang, I can see this has already gone off ... I can fix this, hang on. Let's start at the beginning. I'm at the other record store I like to go to the other day, and entering the shop often makes me feel a little bit like King Arthur trying to cross the bridge by answering a series of questions. After a preamble that thankfully didn't involve coconuts and wind speed, I'm in, and it turned out to be a banner day. I had been listening to T-Bone Burnett and got a hankering to see if I could find any...