THE BYRDS - BYRDS asylum emi 3 C 064 - 94248 LP 1973 IT

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PREMESSA: LA SUPERIORITA' DELLA MUSICA SU VINILE E' ANCOR OGGI SANCITA, NOTORIA ED EVIDENTE. NON TANTO DA UN PUNTO DI VISTA DI RESA, QUALITA' E PULIZIA DEL SUONO, TANTOMENO DA QUELLO DEL RIMPIANTO RETROSPETTIVO E NOSTALGICO , MA SOPRATTUTTO DA QUELLO PIU' PALPABILE ED INOPPUGNABILE DELL' ESSENZA, DELL' ANIMA E DELLA SUBLIMAZIONE CREATIVA. IL DISCO IN VINILE HA PULSAZIONE ARTISTICA, PASSIONE ARMONICA E SPLENDORE GRAFICO , E' PIACEVOLE DA OSSERVARE E DA TENERE IN MANO, RISPLENDE, PROFUMA E VIBRA DI VITA, DI EMOZIONE E  DI SENSIBILITA'. E' TUTTO QUELLO CHE NON E' E NON POTRA' MAI ESSERE IL CD, CHE AL CONTRARIO E' SOLO UN OGGETTO MERAMENTE COMMERCIALE, POVERO, ARIDO, CINICO, STERILE ED ORWELLIANO,  UNA DEGENERAZIONE INDUSTRIALE SCHIZOFRENICA E NECROFILA, LA DESOLANTE SOLUZIONE FINALE DELL' AVIDITA' DEL MERCATO E DELL' ARROGANZA DEI DISCOGRAFICI .

THE BYRDS
byrds

Disco LP 33 giri ,Asylum / EMI italiana , 3C 064 - 94248 , 1973,   Italia,  first pressing

ECCELLENTI CONDIZIONI, vinyl ex++/NM , cover ex++/NM

The Byrds sono stati un gruppo musicale pop-rock californiano in auge particolarmente nella seconda metà degli anni sessanta. Mossero i primi passi suonando in piccoli locali della costa occidentale degli Stati Uniti raggiungendo presto una certa notorietà. Sono stati a lungo considerati «la risposta americana al "fenomeno" Beatles», dai quali mutuarono talune sonorità poi personalizzate attraverso riff di stile inconfondibile diventati quasi un "marchio di fabbrica" del loro particolare stile sonoro.

                                                              

The Byrds (formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964) were an American rock band.

The Byrds were popular and influential through the latter part of the 1960s and early 1970s. Critic Richie Unterberger declares The Byrds' most enduring contribution was "melding the innovations and energy of the British Invasion with the best lyrical and musical elements of contemporary folk music," but they also helped forge such subgenres as folk rock, space rock, raga rock, psychedelic rock, jangle pop, and –- on their 1968 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo –- country rock. After several line-up changes (with lead singer/guitarist Roger McGuinn as the only consistent member), they broke up in 1973.

Their trademark songs include pop covers of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and Pete Seeger’s "Turn! Turn! Turn!", and the originals "I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better", and "Eight Miles High".

They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and several band members have launched successful solo careers after leaving the group. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked them #45 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time

                                            
Byrds è il criticatissimo, controverso, discusso e raro (a causa delle scarse vendite) album della reunion del gruppo nel 1973

                                                                   

Byrds is a rock music album by American band The Byrds from 1973. In late 1972, for the first time since early 1966, the original Byrds quintet of Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke reunited to record an album. Featuring songs from the four songwriters in the band, Byrds also contains a Joni Mitchell cover and two songs by Neil Young. It is their final studio album to date.

In 1972, Roger McGuinn, the only band member constant through every incarnation, had grown dissatisfied with the Byrds as they existed then, and had just dissolved that quartet. Coincidentally, all four of the other original Byrds were to an extent also at loose ends: Crosby had just finished a tour and album with Graham Nash but the pair had yet to engage that partnership full-time; Hillman's Manassas band with Stephen Stills had stalled creatively, although they were still a popular draw on the concert circuit; Clark's critically-lauded solo career had netted him very little financial remuneration because of his reluctance to actively promote albums through touring; and Clarke had been searching for a gig since the demise of the Flying Burrito Brothers. Furthermore, all of those pursuits, except for those of Crosby and to a lesser extent those of Hillman, had not been as financially rewarding as their time in the Byrds. David Geffen, heading up Asylum Records, managed to pry the Byrds' contract away from Columbia with relative ease, as the band had never recaptured the commercial pull from its mid-1960s folk-rock glory years. At that same time, Geffen and business partner Elliot Roberts, manager of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, had been thwarted in their attempts to bring new and highly lucrative CSNY product to the market owing to that group's lack of cohesion. Given the timing of the album, the fact that it was credited to the individual names of the band members CSNY-style, that Crosby produced it, and the nature of the songs, make a case for this album as a CSNY reunion stand-in. The link below describes this conjecture in greater detail.

In Crosby's defense, it is worthwhile to note that Hillman's Manassas was actively touring between sessions, while the latter-day Byrds had tour and contractual obligations lasting well into 1973. With attendance from two of the four creative parties sporadic at best, the brunt of assembling the album was left to the otherwise unengaged Crosby and Clark, which could account for the preponderance of Clark vocals and the CSNY-esque production.

Additionally, none of the parties were willing to sacrifice material from their solo projects; this has been confirmed by McGuinn and Hillman in various interviews. "Full Circle" had already been released in Europe on the unauthorized by Clark (though label approved) Roadmaster album; McGuinn's songs were leftovers from 1971; Hillman's songs were extremely short and in the opinion of many critics lacked the depth of his contemporaneous material; a rendition of Crosby's "Laughing" was available on his 1971 solo debut, and three of the eleven songs were covers (although it had long been a common practice for the Byrds to include a number of cover songs on their albums).

Despite lackluster reviews, Byrds sold reasonably well, reaching #20 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, the group's highest charting album of new material since Turn! Turn! Turn!, and going to #31 in the United Kingdom.

Etichetta: Asylum records / Emi italiana
Catalogo: 3C064-94248
Data di pubblicazione: 1973
Matrici: 94248-A / 94248-B
Data Matrici : 19/4/73

• Tipo audio: stereo
• Dimensioni: 30 cm.
• Facciate: 2
• Gatefold / Copertina apribile , white Asylum label , white paper inner sleeve
  

Track listing

1. "Full Circle" (Clark) – 2:43
2. "Sweet Mary" (McGuinn, Jacques Levy) – 2:55
3. "Changing Heart" (Clark) – 2:42
4. "For Free" (Joni Mitchell) – 3:50
5. "Born to Rock'n'Roll" (McGuinn) – 3:12

1. "Things Will Be Better" (Hillman, Dallas Taylor) – 2:13
2. "Cowgirl in the Sand" (Neil Young) – 3:24
3. "Long Live the King" (Crosby) – 2:17
4. "Borrowing Time" (Hillman, Joe Lala) – 2:00
5. Laughing" (Crosby) – 5:38
6. "(See the Sky) About to Rain" (Young) – 3:49

Artwork By - Gary Burden

                                                                            

Personnel

Acoustic Guitar [Six & Twelve Strings], Electric Guitar [Six & Twelve Strings], Mandolin, Bass, Vocals - Chris Hillman
Acoustic Guitar [Six & Twelve Strings], Electric Guitar [Six & Twelve Strings], Synthesizer [Moog], Banjo, Vocals - Roger Mcguinn
Acoustic Guitar [Six & Twelve Strings], Electric Guitar [Six & Twelve Strings], Vocals - David Crosby
Acoustic Guitar [Six Strings], Harmonica, Tambourine, Vocals - Gene Clark
Drums, Congas, Percussion - Michael Clarke

                                                                              

The Byrds (1973)
This is the original Byrds, all right - all five of them. The tracks are new studio recordings and the songwriting is split all around, but critics panned it anyway, and the reunited band soon fell apart again. You can hear why: Crosby produces, and he gets the same sludgy, mid-tempo country rock sound out of every track. Even the harmonies seem lethargic. The two songs each by Clark, Hillman, and McGuinn are all weak, and although Crosby's moody minor key masterpiece "Laughing" is up to his high standards for this period, his other contribution is a toss-off ("Long Live The King"). And then he has them cover two major works by his associates: Joni Mitchell's "For Free" and Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl." They're so much more compelling than the rest it's not even funny. Young also donated a second, pretty substantial tune ("See The Sky (About To Rain)").



In 1972, Roger McGuinn's final version of the Byrds unceremoniously broke up, but the following year the group briefly reunited -- surprisingly enough, with the classic original lineup of McGuinn, Gene Clark, Michael Clarke, David Crosby, and Chris Hillman. However, if most of the participants meant for this to be anything more than a one-shot get-together, you couldn't tell from listening to the resulting album; Byrds never sounds much like a Byrds album, absent McGuinn's chiming 12-string guitar and the group's striking harmonies (the Byrds' twin aural calling cards). Much of the original material, especially David Crosby's, sounds like cast-offs from their other projects. And what sort of a Byrds album features two Neil Young covers and not a single Bob Dylan tune? In all fairness, Byrds has its moments: Gene Clark's "Full Circle" and "Changing Heart" are great songs from the group's least-appreciated member, and McGuinn's "Born to Rock 'n' Roll" is a top-notch rock anthem. But for the most part, Byrds sounds like a competent but unexciting country-rock band going through their paces, rather than the work of one of the best and most innovative American bands of the 1960s.

By late 1972, all of the original Byrds were in a position to reconsider their past differences. McGuinn (like most people) was increasingly dissatisfied with the official Byrds; Gene Clark's work since leaving the Byrds, both solo and with Dillard & Clark, had been critically lauded, but commercially unsuccessful; Crosby Stills Nash & Young had devolved to the less bankable Crosby & Nash; Manassas, though still a going concern, was on hiatus, freeing up Hillman; and Michael Clarke had been at loose ends since leaving the Flying Burrito Brothers in 1971.
Under the auspices of Asylum Records honcho David Geffen, who had worked out the complicated deal to team Crosby Stills & Nash on Atlantic, all five original Byrds agreed to reunite in a loose framework modeled on the informal, occasional "group" status of CSN(&Y). Instead of billing themselves as "The Byrds," the group was billed "Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, Michael Clarke" -- kinda like Crosby Stills Nash & Young, except with first names and no ampersand. The group recorded at Wally Heider's Recording Studio, like Crosby Stills Nash & Young. Each of the band members (except Clarke) brought a few songs, and the others backed up that member, like Crosby Stills Nash & Young. Crosby's distinctive harmonies gave many of the songs that Crosby Stills Nash & Young feel. One of Hillman's songs actually sounded a lot like the work of Stephen Stills, and Gene Clark sang lead on a couple compositions by Neil Young. (As on most efforts by Crosby Stills Nash & Young, the most interesting tracks are the Neil Young songs.) The strangest thing about the Byrds reunion album isn't that it was so disappointing -- it's that the five original Byrds recorded a Crosby Stills Nash & Young reunion album.
Perhaps it wasn't so strange, though. Most likely the ex-Byrds, and almost certainly Geffen, had dollar signs in their eyes. After all, Crosby Stills & Nash (Atlantic, 1969), Déjà Vu (Atlantic, 1970), and Four Way Street (Atlantic, 1971) all moved millions of units. Why not the Byrds?
There was something else at work as well. Of the five, Crosby now had the most clout, thanks to the success of CSN&Y. As a result, he got to be producer, or at least got the credit (and the blame); his mustachioed mug is front and center on the jacket; and, from the sound of the album, he worked out most of the harmonies. McGuinn later commented that Crosby "wanted to minimize my importance in the group, and maximize his, and other people's."* Crosby, of course, denied this, but the finished work supports McGuinn's contention. Unfortunately, McGuinn played into Crosby's supposed agenda. McGuinn: "I didn't put my good songs on the album as I was saving them for my solo album. I felt that everybody was doing the same."*
Clearly, McGuinn wasn't kidding about his own songs, both of which are lousy. "Sweet Mary" is likely a discard from his solo album, because it's co-written with Jacques Levy, like several songs on Roger McGuinn (Columbia, 1973). It's another pseudo-British folk song, less successful than past efforts like "Pretty Polly" and even the mediocre "Jack Tarr the Sailor." "Born to Rock 'N' Roll" had been the last song recorded by the Columbia Byrds. This clumsy attempt at straightforward rock 'n' roll would not be Exhibit A for anyone seeking to prove the McGuinn really was "Born to Rock 'N' Roll." (Yet the sheer awfulness of the song didn't prevent him from taking a third crack at it, on the ineffectual solo LP Roger McGuinn & Band (Columbia, 1975).) Neither of these songs had strong vocals or guitar work from McGuinn.
In fact, McGuinn's best contribution to the album is the raga guitar on Crosby's remake of "Laughing." Sure, it sounds a lot like his part on "What's Happening?!?!," but the guitar work on "Laughing" is one of the few moments on the album that recalls the work of the Byrds from 1965 to 1967. Sadly, McGuinn's trademark Rickenbacker sound is either absent or mixed low on the rest of the album.
Crosby's contributions also suggest that he was holding back material. "Laughing" is one of the better cuts on the LP, but it had appeared only two years before on his solo LP, If I Could Only Remember My Name (Atlantic, 1971). Joni Mitchell's "For Free" is a well-written track, but not Crosby's well-written track. His vocal is clear and strong, but the harmony parts are so raggedy they sound like demos. Had they been fleshed out more, this song could have been a little more Byrdsy as well. Crosby's only new composition, "Long Live the King," is a weak, bluesy track with lyrics that, ironically, tackle the very star-making machinery responsible for this album.
Chris Hillman brings two songs with him, each one co-written with a fellow member of Manassas. "Things Will Be Better" was written with ex-CSNY drummer Dallas Taylor, and it's a slight, commercial number with uncharacteristic power chords. Better is "Borrowing Time," co-written with Manassas percussionist Joe Lala. With Mike Clarke on congas, Hillman gets a sound very close to "Love the One You're With" and some of Stephen Stills's other Latin-flavored tunes.
The only band member who doesn't seem to be sandbagging is Gene Clark. "Changing Heart" is an engaging mid-tempo number with great harmony work from Crosby. "Full Circle," an apt metaphor for this project, is a strong country rocker highlighted by Hillman's mandolin. Both songs seem to be autobiographical reflections on the vicissitudes of Clark's music career. (Several other tracks arguably pursue this theme, including McGuinn's "Born to Rock 'N' Roll," Crosby's "For Free" and "Long Live the King," and both Hillman tracks.
The best tracks here are the Neil Young covers. "Cowgirl in the Sand" gets a countryish arrangement, with harmonies just like the ones on CSNY's Four Way Street. The not-yet-released Young song "See the Sky About to Rain" is the album's standout, with great harmonies and acoustic guitar. The arrangement isn't particularly similar to the original Byrds, and it's not ideal, but it is effective for this track, one of the many great Neil Young compositions.
Commercially, Geffen and his cohorts were vindicated -- Byrds might not have earned the kind of revenues they had hoped, but it did make the US Top Twenty, thereby outperforming every Byrds album since Turn! Turn! Turn! (not counting The Byrds' Greatest Hits). Musically, though, the album was a failure, as most critics recognized at the time. Aside from a misguided emulation of CSNY, song-hoarding by some of the participants, and a possible McGuinn-minimization strategy by Crosby, there may have been other problems. The album was recorded very quickly, after only a few weeks of jamming together, at a time when all but Clarke were working on other projects or touring with other people. There wasn't much time to rediscover the old sound or forge a new one. Finally, the band members were reluctant to violate the reigning spirit of détente by criticizing each other's work. With so many obstacles to artistic success, it shouldn't be too surprising that Byrds was a disappointment. Unfortunately, the overwhelming critical rejection of this album so discouraged the participants that they tabled their tentative plans to tour and reunite every so often, leaving this album as the last official word on the group until 1990.



                                                                          
In 1973 the original lineup of the Byrds reunited for this one album. What had they all been doing since their last LP together (1965's Turn! Turn! Turn!)? Gene Clark had been struggling through his solo career - though he was a hit with the critics, since leaving the Byrds he had failed to achieve any commercial success. David Crosby was at the height of his fame through his work with Crosby, Stills & Nash. Chris Hillman had founded the Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons, and after four albums with them had gone on to become part of Stephen Still's Manassas. Michael Clarke had drummed for the Burritos but had been at a loose end since they ended it. And Roger McGuinn had stuck with the Byrds, leading them through all their incarnations, until he had disbanded their final lineup in 1972 so that he could get back together with the original quintet.
The reunion album has been unfairly dismissed by critics. It's actually seriously good. All five members (except drummer Clarke) made fantastic songwriting contributions, and the album mostly stays in the genre of folk rock, but with a distinctively different sound from their formulaic early records. They had all been on diverse musical adventures since their last time together, and the result is a bringing together of quite a varied collection of sounds which happens to blend together seemlessly (one notable instrument which wasn't heard before is Hillman's mandolin, which highlights several of the tracks).
As per usual with the Byrds, there are a number of interesting cover songs - Joni Mitchell's "For Free" and two Neil Young tunes sung by Clark ("See The Sky About To Rain" and "Cowgirl In The Sand", both reworked into fantastic new arrangements). The one peculiar inclusion is a re-recording of Crosby's "Laughing", which he had originally released on his solo debut If I Could Only Remember My Name. As the version here is pretty much the same arrangement, it's unclear as to why it's included. But that's typical David Crosby I guess!


To tell the truth, I would rather write about some of the fine new albums released since the first of this year—including Dr. John's In the Right Place (his best). Todd Rundgren's near best A Wizard/A True Pop Star, Dusty Springfield's Cameo (an absolutely stunning return to recording), Judee Sill's Heart Food (possibly as good as her first), The Harder They Fall (a great soundtrack and introduction to Jimmy Cliff) and Bob Seger's Back In '72 (a superb regional star from Detroit finally makes good). But at the moment, I am obliged to comment on the most disappointing and one of the dullest albums of the year, Byrds. At their best, they were once my favorite white American rock & roll band, but not only isn't this their best—it is barely them.

The Byrds were the most stylistically unified of American rock bands but paradoxically, this is an album without a style. It has little to do with the original band except that it is performed by its nominal members. I say nominal because everyone knows that only Roger McGuinn performed instrumentally on most of Mr. Tambourine Man, the most auspicious debut American album in pop Sixties rock, outdone internationally only by the Stones' England's Newest Hitmakers. The rest of the music was supplied by Joe Osborne, Hal Blaine, and, if memory serves, Leon Russell. It was music that combined contemporary material with high-pitched, almost whiney harmony, and the full-bodied ring of McGuinn's Rickenbacker 12-string guitar.

When the group decided to play its own music on Turn! Turn! Turn! they were forced to equal, if not copy, the style that had been handed them by the L.A. studio musicians. Despite such great cuts as Gene Clark's "Set You Free This Time" (which almost equaled his "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better," from the earlier album) they simply weren't up to it. But on Fifth Dimension they flew off into the cosmos and hard rock, leaving behind the Dylan songs and doing it all without Gene Clark. The loss of his middle-ranged voice threw the vocal equilibrium off and forced the group into a more adventurous instrumental style, a challenge that McGuinn met head on with such masterpieces as "Eight Miles High" and "5D."

Younger Than Yesterday and Notorious Byrd Brothers stand with Mr. Tambourine Man as their greatest albums and I used to have a hell of a time choosing between them. The former contained the flowering of Hillman's ornate bass style and the perfection of the progressively harder rock approach. "Everybody's Been Burned" was easily the best piece of music Crosby ever created and "Thoughts And Words" was one of their purest ventures into rock & roll.

Crosby departed during the production of Notorious but the album contains McGuinn's magnum opus, "Get To You." It also makes more and better use of the studio than any American rock band album of its time, faltering only during the second side. As a result, I would rate Younger Than Yesterday their best album, Mr. Tambourine Man second, and Notorious Byrd Brothers third. And I also maintain that with the possible exception of the Band's albums (which came a little later) it is the core of the greatest white American rock band music of its time.

David Crosby has said there was only one band called the Byrds, the original five people listed on the top of the new album cover. I disagree. The Byrds remained the Byrds until Crosby left, three albums after Gene Clark split. By then it was clearly a new group, one which continued to make fine music on Sweetheart of the Rodeo and the much underrated Ballad of Easy Rider. In reality, McGuinn usually kept his Byrds above the quality of the groups that his original colleagues found themselves in, even if the redeeming moments came only in bits and pieces such as "Chestnut Mare," a performance superior to anything any of the others has created since they left. Despite the fact that he was one of the lesser songwriters in the band, McGuinn always made the greatest contribution to its stylistic supremacy. And he is the only one who could have made the name stick on his own.

On the new album he participates as a mere equal, with David Crosby taking sole production credit. Perhaps that is why it is a record without focus, the product of a continually changing group that never finds a center around which to construct an album. It is a different band for each of the four lead singers and while they make complementary music, it is never a continuous piece, which is what the Bryds were once all about.

Of course the group is under no obligation to pick up where it left off and probably couldn't even if it wanted to. Too many changes and all of that. But the meaning of the Byrds' music was in its style, as specific and well-defined as has ever been created in American rock & roll. The depressing thing about this album is not the absence of the old form, but the absence of any form at all. Byrds is 11 songs, some good, some bad, sung in rotation by different, dislocated members of a non-existing band. It was undoubtedly made in a friendlier environment than the old records (with their rumored walkouts and punchouts) but the new environment seems to have made for a slack, undirected piece of jelly instead of a firm, rooted, moving album.

I used to wish they would let Gene Clark sing lead more until I realized that he had one of those voices that sounds best in small doses. He has two of the best things on the new album, "Full Circle" and "Changing Heart" (as well as Neil Young's "See The Sky"). His songwriting is still excellent, although not up to the best of his early Byrds days, and he transcends the mediocrity of the arrangements with relative ease. The background voices sing more parts than harmony, eliminating another hallmark of the old approach. The drumming sounds distant and lackluster, with none of the bite of the Younger Than Yesterday pounding that came as such a welcome surprise at the time.

McGuinn is showcased on "Sweet Mary" and "Born to Rock 'n' Roll," both distressingly ordinary, the latter confirming the fact that he can't handle straight rock & roll. Neither can the band as it huffs and puffs its way through a genuinely trite arrangement.

Where the old Byrds used to cover Dylan, the new ones cover Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. "For Free" is one of Joni's more obvious and popular tunes but David Crosby and Co. do nothing to it at all, permitting it to sit there on the grooves as if it was intended to be heard without ever being performed, "Cowgirl in the Sand" is done more or less as a group effort and is at least given a more convincing interpretation.

Chris Hillman has two lightly enjoyable pieces of fluff. "Things Will Be Better" actually sounds like a Byrds song during the verse although its effectiveness is vitiated by a mundane chorus. "Borrowing Time" is vaguely derivative of "Uncle John's Band" and thoroughly enjoyable for the brief time it takes up.

Crosby's ponderousness on "Long Live the King" and "Laughing" bear some vague relationship to the superb "What's Happening?!?!" of Fifth Dimension but wind up as empty shells of songs, closer to the absurd paranoia of "Almost Cut My Hair" than his great Byrds' number.

Clark's interpretation of Young's "See The Sky" ends the album nicely. It is the most successful of the lyrically ambitious numbers and a fair interpretation of the officially unrecorded song (it once showed up on a bootleg). Like everything else, it lacks the nervous energy and sheer tension that would have pushed the entire album onto a higher level of quality.

There are some artists for whom a relaxed pace and presentation is most natural: there are others whose art depends on active tension and conflict. The Byrds combined both elements. Their music was as homogenous as any in rock & roll but they could hurt when they wanted to. At their best, they sounded like some exotic mixture of velvet and nails. They protected us when things got too harsh and woke us up when they got too mellow. Take away the nails and the smoothness becomes slickness, entertaining as background stuff but rarely compelling as rock art. And if the original Byrds didn't create a form of rock art—then there is no such thing.

                   

Il gruppo è stato fra i fondatori del folk-rock e del country-rock, generi musicali che, sull'onda dei molti mutamenti del XX secolo, coniugavano la musica popolare di stampo anglosassone alle moderne sonorità del rock and roll. Nati originariamente come trio con il nome di "Jet Set" - con Jim McGuinn (che poi assumerà il nome di Roger) e David Crosby alla chitarra e Gene al tamburino - si sciolsero ufficialmente nei primi anni settanta. Il loro nome figura dal 1991 nella Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. La rivista Rolling Stone li ha classificati fra i cinquanta migliori artisti rock di sempre.

La musica dei Byrds è stata apprezzata - e considerata per molti versi innovativa - per la leggerezza dell'"impasto" sonoro e per la suggestione restituita dalla parte vocale, improntata su cori in falsetto (tutti i componenti erano, oltre che capaci musicisti, anche validi vocalist). I loro brani - specialmente quelli riferiti alla prima produzione - davano la sensazione di volare in alto, come gli uccelli da cui avevano preso a prestito, storpiandolo, il nome (in inglese bird significa infatti "uccello"). Infine però le "otto miglia più in alto" (il brano Eight Miles High è uno dei loro più conosciuti) presero il sopravvento segnando, con lo scioglimento della formazione originale, la fine di un volo tanto intenso quanto breve.

Storia

I primi anni 

Il loro primo LP - In the Beginning - lo avevano inciso nel 1964 negli World Pacific Studios, allora all'avanguardia, e molto del materiale registrato durante quelle sessioni di lavoro verrà pubblicato solo successivamente nell'album Pre-Flyte (Prima del volo, 1969).

Il successo con Mr. Tambourine Man e Turn! Turn! Turn! [

Dopo lo sfolgorante successo ottenuto nel 1965 con il disco singolo Mr. Tambourine Man (versione in chiave rock di un'allora sconosciuta canzone di Bob Dylan in cui era messo in evidenza un uso inconsueto del basso elettrico), l'organico originale andò avanti nel suo ruolo di "risposta americana" al pop dei Beatles con il seguente Turn! Turn! Turn!. Durante la lavorazione di 5th Dimension Gene Clark, fino a quel momento il compositore più prolifico del gruppo, lascia per cominciare una difficile e sottovalutata carriera solista.

5th Dimension: il "raga rock" e la musica psichedelica

Per loro furono coniate varie etichette: ad esempio, quella di ideatori del raga-rock, il "rock orientaleggiante" il cui suono era prodotto specialmente dalla chitarra modello Rickenbacker a dodici corde elettrificata suonata come fosse un sitar dal leader del gruppo Roger McGuinn. Sull'onda delle esperienze psichedeliche composero quello che è forse il loro album più noto, 5th Dimension (e la suggestiva copertina li vedrà veleggiare su un sontuoso e variopinto tappeto di foggia orientale).

Easy Rider: il country-rock

Sono stati poi "padri" del country-rock (con l'album-manifesto Easy Rider, ispirato alle vicende dell'omonimo film di Dennis Hopper). Si sentivano «più giovani di ieri» (mutuando un verso di Bob Dylan per il titolo di un loro album), e il loro solo desiderio era quello - come cantavano in una canzone - di essere delle "star" in una "Rock'n'Roll Band".

I favori di critica e pubblico

Il viaggio era iniziato, ma non si rivelerà per nulla confortevole: ad attenderli li aspetteranno vicissitudini esistenziali non sempre felici, affari di droga e guai con la giustizia; anche lutti.

Forti di notevoli qualità vocali (ogni membro del gruppo dava un proprio contributo in questo senso) basavano il loro suono sul basso elettrico - usato come mai prima di allora - e sulla chitarra elettrica a dodici corde capace di coniugare le sonorità della tradizione folk americana con il sound allora imperante dei Beatles.

Si guadagnarono così in breve tempo simpatia da parte di critica e pubblico. Bob Dylan - ormai lanciato verso il successo - affidò loro diverse sue composizioni fra cui, oltre Mr. Tambourine Man, All I Really Want To Do, Chimes of Freedom, My Back Pages, solo per citarne alcune.

Lo smembramento del gruppo: una "band", mille rivoli

Supergruppi & Derivati Questi i gruppi derivati dall'originale formazione dei Byrds. Talvolta si tratta di semplici duo o trio. La data si riferisce alla pubblicazione del primo disco:

• The Flying Burrito Brothers, 1968 (Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman, Chris Ethridge, Pete Kleinow, Jon Corneal, Eddie Hoh, Sam Goldstein e Popeye Philips)
• Dillard & Clark, 1968 (Doug Dillard e Gene Clark)
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, 1969 (David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash e Neil Young)
• Manassas, 1972 (Stephen Stills, Chris Hillman, Paul Harris, Joe Lala, Dallas Taylor, Al Perkins e Fuzzy Samuels)
• Souther, Hillman & Furay Band, 1974 (John David Souther, Chris Hillman, Richie Furay, Paul Harris, Al Perkins, Jim Gordon e Joe Lala)
• Firefall, 1976 (Rick Roberts, Michael Clarke, Mark Andes, Larry Burnett, David Muse e Jock Bartley)
• McGuinn & Thunderbyrd, 1976 (Roger McGuinn, James Q. Smith, Bruce Barlow, Lance Dickerson; poi, Rick Vito, Greg Thomas)
• McGuinn, Clark & Hillman, 1977 (Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark e Chris Hillman)
• Ever Call Ready, 1984 (Chris Hillman, Bernie Leadon, Al Perkins, David Mansfield e Jerry Scheff)
• CRY, 1985 (Gene Clark, Patrick Gerald Robinson, John York)
• The Desert Rose Band, 1987 (Chris Hillman, Herb Pedersen, Jay Dee Maness, John Jorgenson, Bill Bryson e Steve Duncan)
• Gene Clark & Carla Olson, 1987
• Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen, 1996
• CPR, 1998 (David Crosby, James Raymond e Jeff Pevar)
• Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen, 1999 (Chris Hillman, Herb Pedersen, Larry Rice e Tony Rice)

Del gruppo dei Byrds hanno fatto parte musicisti che, nel corso degli anni, avrebbero goduto di un grande successo anche come solisti o in altri complessi rock. Fra essi, i cinque "Byrds" co-fondatori del gruppo: oltre al leader Jim McGuinn - che nel 1966 prese il nome di Roger McGuinn (chitarra Rickenbacker a dodici corde e voce) - il cantante e chitarrista David Crosby, Gene Clark (autore di molti brani, voce, chitarra, tamburello e percussioni, morto nel 1991), Chris Hillman (basso, chitarra, mandolino) e Michael Clarke (batteria, percussioni, deceduto nel 1992).

Successivamente subentrarono: Gram Parsons (voce, chitarra e tastiere), Clarence White (chitarra solista, anch'egli morto tragicamente, nel 1973, travolto da una ubriaca alla guida di un'auto in un parcheggio), Gene Parsons (voce, batteria e banjo, e nessuna parentela con Gram), Skip Battin (voce e basso, morto nel 2003).

La formazione originaria dei Byrds non ha avuto vita lunga, a differenza della fama che li avrebbe seguiti nel tempo - nella rispettiva produzione da solisti o in coppie ricomposte - fino alla metà degli anni novanta.

Dissapori e incomprensioni - specialmente tra Roger McGuinn e David Crosby (i due leader carismatici del gruppo - e la presunta paura di volare da parte di Gene Clark hanno fatto sì che i Byrds si smembrassero ben presto in più organici musicali, dando vita a gruppi differenti rispetto a quello iniziale (i più noti dei quali sono stati Flying Burrito Brothers, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young e Dillard & Clark, duo nato dopo lo scioglimento della Doug Dillard Band), e Manassas di Stephen Stills).

Dopo essere rimasto per qualche tempo saldamente nelle mani di Roger McGuinn, il marchio Byrds è infine passato, dopo una lunga vertenza giudiziaria, nelle mani di Michael Clarke, uno dei co-fondatori, ed infine al trio McGuinn, Crosby & Hillman.

There Is A Season e gli anni recenti

Nell'autunno del 2006 l'etichetta discografica Columbia Records ha pubblicato per la serie Legacy un box - dal titolo There Is A Season (frase che compare in un verso della loro canzone Turn! Turn! Turn!, il cui testo è ispirato al libro dell'Ecclesiaste) - composto da quattro CD ed un DVD che racchiude l'intera loro storia musicale.

Nella collezione vengono ripercorse le tappe della loro carriera, dagli esordi nei primi anni sessanta - come Jet Set e poi come Beefeaters - fino alle reunion (solo estemporanee) degli anni ottanta, spesso avvenute tuttavia con formazioni rimaneggiate rispetto all'organico originale.

I brani inclusi nei CD sono novantanove e comprendono cinque inediti da esibizioni in concerto; costituiscono una documentazione esaustiva di ciò che la musica degli interpreti di Mr. Tambourine Man ha rappresentato nella storia del rock.

Nella primavera del 2008 la vicenda Byrds si è arricchita di un nuovo capitolo con il rinvenimento, in casa di Roger McGuinn, della registrazione del concerto che i Byrds, in una delle ultime formazioni storiche, tennero nel 1971 alla Royal Albert Hall di Londra. Sul palco, in quella circostanza, suonavano oltre a McGuinn i chitarristi Clarence White, Skip Battin e il batterista Gene Parsons. I nastri, riposti in uno scatolone e quindi dimenticati per anni, sono stati affidati da McGuinn a Bob Irwin dell'etichetta Sundazed per essere commercializzati su CD nel giugno dello stesso anno dopo un'adeguata opera di rimasterizzazione.

Origins

The Byrds were founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1964 by singers and guitarists Jim McGuinn (born James McGuinn III; he changed his name to Roger McGuinn in 1967, after joining the spiritual movement Subud), Gene Clark, and David Crosby. Bass guitarist Chris Hillman and drummer Michael Clarke joined soon after.

McGuinn had been in a series of folk outfits including The Limeliters and the Chad Mitchell Trio before working in New York in 1962–1963 as a songwriter for Bobby Darin. He moved to L.A. in late 1963 and began gigging at clubs such as the Troubadour but, after hearing The Beatles for the first time, saw what he later called "a gap in the market", and resolved to take "Lennon and Dylan and mix them together."

Gene Clark, who had been in the New Christy Minstrels, briefly joined McGuinn in a duo playing at The Folk Den before Crosby, who had performed with Les Baxter's Balladeers, persuaded them to let him join. The newly formed trio recorded a song, "The Only Girl I Adore", soon after naming themselves "The Jet Set" (McGuinn and Crosby were aviation buffs). As such they cut a couple of numbers, "You Movin'" and "The Only Girl". They then hired Michael Clarke (who had the right look for the part) to join on drums. Former bluegrass mandolin player Hillman, who had played with the Scotsville Squirrel Barkers, the Golden State Boys, and the Hillmen, completed the quintet. (Overall, it can be said the members were markedly influenced by the American folk music revival.)

They rehearsed and recorded extensively at the World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles under the guidance of manager Jim Dickson. This period culminated with Elektra Records releasing a single, "Please Let Me Love You" b/w "Don't Be Long", under the name "The Beefeaters". Years later, these World Pacific demos were released as the Preflyte album and even made the lower reaches of the album charts. There have since been two further archive albums culled from the World Pacific sessions, In The Beginning (1988) and The Preflyte Sessions (2001).

Folk rock

In November 1964, the band signed to Columbia Records and a few days later renamed themselves The Byrds. On January 20, 1965, they recorded "Mr. Tambourine Man", a Bob Dylan song given a full electric treatment, and effectively created folk rock. McGuinn's jangling, highly melodic guitar playing (using a 12-string, heavily compressed Rickenbacker for its extremely bright tone) was immediately influential, and has remained so to the present day. The group's complex harmony work became the other major characteristic of their sound (McGuinn and Clark alternating between unison singing and harmony, with Crosby providing the high harmony). Released in June 1965 after a long delay, this debut single reached #1 on the US charts and, a month later, repeated the feat in the UK. At the same time, their debut album Mr. Tambourine Man was released, also topping the charts. The album mixed reworkings of folk songs (most notably Pete Seeger's "The Bells Of Rhymney") with several more Dylan covers, as well as a number of the band's own compositions, mainly written by Gene Clark.

Since the band had not yet completely gelled in January, McGuinn had been the only Byrd to play on "Mr. Tambourine Man" and its B-side, "I Knew I'd Want You". Instead, producer Terry Melcher hired "The Wrecking Crew", a collection of top session men including Hal Blaine, Larry Knechtel and Leon Russell, who provided the backing track over which McGuinn added lead guitar and lead vocal, while Crosby and Clark sang harmony. By the time the album was recorded, Melcher was satisfied that the band were up to scratch, and they were to play on all the remaining tracks.

The group's follow-up single was another interpretation of a Dylan song, "All I Really Want To Do". Unfortunately for The Byrds, Cher simultaneously released her own version of the song with greater commercial success. Even though they had recorded Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" as their third single (it was played on the California radio station KFWB), The Byrds instead quickly recorded "Turn! Turn! Turn!", a Pete Seeger adaptation of a traditional melody, with some lyrics taken directly from the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes, and the song became the group's second US #1 single, also headlining their second album (also titled Turn! Turn! Turn!).

Like their debut, the album was characterised by harmony vocal and McGuinn's distinctive guitar sound, highlighted by the bright-sounding production of Terry Melcher. This time they featured more of their own compositions and now had, in Gene Clark, a major songwriter; his songs from this period, including "The World Turns All Around Her", "She Don't Care About Time", "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" and "Set You Free This Time", are widely regarded as amongst the best of the genre.

Psychedelia

By the end of 1965, the band had exhausted the folk rock sound, and began to experiment. On December 22, 1965, they recorded "Eight Miles High", generally considered the first full-blown psychedelic recording (although many contemporaneous groups, notably The Yardbirds, were moving in a similar direction). It was widely regarded as a "drug" song (despite its lyrics being about an airplane flight and a concert tour of England), and its relatively modest success when it was released as a single (US #14, UK #24) has been attributed to the resulting airplay bans on some radio stations (though the unfamiliar and slightly uncommercial sound of the track is another possible factor). While the groundbreaking lead guitar work was actually an attempt by McGuinn to replicate the free jazz saxophone style of John Coltrane, the record was often referred to as "raga rock" - in fact, it was the B-side "Why?" which drew on Indian raga influences.

Gene Clark left the band in March 1966, partly due to a fear of flying which made it impossible to keep up with the band's itinerary. He had witnessed a fatal airplane crash as a youth and had never gotten over it. He had a panic attack on a plane in L.A. bound for New York and had to get off. McGuinn told him, "You can't be a Byrd, Gene, if you can't fly." He was signed by Columbia as a solo artist and went on to forge a critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful body of work.

The Byrds' third album, Fifth Dimension (5D), released in July 1966, built on the new sound the band had created for "Eight Miles High", McGuinn extending his exploration of jazz and raga styles on tracks such as "I See You" and Crosby's "What's Happening?!?!" respectively. The campaign in US radio to clamp down on "drug songs" affected several of the tracks, such as "Eight Miles High" and "5D," and limited the album's commercial success (#24 US).

Allegedly irritated by the overnight success of manufactured groups such as The Monkees, the group next recorded the satirical and slightly bitter dig at the music business, "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star", which again broke new ground musically, featuring a brass part played by the South African musician Hugh Masekela. The song achieved modest success as a single and also kicked off their fourth album, Younger Than Yesterday. The LP was more varied than its predecessor, and has been widely praised for tracks such as Crosby's sinister ballad "Everybody's Been Burned", a cover of Dylan's My Back Pages" (later released as a single), and a quartet of Chris Hillman numbers which showed the bassist emerging fully formed as a country-oriented songwriter ("Have You Seen Her Face", "Time Between", "Thoughts And Words", "The Girl With No Name"). However, many critics feel that the album suffers in parts from (possibly drug-induced) self-indulgence, especially on tracks such as "CTA-102", a McGuinn novelty song about alien life, and Crosby's lengthy recitation "Mind Gardens."

Line-up changes

By 1967 there was increasing tension between the band members, McGuinn and Hillman becoming irritated by what they saw as Crosby's overbearing egotism, and his attempts to jockey for control of the band. In June, when the Byrds performed at the Monterey Pop Festival, Crosby sang the majority of lead vocals, and to the intense annoyance of the other members gave lengthy speeches between every song, on subjects such as the JFK assassination and the benefits of giving LSD to "every man, woman and child in the country". He then added insult to injury by performing later with rival band Buffalo Springfield (filling in for Neil Young). His stock within the band dropped further following the commercial failure of his first A-side, "Lady Friend", released in July (US #82). In October, during the recording of the fifth Byrds album, Crosby refused to participate in taping the Goffin-King number "Goin' Back" in preference to his more controversial "Triad", a song about a ménage à trois. The simmering tensions within the band finally erupted and in 1967 the other group members fired Crosby, who subsequently received a considerable cash settlement, and soon after began working with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, forming the hugely successful supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash. Gene Clark briefly rejoined The Byrds to take his place, but left three weeks later, after again refusing to board an aircraft while on tour. Michael Clarke also quit during these sessions, partly due to disputes with Crosby during the recording of "Dolphin's Smile". Studio drummer Jim Gordon was drafted in to complete his parts. The bluegrass guitarist Clarence White contributed significantly on several tracks, later becoming a permanent band member in 1968.

The resulting album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, was released in January 1968, and despite its troubled genesis, contains some of the band's gentlest, most ethereal music. The record mixed folk rock, country, psychedelia and jazz, often within a single song, and attempted to deal with many contemporary themes such as peace, ecology, freedom, drug use, alienation and mankind's place in the Universe. It included the song "Wasn't Born to Follow", which featured on the Easy Rider Soundtrack. Over the years, The Notorious Byrd Brothers has gained in reputation, and is often considered the group's best work, while the contentious incidents surrounding its making have largely been forgotten.

Now reduced to a duo, The Byrds quickly recruited Hillman's cousin Kevin Kelley as drummer and the band went out on tour in support of The Notorious Byrd Brothers as a trio. After realizing that the trio arrangement wasn't going to work, McGuinn and Hillman, in a fateful decision for their future career-direction, hired Gram Parsons, originally to play keyboards (he later moved to guitar). With the aid of Hillman, Parsons persuaded McGuinn to change direction again, and take up a style with which they had previously only dabbled - country music.

Country rock

On February 15, 1968, they played at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, the first group of longhairs ever to do so, and immediately started recording their next album in a wholly country style, with Parsons choosing and singing many of the songs. However, on July 29, Parsons quit the band just before they flew to South Africa because he refused to play to segregated audiences. At the same time, Sweetheart of the Rodeo was released, most of Parsons' vocals being replaced by either McGuinn or Hillman due to legal problems with Parsons' previous record company. The album was commercially unsuccessful on its release (US # 77), but contains the yearning Parsons song which has become a standard, "Hickory Wind", as well as a couple of Dylan tunes from his then-unreleased Basement Tapes collection, and more traditional songs from such unlikely sources as The Louvin Brothers ("The Christian Life"). It is the first country-rock album to be released by an established rock band, coming six months before Bob Dylan's "Nashville Skyline". (The first country rock album was arguably released by Gram's International Submarine Band on the indie record label that later created legal problems for Gram with the Byrds.)

Kevin Kelley left not long after Gram Parsons and in their places, McGuinn and Hillman hired drummer Gene Parsons and guitarist Clarence White, who had both played in Nashville West. This new lineup played two shows together[3] in October before Hillman quit to join Gram Parsons in the Flying Burrito Brothers. McGuinn, now the only original member left, hired bassist John York (who had been working in the Sir Douglas Quintet) to replace Hillman, and the resulting quartet recorded the Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde album and released it in February 1969 to poor US sales and moderate UK success.

In July 1969 The Byrds were the headliner of the Schaefer Music Festival in New York City's Central Park, along with Miles Davis, Chuck Berry, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, B.B. King, The Beach Boys, Frank Zappa and Patti LaBelle. They re-appeared at the festival in 1970 and 1971.

In October 1969 came the Ballad Of Easy Rider album. "Jesus Is Just Alright" from that album was issued as a single, which, in a similar arrangement, became a hit for The Doobie Brothers, four years later. The group also recorded a version of Jackson Browne's "Mae Jean Goes to Hollywood" during the recording sessions, but it remained unreleased for some twenty years. The title track was composed by McGuinn (expanding on a verse line written by Bob Dylan) as the music theme for the 1969 hippie movie Easy Rider, and the album sold well off the back of the movie's huge success. By the time this album was released, John York had left the band because his girlfriend objected to his going out on the road.[4] He was replaced by bassist Skip Battin, who had some chart success in 1959 as half of the duo Skip & Flip.

In 1970, The Byrds released the double album (Untitled), which charted well in the UK and acceptably in the US. (Untitled) featured one disc of live recordings and one of studio performances such as "Chestnut Mare", "All The Things" and "Lover of the Bayou". It also included a 16-minute live version of "Eight Miles High".

In 1971 they released the Byrdmaniax album, which was a commercial and critical disappointment, largely due to inappropriate orchestration which was added to many tracks without the band's approval by producer Terry Melcher. Also in 1971 came the release of the Farther Along album. The title track of that album, sung by Clarence White (with the rest of the group harmonizing), would became a prophetic epitaph for both White and Gram Parsons. (In July 1973, White was killed by a motor vehicle while he was loading equipment after a gig in Palmdale, California. Soon afterwards, Gram Parsons died, as a result of an overdose of morphine and alcohol, in the Joshua Tree Motel, California.)

McGuinn toured with the Byrds through 1972, with LA session man John Guerin replacing Gene Parsons. Two Byrds recordings exist with this lineup, live versions of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Roll Over Beethoven", recorded for the soundtrack to the movie Banjoman. The final recording sessions involving all four of the latter-day Columbia Byrds were for Skip Battin's 1972 album, Skip; Guerin was on drums. McGuinn appeared on only one track, though, "Captain Video" - evidently Battin's tribute to his erstwhile employer.

Skip Battin and John Guerin either quit or were fired after the February 10, 1973 show in Ithaca, New York, and were replaced by Chris Hillman and Joe Lala, respectively, for the Byrds' final two shows on February 23 (Burlington, Vermont) and 24 (Passaic, New Jersey).

Reunions (1973–1990)

The five original Byrds all briefly reunited in late 1972 (while McGuinn was still on tour with the CBS version of the Byrds) to cut the reunion album Byrds. The album came out in March 1973, less than a month after the Columbia version of the Byrds played their final show. The album garnered mixed reviews, and a planned tour of the original five Byrds to support it never materialized.

In the late '70s, McGuinn, Clark and Hillman worked on and off as a trio (modelled on CSNY and, to a lesser extent, The Eagles), touring and recording two albums, and scoring a top 40 hit ("Don't You Write Her Off") in 1978. Some of the earlier and later live shows were advertised by unscrupulous promoters as Byrds reunions. By 1979 Clark had departed and the two others recorded an album as McGuinn-Hillman.

Subsequently, there were disputes over which members owned the rights to the "Byrds" name in the late 1980s. Clarke and Clark toured separately under The Byrds name at that time, and from 1989 through most of 1993 Michael Clarke toured occasionally as "The Byrds Featuring Michael Clarke" with former Byrd Skip Battin along with newcomers Terry Jones Rogers and Jerry Sorn. To solidify their claim to the name and prevent any non-original members from using the name, McGuinn, Hillman, and Crosby staged a series of Byrds reunion concerts in 1989 and 1990, including a famous performance at a Roy Orbison tribute concert where they were joined by Bob Dylan for Mr. Tambourine Man. These shows led to McGuinn, Hillman, and Crosby recording four new studio tracks for the boxed set The Byrds in 1990. During that year, a legal action against Clarke and his booking agent failed, the judge ruling that Clarke's group had toured successfully. Eventually, a settlement was reached, preventing any entity not including McGuinn, Hillman and Crosby from using the name "Byrds".

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. The original line-up of Gene Clark, Michael Clarke, David Crosby, Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn was honored at this induction. Gene Clark died later that year and, two years later, Michael Clarke succumbed to liver disease brought on by alcoholism.

Though both Hillman and Crosby have expressed an interest in working with McGuinn again on future Byrds projects, McGuinn is currently committed to his folk music career.

 
 
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