Clarence White-Era Byrds

I probably posted this upthread years ago but I made a slightly re-jiggered version of Ballad of Easy Rider (replacing a couple of album tracks with alt/bonus tracks that appear on the expanded version). This custom version, to me, is by far the best post-Sweetheart Byrds album. I replaced the execrable "Jack Tarr" with the bonus track "Mae Jean Goes to Hollywood" and deleted "Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins" altogether. And I swapped out the versions of Oil in My Lamp and Tulsa County as the alternates are superior. [EDIT:

I tried this - good call on those alternates. The alternate version of "Oil in My Lamp" is pretty enjoyable and shores up the folkier side of the album while the master version feels pretty leaden and heavy-handed in comparison. The alternate "Tulsa County" sounds like it's the same take but with York's vocals instead of McGuinn's, and I actually prefer York's. "Mae Jean" is much better than "Jack Tarr" (which is indeed execrable).

I wasn't sold on "Way Beyond the Sun" though - I think leaving it off was the right call.

I can't argue with omitting "Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins." For some reason, the Byrds' albums have a long tradition of closing their albums with a novelty - more like a post-script than a final chapter. Their best and worst final tracks were kind of exceptions to the rule: the great "Nothing Was Delivered" on Sweetheart (perhaps under Gram's urging) and an inferior remake of "Why" on Younger Than Yesterday. I wasn't too bothered by "Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins" because it seemed to fit in that tradition and it was a nice time capsule for an album that coincided with the moon landing. But the story in "Deportee" is a pretty damning and devastating statement - having that linger on your mind would have been a great way to end the album, but having that novelty come right after it diminishes its effect.

the Byrds' albums have a long tradition of closing their albums with a novelty

I don't object to "Space Odyssey", at least they're trying for a big finish.

I probably posted this upthread years ago but I made a slightly re-jiggered version of Ballad of Easy Rider (replacing a couple of album tracks with alt/bonus tracks that appear on the expanded version). This custom version, to me, is by far the best post-Sweetheart Byrds album. I replaced the execrable "Jack Tarr" with the bonus track "Mae Jean Goes to Hollywood" and deleted "Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins" altogether. And I swapped out the versions of Oil in My Lamp and Tulsa County as the alternates are superior. [EDIT:

I tried this - good call on those alternates. The alternate version of "Oil in My Lamp" is pretty enjoyable and shores up the folkier side of the album while the master version feels pretty leaden and heavy-handed in comparison. The alternate "Tulsa County" sounds like it's the same take but with York's vocals instead of McGuinn's, and I actually prefer York's. "Mae Jean" is much better than "Jack Tarr" (which is indeed execrable).

I wasn't sold on "Way Beyond the Sun" though - I think leaving it off was the right call.

I can't argue with omitting "Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins." For some reason, the Byrds' albums have a long tradition of closing their albums with a novelty - more like a post-script than a final chapter. Their best and worst final tracks were kind of exceptions to the rule: the great "Nothing Was Delivered" on Sweetheart (perhaps under Gram's urging) and an inferior remake of "Why" on Younger Than Yesterday. I wasn't too bothered by "Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins" because it seemed to fit in that tradition and it was a nice time capsule for an album that coincided with the moon landing. But the story in "Deportee" is a pretty damning and devastating statement - having that linger on your mind would have been a great way to end the album, but having that novelty come right after it diminishes its effect.

― birdistheword, Monday, January 31, 2022 bookmarkflaglink

Hey, glad someone actually tried this out!

I'm sure some are in the know but some others who like this period of Byrds might not realize that Clarence White's original 'b-bender' guitar ended up with Marty Stuart, who plays the guitar quite a bit with his band The Fabulous Superlatives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8H08Xs_w8A

If you don't know about Marty Stuart but like this type of country rock music, you definitely should check out some of his recordings with that band. They did a TV show on the RFD network backing up quite a few classic artists including a great session with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. That episode also has a section about the B-Bender guitar too. The Fabulous Superlavtives also have an excellent record called "Way Out West" that is a tribute to the various California country styles of that era (produced by Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), which you may also dig.

Yes, I've watched that before also the video where Gene Parsons shows how he developed the guitar.

https://www.guitarplayer.com/gear/watch-clarence-white-demonstrate-his-innovative-b-bender-telecaster-in-1968?