CHRIs HILLMAN The Asylum Years

OMNIVORE 7/10 Byrds/Burritos mainstay’s two mid-’70s solo LPs reissued on one CD A consummate musician, Chris Hillman was a late bloomer in other respects. He didn’t contribute material or sing lead until The Byrds’ fourth album, Younger Than Yesterday, and his subsequent forays with The Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas and Souther Hillman Furay reflected his preference for sharing the spotlight. When he finally got around to cutting a solo LP in 1976, Hillman kept it in the musical family, working with former Burritos Bernie Leadon, Rick Roberts and Al Perkins, Poco’s Tim Schmit and LA session stalwarts Russ Kunkel and Lee Sklar, plus one ringer – Steve Cropper. Not surprisingly, Slippin’ Away’s manicured sound is of a piece with recordings by the Eagles (“Take It On The Run”), Stephen Stills (“Step On Out”, Stills’ own “Witching Hour”) and JD Souther (“Blue Morning”). The mostly self-penned songs are handsomely crafted if not transcendent, suiting Hillman’s disarming, boy-next-door tenor. By contrast, Clear Sailing, made with a different cast of characters and released the following year, is the musical equivalent of an ill-fitting suit. It’s anybody’s guess what Hillman and producer Jim Mason (Poco, Firefall) were thinking in terms of the material (MOR ballads!) or the arrangements (sax solos!). The little-heard LP stands as the lone egregious lapse of taste and judgement in Hillman’s otherwise classy discography. Extras: None.