The Byrds: Classic Or Dud

(Classic.)

The martial drumming on electric 'Tambourine Man' is interesting. It's like Larry Mullen Jr just out of Mount Temple, not Michael Clarke.

Gene Clark was a pretty good songwriter for a young age. But then, I'm not sure how young he was.

'Boston' and 'You Movin'' are the ones that have pushed out new motorboats for these ears. Cor.

There are a handy lot of good photos of the Byrds, and some of them are in the booklet for the collection.

Today I listened to 'Wild Mountain Thyme' for first time in a while - wow; I suppose the verdict is: later Byrds are even better than earlier Byrds. I love the strings and the 12-string solo on that track.

Funny coincidence since my grandfather was the publicist for the Monkees and how he recalls the Byrds being there all the time.

which other THE BYRDS songs will i like if i like 'IT WON'T BE WRONG'?

thanks in advance byrds-fan types!

Just get all their records, you won't be dissapointed.

was just knocked out by crosby's "it happens each day" a couple days ago while driving back from work -- one of those album tracks that doesn't get a lot of attention, but is positively stunning! Yeah, The Byrds probably don't have a bad album (at least up to Untitled -- don't think I've heard the rest in their entirety). the Clarence White era can be awesome as well. That live record that they put out a few years ago is great.

I sang lead in a Byrds cover band last night. Universal Mind Decoder was what we called ourselves. Six song set, started with "Feel a Whole Lot Better" and ended on "Rock and Roll Star," our strongest song after four practices. It was thrown together for my friend's 30th birthday. "Eight Miles High" wasn't as much of a trainwreck as I thought it would be.

The Byrds are my favorite band most days. My favorite overlooked Crosby tune in the Byrds catalog is "Ladyfriend." It's unbelievable.

in retrospect, the Byrds seem to have made a string of albums more consistent that anyone's except the Stones'. Mr. Tambourine Man, Turn! Turn!, 5D, Younger than Yesterday and Notorious and Sweetheart are all great, with maybe some of the experimental stuff on Younger a bit dated now. But what group ever did a better two-minute song than "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star"? the Box Tops? Too, such a typical group. None of the others made anything as good as the stuff as-group, except of course for Gene Clark's awesome With the Gosdin Brothers,one of the most underrated records of all time. And boy, if you haven't heard the Gosdin Brothers stuff--on Capitol and on Bakersfield International--you're in for a treat. Clarence White's death didn't come from drugs or anything; he got hit by a car. A shame.

yeah, I love "Lady Friend." And "Don't Make Waves," one of their most emblematic songs and one that Crosby didn't like, which proves the guy was sorta half-bright when it came to pop music. Know what I mean? He thought he was above it or something, and for me, the Byrds represent both the positive aspects of the '60s and some of the negative--after Gene Clark and Crosby left, they got away from what made them great, but at least they tried to do new things.

I found a bootleg 7" credited to the Beefeaters that must've been released before Ladyfriend showed up on the Younger Than Yesterday CD that featured the song but the quality was so bad and distorted that it was totally fuzzed out, sounded like the Sonics. It's actually pretty awesome. I agree though, it's one of my favorite songs. That and Why are two of my fave Byrds songs, which is funny because when Crosby was being more of a hippie he wrote some of my least favorite Byrds songs.

I will have to defend Clark's solo career though! With the Godsin Brothers/Echoes is just amazing Beatles meets proto-country rock and everything after that is pretty essential folk-rock/country-rock/singer-songwriter stuff. The guy never wrote a bad song.

"in retrospect, the Byrds seem to have made a string of albums more consistent that anyone's except the Stones'. Mr. Tambourine Man, Turn! Turn!, 5D, Younger than Yesterday...."

not sure of the chronology of their discography, but Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde is another classic Byrds disc, fwiw

notoroius byrd brothers ain't nuthin' to fuck wit either!

I will have to defend Clark's solo career though!

Me too. I don't think he hit his stride until after Gosdin Bros/Echoes. The first Dillard & Clark LP is perfect, as is White Light and No Other. Clark was the soul of the Byrds -- even when he wasn't in the band.

Roadmaster, too.

gene clark & the gosdin bros. is amazing too!

even with it's Paul rip-offs. That record and Emmit Rhodes first are the great Paul Mcartney solo record that never was.

The Byrds are one of those bands whose records I found stunning on first listen, but didn't feel the urge to go back to a lot. It's kind of like you know you're never going to recapture the rush of first exposure. Also they're structurally often quite weak (e.g. Draft Morning offers so much more than it eventually delivers).

Cocteau Twins are in the same bracket for me. Classic but with obvious flaws.

the chronology I had is accurate. Notorious and Sweetheart are both '68. Then it's Ballad of Easy Rider, which is fairly weak but has some great White guitar. Dr. Byrds is after that, and then I think it's Untitled. Then, Byrdmaniax, which is fairly lousy. I don't agree that Gene Clark was the heart and soul of the Byrds, though. That would be McGuinn. Not to say that I don't love Gene Clark and think the band was worse off without him. So, maybe he was the soul of the band but not the heart...

he was saying HE wasn't sure of the chronology and where Dr. Byrds fit in.

x-post

your chronology isn't correct.

Dr. Byrds comes before Easy Rider

I don't agree that Gene Clark was the heart and soul of the Byrds, though.

We actually agree, because I never said Clark was the heart and soul of the band. I said he was the soul of the band. see my post above.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the liver of the band.

...nor the afro.

The debut was nice, "Turn! Turn! Turn!" less so, "Fifth Dimension" was better again, while the next three were all Classics!

Please forgive me if I play Ole Wagamama for a second and use this thread to peddle my pet theory that The Notorious Byrd Bros was the first shoegazer album.

yeah, I didn't realize Dr. Byrds came before Easy Rider. I'm a big Gene Clark fan who wishes the records were sometimes a bit more...rigorous...which is what the Byrds (McGuinn) were good at.

That's interesting: Notorious as first shoegazer record. I always thought it was just a post-dope record made by dopers who weren't getting along; and I mean in the US, do people use the term "shoegazer"? But I know what you mean. Greil Marcus got it right: Notorious was a record of the '60s' "secret remorse." Which seems more to the point.

I'm a big Gene Clark fan who wishes the records were sometimes a bit more...rigorous...which is what the Byrds (McGuinn) were good at.

I'm not sure what "rigorous" means, but Clark's No Other seems like the space-country epic that McGuinn always wanted to the Byrds make. I love the epic/song cycle qualities of Notorious; it's one of my favorite albums, but I don't think McGuinn made anything quite as rigorous as No Other.

Someone upthread mentioned live stuff from the later-period Byrds. I've been listening to that lately. It's pretty damn amazing. I love the metamorphosis of "Eight Miles High" into a kind of Dead/Allmans acid-country-jazz jam.

Michael Clarke's real name was Michael Dick
discuss

anybody read that 33 1/3 book on Notorious ??

That book is frustrating but has some good parts.

"Jamaica Say You Will", Clarence White on vocals. Immaculate.

White did a version where he sang lead? what's that on?

But what group ever did a better two-minute song than "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star"? the Box Tops?

Lots, Edd, Jesus!! Like at least two hundred garage bands from the same period. And every British Invasion group!

By the way, I got the "Eight Miles High" 45 the other day with the other version of "Why" on the flipside, which is rocking!

"Goin' Back" rules!

By the way, I got the "Eight Miles High" 45 the other day with the other version of "Why" on the flipside, which is rocking!

Indeed. It blows away the LP version.

That version is on the expanded CD of Fifth Dimension. It's great but I think I'm partial to the LP version.

BOTH ARE NICE

i'm spinning both back to back, and damn, it's closer than I remember. I like the slower groove and raw vibe of the single. But the LP version has fuzz, static, and raga guitar that totally soar.

I read Menck's NBB book album last month. It's frankly kinda clumsily written, although to be fair it's likely more poorly edited (error on the very first page!) But as a tight primer of the whole Byrds backstory, it's valuable -- despite being one of my favorite bands, I'd never really read a history. And there are nice little insights along the way that keep you reading.

I don't hear any friggin "shoegaze" on NBB tho, sorry. One of the great albums ever, absolutely. Reading the book made me relisten to their catalog from start to finish -- the same way I discovered it when those CD reissues came out in the late 90s -- and they blew my mind all over again.

They were a band I'd never really explored and when those reissues first came out, I very deliberately picked them up in chrological order, a new one every six months or so, almost trying to replicate the experience of the original records, anticipating each new release and so on. lots of fun! But the greatest surprise was NBB, which I came to with no expectations -- all I knew was that it was the first one in line that had no recognizable songs that I knew from the radio. And also that the cover seemed sort of dull and generic. Nothing against horses mind you -- I'm a big fan! I think it was the font. one of the best albums ever, obv., same with 'Sweetheart.' It was 'Dr. Byrds' that was a bummer, not that it was BAD, it just really did not reach the heights anymore. It felt like something died at that point.