Silver Bird - Mark Lindsay

Silver Bird
Mark Lindsay
Columbia C30111
1970

When I was a little kid "Silver Bird" was one of my favorite songs.  It wasn't that big of a hit but when I heard it on the radio it really stuck with me and became my personal anthem for awhile.  I never knew who did it, the only rock artists I knew were the Mamas and the Papas, the Monkees and the Beatles.  Eventually I forgot about it.  Then a couple of years ago I was in a record store looking at Paul Revere and the Raiders records and I saw this shiny silver Mark Lindsay solo album and realized that this must be it.  I bought it and sure enough when I put it on the turntable and heard the opening song "Silver Bird" I was transported back to my childhood.  The song still sends me, it is a terrific song.  Then I heard the rest of the record.  Yikes.  I'm a big Raiders fan and I expected something in that vein.  It was the time when the Raiders were trying to appeal to more serious or mature rock fans with their albums.  I have no idea who Lindsay was directing this record at, teenyboppers who hate rock I guess.  Almost the entire record sounds like easy listening music, strings, fussy arrangements, mellow crooning, it is hard to believe this same guy used to make a living singing "Louie, Louie".  He does do it pretty well though, he could have made it as Vegas lounge singer.  He offers useless covers of "Come Saturday Morning" and "We've Only Just Begun" worthy of the Lettermen or the Sandpipers.  He sings an unholy medley of two of the sappiest songs in the Beatles canon - "The Long and Winding Road" and "Yesterday".  Aside from the title cut, the only decent song on the album is "Windy Wakefield" by the Addrisi brothers of "Never My Love" fame.  I basically keep the record because I love the title song and don't care much for singles.  Recommended for adventurous Jack Jones fans.