In 1968, the Byrds changed their sound with the ground breaking country rock album "Sweethearts of the Rodeo." The songs on this album generally contains more country rock, as well as the band's usual fascination with Bob Dylan songs. In my opinion, this is a very solid bunch of songs. This would go toe to toe with some of the studio albums the Byrds put out in their late era.
The first six songs are officially released. They are from a box set and/or album bonus tracks. Most of the rest are live tracks. Three of those are from an archival live album; another four are from concert bootlegs. I'm happy to report that the bootleg recordings sound as good as the officially released live tracks. With all the live songs, I removed as much of the crowd noise as I could so they'd fit in with the studio tracks.
There's one bonus track here, "Ballad of Easy Rider." It's a great song, one of my favorites from the group. The reason it's only a bonus track is because the definitive version is on the album "The Ballad of Easy Rider." This is a different version done solo by band leader Roger McGuinn for the "Easy Rider" movie soundtrack. I don't like it as much as the other version, but it's still worth hearing.
01 Lay Lady Lay (Byrds)
02 Stanley's Song (Byrds)
03 Way Beyond the Sun [Way Behind the Sun] (Byrds)
04 Mae Jean Goes to Hollywood (Byrds)
05 Build It Up [Instrumental] (Byrds)
06 Fiddler a Dram [Moog Experiment] (Byrds)
07 Long Black Veil (Byrds)
08 Get Out of My Life Woman (Byrds)
09 I Shall Be Released (Byrds)
10 Sing Me Back Home (Byrds)
11 Close Up the Honky Tonks (Byrds)
12 It's Alright Ma [I'm Only Bleeding] (Roger McGuinn)
13 Take a City Bride (Byrds)
14 Buckaroo [Instrumental] (Byrds)
The Ballad of Easy Rider (Roger McGuinn)
https://www.upload.ee/files/15634929/TByrd_1969_SngMeBackHome_atse.zip.html
I stole the cover art from a Byrds bootleg called "Santuary III." I liked the period flavor, plus it has one of the very few good color photos I've seen of a 1969 era Byrds line-up that isn't used for a different album cover or something like that. This is from later in 1969, after John York was replaced by Skip Battin. I made a few tweaks, and add the text at the bottom.
Thanks for this...of course I've made my own alternative versions of all Byrds albums thanks to the bonus trax available...I've always felt that "Dr. Byrds Mr. Hyde" album much underrated classic country rock album due to it's inclusion of one or two songs that didn't fit that kept it from being same status or greater than "Sweetheart". Another perspective is that it is Roger McGuinn's 1st solo album.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think the band made a lot of mistakes about which songs to include on their albums or not. Some of those albums could have been much better.
DeleteThanks for this post. My favorite period of the band too.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say it's my favorite period. I liked them best in 1967 and 1968. But I think everything they did is good.
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ReplyDeleteTwo points : Sanctuary III was not not bootleg; it was an officially released album on Sundazed Records, one of a series of 4 albums which collected bonus and unreleased tracks. The other point: why would you include a photo with Skip Battin, as he's not on any of theses tracks ? John York is the bass player on all these tracks, and sings lead on 5 of them as well. Certainly a band photo with him in it would be in order. The concept of the album is well executed . As time has shown , all the Byrds and "New Byrds " lps could have been better with a few different choices of songs that have appeared as bonus tracks. Your concept would have made a great 3rd John York era lp.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason I used a photo with Skip Battin was because I couldn't find any good photos with John York in them. I even stumbled onto York's personal website, and it only had a couple of crappy black and white photos of him in the Byrds. If you can find a good color photo with him in it, I'd love to see it and use it.
DeleteI have a couple of good color photos with York. How can I get them to you ?
DeleteGreat. My email is: thompson22 @ runbox.com.
DeleteMeant to tell you how much I've enjoyed your posts. The Grass Roots show was amazing, and the Animals ones have been really enjoyable. Thank you for all your hard work putting these together !
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot. I was psyched with that Grass Roots one too. I love it when I can find stuff that old with sound quality (and performance) that good. I think the Guess Who in Winnipeg in 1966 is similar.
DeleteI have been trying to put this album together for some time but yours is SO much better than mine and really flows well. I agree about the need for a john York pic . Illl send you my cover which was entitled Lay Lady Lay. I also included Tulsa County, Oil in my Lamp and Blue Suede Shoes as bonus. Wow, you fixed the sound wobble in I shall be released .Congratulations on a Great Job. I made a similar album with
ReplyDeleteSkip era songs called Lover Of The Bayou.
I'd be curious to see what you've got. I wouldn't include Tulsa County or Oil in My Lamp since they're on albums already, but what's the Blue Suede Shoes from, and is it a good recording?
DeleteHi Paul ,I understand what you mean but Tulsa is alternate as is
DeleteOil in my lamp with York on the former and Gene P And Clarence on the latter so worthy of being BONUS tracks.Blue Suede Shoes is from Avalon Ballroom. I have your Email so will send you something when I have time hopefully soon .Knocked out by your fixing of the glitches !!!!!
I look forward to your email. Also, I'd welcome your input on what I should put on stray tracks collections from 1970 onward. I have some things pretty much ready to go already, but I could be missing things.
DeleteOh, and I see why I missed Blue Suede Shoes, since it's from late 1968.