Byrds (album)
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| Studio album by The Byrds | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Asylum | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
34 min 54 s |
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Byrd is the 1973 comeback - Music Album of American folk rock band The Byrds . It is the first album since 1966 that all five founding members of the band play. Despite bad reviews, Byrds became a commercial success like the band since their second album Turn! Turn! Turn! had not experienced any more. In the US, the album peaked at number 20, and in the UK it reached number 31.
history
In the late 1972 all five Original Byrds found themselves in a situation of upheaval. Roger McGuinn had led a band under the name Byrds since 1968 but with new staff, but was increasingly dissatisfied with the project. Gene Clark had received good reviews with his solo albums and the two LPs as Dillard and Clark , but was largely unsuccessful commercially. As early as 1970 he had put his feelers back to the original Byrds, who accompanied him on his songs One In A Hundred / She's The Kind Of Girl , which were not to appear on the Roadmaster LP until 1972 . Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young had shrunk to the duo Crosby & Nash . Chris Hillman was still officially a member of Manassas , but the group was in the process of disintegration. In the last days of the McGuinn-Columbia-Byrds, he replaced the previously dismissed Skip Battin on bass guitar at some concerts still to be done . Michael Clarke finally took a break from the music business after leaving the Flying Burrito Brothers in 1971.
Producer David Geffen , who had helped to manage the complicated severance of contracts between David Crosby at Columbia Records and Graham Nash at EMI Records and their new contract with Stephen Stills at Atlantic Records in 1968, was now the owner of the record label Asylum Records himself . Following the example of CSN, he proposed a reunion of the Original Byrds on the basis of a loose collaboration, which the musicians agreed to. The contract concluded with Asylum was therefore not concluded with the group The Byrds, but with the musicians named individually.
The recordings for the joint album took place in Wally Heider's recording studio, where the CSN (Y) albums were also created. Except for Clarke, each of the musicians contributed their own compositions. Two cover versions of Neil Young songs were suggested by Clark, the adaptation of a song by Joni Mitchell of Crosby. Crosby, who was the most famous name at the time, officially acted as the producer.
After the album was released, it was largely criticized by the music press. There was talk of disappointment with the result and Geffen was suspected of having only pursued financial interests with some kind of CSNY copy. The musicians themselves were accused of holding back their best songs for their own solo projects.
From a later perspective, the reaction from the music press, which was not shared by fans given the album's Top Twenty success, was partly understandable. For one, the expectation of a Byrds surprise album like in the years 1965 to 1968 was disappointed. At the same time, the sound of the recordings corresponded to contemporary country rock with predominantly acoustic guitars and mandolin, but less CSNY, but rather other successful bands of the time such as Eagles . However, this attachment was criticized at a time when commercial interests were seen as incompatible with the ideas of the youth movement. The media criticism, in turn, led to self-criticism, mutual accusations among the musicians and the abandonment of all plans for further cooperation. A tour in which the Original Byrds were to perform alongside CSNY and a reunion of the Flying Burrito Brothers has been canceled.
Songs
Roger McGuinn brought two original compositions on the album. Born To Rock'n'Roll was the last song he recorded with the Clarence White / Columbia Records Byrds, but did not release Farther Along on their last album . It wasn't so much classic rock 'n' roll as it was mid-tempo rock with Byrds backing vocals. McGuinn recorded the piece again in 1975 for his album Roger McGuinn & Band . Sweet Mary was written with Jacques Levy , with whom McGuinn had worked for the 1970 album (Untitled) and the planned musical Gene Tryp . It was a song that was heavily influenced by British folk songs. McGuinn had already made similar attempts with Pretty Polly (outtake of the album Sweetheart of the Rodeo ) and Jack Tarr the Tailor (album Ballad of Easy Rider ).
Gene Clark contributed the strongest songs with Full Circle and Changing Heart . The former was already part of his repertoire in 1971 and was recorded together with colleagues from the Flying Burrito Brothers, but was only released on Roadrunner in 1972 . With a catchy melody, bluegrass rhythm, Hillman on the mandolin and unmistakable Byrds harmonies, Full Circle was best suited to represent the band on a single. Changing Heart was stylistically similar. In addition, Clark brought in the arrangements of two songs by Neil Young. (See The Sky) About To Rain was probably the most reminiscent of the Byrds from 1965 to 1966, with harmony vocals and several electric guitars in the foreground, including the 12-string Rickenbacker by McGuinn. Cowgirl In The Sand was similar to Young's own version on CSNY's live album 4 Way Street .
David Crosby had written the song Laughing back in 1967 and planned for a recording with the Byrds. After leaving the band, it took until 1971 until he him for his solo album If I Could Only Remember My Name ... recorded. With the original Byrds, his original project has now been realized. With Long Live The King he continued the tradition of his more blues-influenced songs, in which he acted less as a Byrds harmony singer and more as a solo singer, corresponding to the beginning of his career in folk clubs. He had this second side of his lecture during the time with the Byrds (e.g. What's Happening?!?! On the album Fifth Dimension ), but also with CSN (Y) (e.g. Long Time Gone on the album Crosby , Stills and Nash ). His third contribution consisted of editing a song by his friend Joni Mitchell, For Free .
Chris Hillman had written his two contributions with ex-colleagues from Manassas, the powerful rock song Things Will Be Better Now with drummer Dallas Taylor , which eventually appeared as a single, and the stylistically reminiscent of Manassa's song Borrowing Time with percussion player Joe Lala . Hillman showed with his contributions that he wanted to write contemporary rock songs. He started doing it in 1967 on the album Younger Than Yesterday with Have You Seen Her Face and Thoughts And Words and continued this up to his solo albums in the mid-1970s and his recordings as McGuinn, Clark & Hillman and McGuinn & Hillman at the end of the 1970s continued.
Michael Clarke didn’t contribute any of his own songs, but he did play strong, self-confident drums and percussion (e.g. congas at Borrowing Time ). His experience with the Flying Burrito Brothers up to 1971 had strengthened him and should enable him to have a very successful career with the band Firefall from 1974 .
The album became the Byrds' most successful since Turn! Turn! Turn! and The Byrds Greatest Hits . The negative reviews in the music press and the subsequent quarrels between them prevented any further Byrds reunion until 1990. Since 1990, the musicians agreed in interviews that the 1972 album was recorded too quickly, unless Clarke was busy with his own projects at the time and there was no time to quietly find a new sound for the band.
Three singles were released from the album, but they didn't leave any traces in the charts. Things Will Be Better / For Free was released in January 1973 , and Full Circle / Long Live the King was released in February . Cowgirl in the Sand was released after the album was released in April, and Long Live the King was also selected as the B-side.
Track list
A side
- Full Circle (Gene Clark) - 2:43
- Sweet Mary (Roger McGuinn / Jacques Levy ) - 2:55
- Changing Heart (Gene Clark) - 2:42
- For Free ( Joni Mitchell ) - 3:50
- Born to Rock'n'Roll (Roger McGuinn) - 3:12
B side
- Things Will Be Better (Chris Hillman / Dallas Taylor ) - 2:13
- Cowgirl in the Sand ( Neil Young ) - 3:24
- Long Live the King (David Crosby) - 2:17
- Borrowing Time (Chris Hillman / Joe Lala ) - 2:00
- Laughing (David Crosby) - 5:38
- (See the Sky) About to Rain (Neil Young) - 3:49
Web links
- Byrds at Allmusic (English)
- Lyrics of the album