The Byrds

[Moon Dawg]

Anyone else think Roger should have retired The Byrds name after "Notorious...."? They'd lost too many key members to be considered the same band. Hell before Roger rerecorded some of the leads, "Sweetheart" was essentially Gram Parsons with a backing band.

No, no one else thinks this....... 

The band with Clarence White and Gene Parsons was dyno-mite!

DYNOmite!

 The latter day Byrds were a better live band than the original lineup for sure. But the harmonies were lacking.

[Mike's Beard]

  Gene Clark wasn't forced out of the band. He left of his own accord mainly due to nervous tension. Recall that he was welcomed back for about 3 weeks fall 67 before quitting again.

Gene left by his own accord but the others gleefully helped push him out the door as he did. Gene quit mainly because Crosby and McGuinn treated him badly. Yes he had his share of problems but having the ego of the 'Cros on your back was the biggest factor I think.

[EgoHanger1966]

I know it's really sleazy, but I can't help but love "Triad". Perhaps it's something about how unsubtle it is. I like the way Crosby sings it so earnestly.

Other favorites:

I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better
Lady Friend
Younger Than Yesterday album
Lady Friend

Artificial Energy - again, love how unsubtle it is at times - "I'm coming down off amphetamines" - yeah Roger, you didn't actually have to spell it out!

[Outtasight!]

Lady Friend and Artificial Energy are peaks of the Gary Usher produced Byrds and are as good as any music produced in those extraordinary years of 67-68 imo. I've got to listen to them today.

[hypehat]

So I've been listening to The Byrds and their assorted alumni (mostly Gram Parsons and Gene Clark, with a bit of the Cros) and I've been thinking....


Firstly, is there a major pop band produced quite so haphazardly as The Byrds? Maybe Gary Usher just did what he could with four twats giving him sh*t from the studio floor. And Mike Clarke. No wonder there was a drug culture.

Secondly, unless he is severely and tightly doubletracked, or bolstered by group harmonies, Roger/Jim McGuinn can't sing worth a damn. His voice is a bloody joke, and makes the later post Sweetheart stuff nigh on impossible. It sounds so thin and weedy isolated. Not like Gene, who sounds like The Makeout King of Montana, or Cros, who sounds fucking cool. And Hillman, harmony king. That said, I do prefer his version of You Don't Miss Your Water to Gram's. Must be all the doubletracking.
 
Thirdly, you'd have to be a bunch of fools to bully Gene Clark into leaving because he made your group too successful. And he's totally the best Byrd.

Forth, Mike Clarke is a fucking awful drummer. He deserves all the criticism Denny & Ringo get. I feel bad for Gram Parsons, because of Hillman he gets the worst drummer in LA to helm The Burritos. The Burritos could have set the world on fire live if they had a decent drummer. He also kinda ruins Gene Clarks first solo album with his leaden plodding.

Erh, think that's it. Gene Clark rules, y'all.

[hypehat]

Forcing Gene Clark out of the band must rank as one of the dumbest decisions in the history of rock and roll.

On the money. I mean, you make a compilation of his Byrds songs and it's utterly spellbinding. And what do they do? Resent the fact that he was the first one to buy a Porsche. Well, if you insist on singing Dylan songs, what did you expect?


Gene certainly was hard done by.

[SMiLE Brian]

Gene had all the tools to be a success, but as a person he was a train-wreck.

[hypehat]

Poor f*cker, you don't want to think that having the kind of depression that makes you drink like a fish makes you write songs with that kind of longing and melancholy. You really don't. Gene would be The Byrd having the critical renaissance today had he lived.

I blame Tom Petty for killing him, incidentally. 

[SMiLE Brian]

Gene's songs and vocals are the highlight on the ill-fated reunion album. I agree with you about the byrds albums after "rodeo" are painfully bad.

[Lonely Summer]

Gene Clark was such a great songwriter, his songs MADE those early albums! Sure, they had the Dylan songs, and their version of Tambourine Man is unbeatable, but it is Gene's songs I keep going back to again and again. Even as late as the McGuinn, Clark & Hillman albums he was writing beautiful, melodic songs. Sure wish his life had turned out different.

[SMiLE Brian]

I listened to the Byrds Monterrey set today, what a mess with the shaky playing and Crosby talking too much.

[Lonely Summer]

I listened to the Byrds Monterrey set today, what a mess with the shaky playing and Crosby talking too much.

The Byrds - at least the semi-original lineup - never were a great live band, even McGuinn admits that. Just check them out on the TNT Show - the Spoonful blow them off the stage.

[scooby1970]

The Byrds are one of those bands, like The Beach Boys, who I simply can't get enough of. For all of their awesomeness, I still return to the "Untitled" CD when I want a blast of some seriously mind-blowing tunes. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy all their albums, but that one in particular is just fantastic.

Mark

[Vegetable Man]

The Byrds are definitely one of my top 10 favorite musical groups, and all of their phases/lineups seem great to me. No matter what they did: Rock, Folk, Psychedelia, Country, Roots Rock, It's all fantastic. This isn't necessarily a "favorite track" thread, but when you're discussing any band, it almost seems natural.

1. Goin' Back
2. Have You Seen Her Face
3. Lady Friend
4. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
5. Mr. Tambourine Man
6. Hickory Wind
7. Chestnut Mare
8. Draft Morning
9. It's All Over Now Baby Blue
10. Ballad of Easy Rider

A lot of these are covers, but the Byrds might as well have written them. If you talk to someone about "Turn, Turn, Turn", which one will yo talk about? The Byrds version or Mary Hopkin's? The Byrds had the ability to take a cover and make it their own, especially with those wonderful Dylan tunes. They're just great.

P.S: Their harmonies were some of the best at the time (second only to the Beach Boys, of course).

[hypehat]

This thread is probably strewn with my adoration for Gene Clark, but let me say it again - Gene Clark roolz, Crosby droolz. For serious, I can't pick the latter up in the blend, his Byrds songs don't grab me, he provides the lowpoints on CSN (passive aggressive coke fuelled 'hippie' shite), and I Don't Even Remember My Name is aimless.

Nowt like my main man Gene, who wrote the best Byrds tunes - I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better, Here Without You, The World Turns Around Her, She Don't Care About Time, Tomorrow Is A Long Ways Away, Eight Miles High - and even if he didn't get the lead on them, his essential melancholia performs the same function as Brian's deep search for love, or acceptance, does on early Beach Boys cuts. It's fuel, it seeps into the melodies and lyrics and gives them grace beyond a thousand wannabes.

[EgoHanger1966]

Lady Friend. Triad.

LADY FRIEND.

[hypehat]

Ok, Lady Friend is pretty cool (for some reason it's not on my HD, I thought I had all the good Byrds sh*t) - it's no She Don't Care About Time, mind 

Triad bores me, tbh - maybe I listen to so much borderline offensive modern R&B that obliquely referring to a threesome doesn't seem very innovative or interesting. Very meandering melody, too, and not in a good way. Sounds like the parts of The Doors I don't like.

[Heysaboda]

I've read over at Hoffman that there may be some unrelased Byrds tracks coming to iTunes soon!  Shows by McGuinn, Clark, Hillman and Crosby in the late 70's (the Boarding House).

Any one else hear anything?

[tansen]

I've read over at Hoffman that there may be some unrelased Byrds tracks coming to iTunes soon!  Shows by McGuinn, Clark, Hillman and Crosby in the late 70's (the Boarding House).

Any one else hear anything?

Trying to find the post on Hoffman without luck, have a link?

[feelsflow]

I have a good friend that is a Gene freak like hypehat.  Though he also likes Roger, Chris, all of 'em, even David, ...Crosby droolz...really hypehat?  He's the main harmony singer on the ones' he is on.  Lead or co-lead on:  "Airport Song"  "Wild Mountain Thyme"  "I See You"  "Why"  "Psychodrama City"  "Everybody's Been Burned"  "Renaissance Fair"  "It Happens Each Day"  Don't you like any of those?  He probably was jealous of Gene, cause he couldn't get a lead vocal while he was around.  And Chris was a guitar player who gave in and played bass.  They all had their crosses to bare, except maybe Jim/Roger.  

Anyway, when I'm at his place he drives everybody crazy... wife, kids, the neighbors (late at night in the back yard), me...melancholia  after a couple of hours, well let's just say such sadness is hard to take for long periods.  Don't get me wrong, been a Gene fan forever.  I have vinyl copies of stuff like Roadmaster, both Dillard and Clark long-players, "White Light", I even have the one where he re-did his first album vocals (Early LA Sessions).  Everything on CD, and loads of boots (thanks to my friend, and his friends overseas - Gene is real popular in Europe, that where you're at hypehat?), so you could say I'm a dedicated fan.  Just wish he had wrote more up-beat numbers, and more Bluegrass.  Hard to get though the 2-disc set that Sid put together without taking a "rock" break.  Speaking of CDs, if you really like Gene - and it would seem you do.  Get the sundazed re-masters:  with the Gosdin Brothers (original '66 mixes) also has 6 bonus tracks - including "Only Colombe" and "The French Girl,"  Fantastic Expedition, "White Light," and Roadmaster, the best they have ever sounded.  

.

.

The real reason I stopped by to post, while looking at Hoffman's for info on the stuff Heysaboda is talking about - hope they put that on CD, though I already have boots of all that, would be nice to get an upgrade.  I found something else...There has been a documentary made on Gene.  More info can be found @ clarkophile.blogspot.com, he's a Gene freak too.  

peace,  Will

[Heysaboda]

I've read over at Hoffman that there may be some unrelased Byrds tracks coming to iTunes soon!  Shows by McGuinn, Clark, Hillman and Crosby in the late 70's (the Boarding House).

Any one else hear anything?

Trying to find the post on Hoffman without luck, have a link?

Here is the info on the Hoffman board.  I've not seen this listed in USA iTunes yet.

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-byrds-live-at-the-boarding-house-in-1978.218039/page-2#post-9938690