1970 was a big year for the Byrds, with the successful double album "(Untitled)" and lots of touring. For my purposes, nearly all of the new music for that year wound up on the expanded versions of both parts of that double album. As a result, only the first three songs are from 1970.
The fact that there's enough material here for an album is rather surprising, because 1971 was another busy year for the band, with two studio albums, "Byrdmaniax" and "Farther Along." Three of the songs here are officially released "Byrdmaniax" bonus tracks: "Think I'm Gonna Feel Better," "Nothin' to It," and "Just like a Woman." "Roll Over Beethoven" is from the archival live album "Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971." The last two songs will be discussed separately.
The other seven songs are unreleased. The Byrds toured heavily during this time period, and there are many soundboard bootlegs of their shows. I believe all of these are from soundboards, and they all sound excellent. We're especially lucky to have this version of the Bob Dylan song "She Belongs to Me," because it may have only been played in concert once (or at least a very small number of times).
Most of the songs are sung by Roger McGuinn, the undisputed head of the Byrds at the time. But a couple were sung by Skip Battin. The song "Central Park" would later appear on a solo album he released in 1973.
The song "Hanoi Hannah" had a drop out in it that lasted for a couple of seconds. Luckily, it was during a chorus, so I was able to patch it up with a different section of the song. That's why it has "[Edit]" in the title. By the way, a studio version of that song would later appear on McGuinn's 1973 solo album.
The last two songs, "One in a Hundred" and "She's the Kind of Girl," are a different kettle of fish. They were both written and sung by Gene Clark. Clark was the original leader of the Byrds, but he left in 1966 for a less commerically successful solo career. I don't know the story of how these songs came to be recorded, but they were performed in 1971 by all five of the original members of the Byrds: Clark, McGuinn, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke. They were released on Clark's 1973 album "Roadmaster."
One could argue these two songs don't belong on this album, because the personnel is very different, with only McGuinn on all the songs. But I figure these songs are part of the Byrds legacy and fit here chronologically. The five original Byrds would briefly unite for a studio album in 1973, simply called "Byrds."
This album is 37 minutes long.
01 She Belongs to Me (Byrds)
02 Last Time I Was Home [Home Sweet Home] (Byrds)
03 Think I'm Gonna Feel Better (Byrds)
04 I'm So Restless (Byrds)
05 Hanoi Hannah [Edit] (Byrds)
06 Central Park (Byrds)
07 Rolling in My Sweet Baby's Arms (Byrds)
08 O Mary Don't You Weep (Byrds)
09 Nothin' to It [Instrumental] (Byrds)
10 Just like a Woman (Byrds)
11 Roll Over Beethoven (Byrds)
12 One in a Hundred (Gene Clark & the Byrds)
13 She's the Kind of Girl (Gene Clark & the Byrds)
https://www.upload.ee/files/16067826/TByrd_1970-1971_NthintoIt_atse.zip.html
The cover photo was taken in Amsterdam in 1970 or 1971.
Any Strawbs or Renaissance in the queue? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteNot immediately. But there's a ton of 1970s BBC prog rock I still have to deal with. So they'll probably pop up as part of that.
DeleteLooking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteNice compilation, although I wouldn't have included the last two. Those were recorded for a planned Gene Clark single in 70-71, that never came out, produced by Jim Dickson and including all 5 Byrds. They should have included those on the Reunion album, instead of the 2 Gene Clark covers. I'm personally not a fan of McGuinn's "new Byrds", although I did like White's playing. I think the photo is actually from July 1970 in Amsterdam: when they were there the following year, photos show JRM with long hair and a beard.
ReplyDelete