It was on Asylum.<\/p>\n
That’s one of the main reasons I purchased the Souther, Hillman, Furay Band’s debut.\u00c2\u00a0 Richie Furay had been in not only Buffalo Springfield, but Poco.\u00c2\u00a0 Stephen Stills and Neil Young had gone on to triumph in later incarnations, but Richie struggled.\u00c2\u00a0 This supergroup was his last great hope. J.D. Souther wrote those great Eagles and Linda Ronstadt songs and Chris Hillman had been a member of the Byrds, the Burritos and Manassas. Only one problem, they hated each other.\u00c2\u00a0 You can create a group on paper, but that doesn’t mean everybody’s gonna get along.\u00c2\u00a0 But we didn’t know that, we only had the album.\u00c2\u00a0 Which had no hits, but still went gold and peaked at number 11 on the chart and was filled with nuggets those who purchased it knew by heart.<\/p>\n
In other words, what do you say about an album that was seen as a failure that everybody loves?\u00c2\u00a0 At least everybody who bought it.<\/p>\n
Richie Furay gave up.\u00c2\u00a0 He went into the ministry.<\/p>\n
Chris Hillman went solo then went into another failed trio with his old buddies from the Byrds and then found a niche in country.<\/p>\n
And J.D. Souther went on to record one of the greatest SoCal albums that nobody heard.<\/p>\n
I know, I know, J.D. had a hit single.\u00c2\u00a0 With "You’re Only Lonely" in 1979.\u00c2\u00a0 Not bad, but that track from the uneven album of the same name was eclipsed by so many cuts on 1976’s "Black Rose".\u00c2\u00a0 The record produced by Peter Asher in the classic Southern California style that barely made a ripple.<\/p>\n
But I love it.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s got his version of "Faithless Love", sung like someone who’s experienced the heartbreak of a failed relationship.\u00c2\u00a0 Linda Ronstadt knocks it out of the park, whereas hearing J.D. sing it is like stumbling upon your best friend in a room alone, after you’ve convinced him to unlock his door.\u00c2\u00a0 He tells the story wearily, just the facts.\u00c2\u00a0 But you can hear the pain in each and every word.<\/p>\n
And also included is a version of "Simple Man, Simple Dream".<\/p>\n
But what will kill you is the two unknown originals.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re hiding in plain sight for you to discover them today, "Your Turn Now" and "Baby Come Home".<\/p>\n
"Your Turn Now" is a masterpiece.<\/p>\n
The moon was yellow<\/span> Ain’t that every Friday night when you’re single.\u00c2\u00a0 You put on your clothes and your attitude, use your best material and sometimes you come home drunk and sometimes you wake up in someone else’s bed.<\/p>\n How would anybody know it<\/span> Everything I know about sex I learned from the movies.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what we judge our lives against, the movies.\u00c2\u00a0 Soul mates?\u00c2\u00a0 All that other crap?\u00c2\u00a0 We get it from entertainment, we don’t really know what love is.<\/p>\n Let me tell you I can fight like a man<\/span> This is why we loved the Eagles, lyrics like this.\u00c2\u00a0 The honesty, the immaturity, the incompleteness under the swagger.\u00c2\u00a0 We like our heroes vulnerable.<\/p>\n And almost as good is "Baby Come Home".<\/p>\n Ever been left?<\/p>\n Whew!<\/p>\n You can employ a bunch of strategies.\u00c2\u00a0 You can go out and get drunk.\u00c2\u00a0 You can go out and get laid.\u00c2\u00a0 You can ring their phone off the hook.\u00c2\u00a0 But none of it ever works.\u00c2\u00a0 You just can’t forget, you can’t get them out of your mind.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re waiting for them to come back home.\u00c2\u00a0 Even though they never do.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe for a night or two.\u00c2\u00a0 But when they leave in the morning you never know when you’re gonna see them again.<\/p>\n And the strings evidence the misery.\u00c2\u00a0 J.D. starts out telling his story.\u00c2\u00a0 Then he begins to plead. Love never evaporates.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like carbon.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s got a half-life.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve just got to wait until the pain fades and you can start all over again, with someone new.<\/p>\n But until then…<\/p>\n Some people pray, most every day<\/span> Sleepless nights.\u00c2\u00a0 Of torture.<\/p>\n But it wasn’t like J.D. Souther emerged fully-formed on "Black Rose".\u00c2\u00a0 He had moments of genius before that.\u00c2\u00a0 And some of them are on that Souther, Hillman, Furay debut.<\/p>\n The single was supposed to be Richie’s "Fallin’ In Love".\u00c2\u00a0 But it was too generic to hit.<\/p>\n The surprise was the Hillman tracks, "Heavenly Fire" and "Safe At Home" are rollicking cuts that have you raising your beer glass and singing along.<\/p>\n And then there’s J.D.’s "The Heartbreaker".\u00c2\u00a0 An Eagles track on a different album.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the kind of stuff Glenn Frey sings about.<\/p>\n And the final cut, "Deep, Dark And Dreamless", is the sensitive work J.D. made his name with.<\/p>\n But the best J.D. track on the album is "Border Town".<\/p>\n I had a cassette.\u00c2\u00a0 Taped from the vinyl record.\u00c2\u00a0 I listened to it as I drove cross-country, back and forth, alone.\u00c2\u00a0 It was my constant companion.\u00c2\u00a0 Part of my DNA.<\/p>\n And lo and behold, I ask Kevin yesterday about his kid in the Air Force and he says he’s down in Texas, in Laredo, in a border town.\u00c2\u00a0 And he starts singing these lyrics:
And the sky was cool<\/span>
The night can make a promise of love<\/span>
Or it can make you a fool<\/span><\/p>\n
If the real thing shined<\/span>
You’ve seen so many movies<\/span>
You’d probably think it was a line<\/span><\/p>\n
And cry like a little boy<\/span><\/p>\n
If you could trust me<\/span>
Try to believe me<\/span>
Listen to me when I say<\/span>
When I say that love is a burning fire<\/span>
And it will not fade away<\/span><\/p>\n
Some people wait and see<\/span>
Ah, but deep in the night<\/span>
When nearly nothing’s going right<\/span>
You can hear him cryin’<\/span>
Baby come home<\/span>
Sighin’<\/span>
Baby come home<\/span>
Dyin’<\/span>
Baby come home<\/span><\/p>\n
Life ain’t so easy in this border town<\/span>
Too much dope and too much runnin’ around<\/span><\/p>\n\n