Roger McGuinn (album)

Untitled

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Robert Christgau	B

Roger McGuinn was Roger McGuinn's first full-length solo album, released in 1973.

History

This album was released after The Byrds' 1973 reunion album, on which all five founding members of the group participated in the sessions. McGuinn himself has stated that any outtakes left over from those sessions appeared here, but this was later proven to be false with the discovery of several alternate takes and at least one outtake in late 2009. In addition, the tracks contain several more references to McGuinn's history with the Byrds: the majority of the songs on the album were co-written with Jacques Levy, who McGuinn began collaborating with while he was working on his country-rock musical Gene Tryp (which was abandoned and most of the resulting songs appearing on the Byrds' (Untitled) and Byrdmaniax albums). Two songs here, David Wiffen's "Lost My Drivin' Wheel" and "Bag Full Of Money", were originally recorded by the Clarence White-era Byrds in the midst of 1972, but they were held back until the re-release of "Farther Along" on CD in 2000. Finally, three other songs, "I'm So Restless", "Hanoi Hannah" and "The Water Is Wide" were performed by the Clarence White-era Byrds on at least a one-time basis, with the former two being performed at a concert in Brookville, New York in early 1971, and the latter being played at a later date in August 1972. An outtake from this album, Jackson Browne's "Jamaica, Say You Will", had also been performed by the Byrds throughout 1971, though Clarence White handled the lead vocal and McGuinn sang the high harmony. McGuinn sings lead on the track here, though it was left off the original album and was included only as a bonus track on the 2004 reissue.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Roger McGuinn and Jacques Levy, except where otherwise noted.

Side one

1. "I'm So Restless" – 3:05
2. "My New Woman" – 3:10
3. "Lost My Drivin' Wheel" (David Wiffen) – 3:27
4. "Draggin'" – 3:36
5. "Time Cube" (McGuinn, R. J. Hippard) – 3:15

Side two

1. "Bag Full Of Money" – 3:19
2. "Hanoi Hannah" – 2:50
3. "Stone" (Spooner Oldham, Dan Penn) – 2:59
4. "Heave Away" (Traditional, arranged by McGuinn) – 3:03
5. "M' Linda" – 2:42
6. "The Water Is Wide" (Traditional, arranged by McGuinn) – 3:05

Bonus tracks on 2004 Sundazed CD reissue

1. "Jamaica, Say You Will" (Jackson Browne)
2. "John, John" (Traditional)

Personnel

• Roger McGuinn — vocals, guitars, banjo, Moog synthesizer, harmonica
• Gene Clark, Spanky McFarlane — vocals
• David Crosby, Graham Nash — guitars, vocals
• Jerry Cole — guitar
• Buddy Emmons — pedal steel guitar
• Bruce Johnston — piano, vocals
• Spooner Oldham — organ, piano
• David Vaught, Chris Ethridge, Chris Hillman, Leland Sklar — bass
• John Guerin, Michael Clarke, Jim Gordon — drums
• Charles Lloyd - saxophone
• Hal Blaine — tambourine, percussion
• Bob Dylan — harmonica
• Jimmy Joyce Children's Chorus -- vocals on intro to "Stone"