Roger Mcguinn Cardiff Rose CD

On the surface, Roger McGuinn, the former leader and 12-string jangle-meister of the Byrds, and Mick Ronson, who contributed the wicked guitar crunch to David Bowie's Spiders from Mars period, might seem like a wildly unlikely musical combination, but the two became friendly when they both toured as part of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue, and after that road trip came to a close, Ronson went into the studio with McGuinn to produce his next solo album. The result, 1976's Cardiff Rose, is easily one of McGuinn's finest solo efforts; with fellow Rolling Thunder veterans Rob Stoner, Howie Wyeth, and David Mansfield joining McGuinn and Ronson in the studio, the band sounds tight and enthusiastic from front to back, and while this rocks a good bit harder than the average McGuinn effort, Ronson's six-string swagger never gets in the way of the songs, and Mick's production is unexpectedly sympathetic, adding the right seafaring touches to the pirate tale "Jolly Roger" and coming up with a lovely old-timey arrangement for "Pretty Polly." McGuinn also had a better batch of material at his disposal than on his previous set, Roger McGuinn & Band; he wrote a handful of strong originals, including "Partners in Crime" (a witty salute to Abbie Hoffman, then on the lam), the charging rockers "Rock and Roll Time" and "Take Me Away," and the beautifully atmospheric "Jolly Roger," while he was also lucky enough to receive fine contributions from Bob Dylan ("Up to Me") and Joni Mitchell ("Dreamland"). Sadly, Cardiff Rose didn't fare especially well on the sales charts, which is a shame -- it finds McGuinn in excellent form, and proves he could have moved outside of the musical framework of the Byrds and still had plenty to say with the right collaborators. ~ Mark Deming

On the surface Roger McGuinn, the former leader and 12-string jangle-meister of the Byrds, and Mick Ronson, who contributed the wicked guitar crunch to David Bowie's Spiders from Mars period, might seem like a wildly unlikely musical combination, but the two became friendly when they both toured as part of Bob Dylan & the Rolling Thunder Revue, and after that road trip came to a close, Ronson went into the studio with McGuinn to produce his next solo album. The result, 1976's Cardiff Rose, is easily one of McGuinn's finest solo efforts; with fellow Rolling Thunder veterans Rob Stoner, Howie Wyeth and David Mansfield joining McGuinn and Ronson in the studio; the band sounds tight and enthusiastic from front to back, and while this rocks a good bit harder than the average McGuinn effort, Ronson's six-string swagger never gets in the way of the songs, and Mick's production is unexpectedly sympathetic, adding the right seafaring touches to the pirate tale "Jolly Roger" and coming up with a lovely old-timey arrangement for "Pretty Polly." McGuinn also had a better batch of material at his disposal than on his previous set, Roger McGuinn & Band; he wrote a handful of strong originals, including "Partners in Crime" (a witty salute to Abbie Hoffman, then on the lam), the charging rockers "Rock and Roll Time" and "Take Me Away," and the beautifully atmospheric "Jolly Roger," while he was also lucky enough to receive fine contributions from Bob Dylan ("Up to Me") and Joni Mitchell (" "Dreamland"). Sadly, Cardiff Rose didn't fare espec

Originally released on Columbia PC (34154).

Adapter: Roger McGuinn.

Personnel: Roger McGuinn (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Roger McGuinn; Rob Stoner (vocals, bass instrument, percussion); Timothy B. Schmit, Howie Schmit (vocals); Howie Wyeth (drums, percussion); Mick Ronson (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, autoharp, accordion, recorder, piano, organ, percussion); David Mansfield (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, steel guitar, banjo, mandolin, violin, organ, percussion); Kim Hitchcroft (saxophone).

Liner Note Author: Jud Cost.

Recording information: Record Plant, Los Angeles, CA (02/25/1976-07/31/1976).

Arranger: Roger McGuinn.Uncut (p.148) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Easily the highpoint of McGuinn's post-Byrds career, it's pure Rolling Thunder in sound and intensity and taut songwriting brilliance."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.122) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]he best record of his solo career. Covering bluegrass, ballads, and straight-up rock, it is filled with swashbuckling vigour, passion and decadence..."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.94) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "He was surrounded by a band of great players, their chops honed by the constant practice of Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue..."