Byrds POX

Why? Because we never did it...

Change is Now
Here Without You
Lady Friend
Eight Miles High
I See You
It Won't Be Wrong
Why (single version)
Natural Harmony

I only like up through Notorious Byrd Brothers. I never heard much of the stuff after that.
The World Turns All Around Her
Thoughts and Words

Oops

Damn I want to add She Has A Way to my list! Such an elegant song- I think they may have been better than the Beatles at that point- and I'm a Beatle nerd!

Lady Friend
You Ain't Going Nowhere
Chestnut Mare
Everybody's Been Burned
She Has a Way (Preflyte version IV is my favorite - the jangliest)
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Have You Seen Her Face
So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star
Renaissance Fair

+
Turn! Turn! Turn! - Yeah, it's super overplayed and one of the cliche "60s songs" - doesn't mean it's not a great song. That one second pause at the end of the song has so much weight to it.

Actually replace uh...Baby Blue? with 'Get to You'

Turn! Turn! Turn! - Yeah, it's super overplayed and one of the cliche "60s songs" - doesn't mean it's not a great song. That one second pause at the end of the song has so much weight to it.

Any list w/o it is just contrarian.

could only get it down to 12

here without you
set you free this time
eight miles high
everybody's been burned
time between
lady friend
goin' back
wasn't born to follow
get to you
bad night at the whiskey
gunga din
see the sky about to rain

Any list w/o it is just contrarian.

I dunno if I'd go that far, they have lots of great songs. But it's hard to believe that someone could love the Byrds and not at least agree that it's a fantastic song - even if they're sick of it.

Can't believe I forgot Renaissance Fair- that's on my list too

I love The Byrds! In fact, I just listened to The Notorious Byrd Brothers yesterday. I'll have to think about this very difficult task and repost at a later date. I was thinking about this too: Is there another band out there that has served as a revolving door for as many distinct talents, at varous points in time, as The Byrds? Can, perhaps. Or The Yardbirds. I'm sure there are others. I just can't think of any offhand. Menudo? The Revolting Cocks? From Gene Clark to Gram Parsons in less than five years. Now that is a goddam career!

Have You Seen Her Face
Chimes of Freedom
100 Years From Now
Draft Morning
Wasn't Born To Follow
Renaissance Fair
My Back Pages (bonus track version with the trippy guitar)
Eight Miles High
Hickory Wind
Artificial Energy

I only like up through Notorious Byrd Brothers. I never heard much of the stuff after that. - bbbut Sweetheart of the Rodeo man! Such a smooth transition from the hard twang of the twelve-string Rickenbacker to the placid twang of the pedal steel.

Turn! Turn! Turn! ... Any list w/o it is just contrarian. - And any list without "Hickory Wind" is incomplete.

8 miles high
feel a whole lot better
everybody's been burned
john riley
what's happening?!
turn turn turn
have you seen her face
goin back
so you wanna be a rock n roll star

Eight Miles High
Get To You
Tambourine Man
Going Back
Turn Turn Turn
Chesnut Mare
Triad
You Ain't Going Nowhere
100 Years From Now

I'm surprised (and heartened!) at all the love for "Get to You," which I love so much.

Feel A Whole Lot Better
Everybody's Been Burned
Eight Miles High
It Happens Each Day
World Turns All Around Her
It's No Use
She Don't Care About Time
Goin' Back
Get To You
My Back Pages

Bonus Material - Next X: Here Without You, You Won't Have To Cry, I Knew I'd Want You, It Won;t Be Wrong, Have You Seen Her Face?, So You Wanna Be A Rock 'N Roll Star, What's Happening?!?!, Turn Turn Turn, Artificial Energy, The Day Walk

mr tambourine man
chestnut mare
i wasnt born to follow
get to you
mr spaceman
whats happening
feel a whole lot better
goin back
8 miles high
so you want to be a rock n roll star

Eight Miles High
Get To You
Goin' Back
Here Without You
I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better
She Don't Care About Time
The Bells of Rhymney
Triad
Tulsa County
Why

almost put tulsa county on my list

iAny list w/o it is just contrarian.

I dunno if I'd go that far, they have lots of great songs. But it's hard to believe that someone could love the Byrds and not at least agree that it's a fantastic song - even if they're sick of it.

"Turn, Turn, Turn" is not that good. The first two Byrds albums are all about the Gene Clark tunes. Those have aged far better.

Any list w/o it is just contrarian.

K, I agree with this now.

I also want to add 'Don't Doubt Yourself Babe' to my list.

The first two Byrds albums are all about the Gene Clark tunes. Those have aged far better.

― QuantumNoise, Monday, 15 December 2008 18:09 (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

OTM. Feel a Whole Lot Better is probably my favourite. Am also a sucker for Crosby's stuff, but they lost so much when Clark went.

turn turn turn x10

It's hard to hear it all the way through, but it sounds like Chris Hillman is playing chords on the bass at the beginning of that.

the byrds aren't even one of my favorite bands, but i love how every time i hear one of their early hits, it sounds like the greatest thing ever recorded.

the notorious byrd brothers is one of the best albums there is

i mean don't get me wrong i love a lot of byrds but if you're in a car driving above 40mph and turn turn turn comes on it's the absolute best

lyrics very powerful too, especially when you know where they come from

Just listened to this very-well-recorded live set: Gene Clark, Michael Clarke, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Blondie Chaplin, and (not listed, but mentioned by Clark) John Yorke, live in Evansville, Indiana, 1985. This was one of those tribute (or actually "reunion" was the billing for this, it sez here), tours that Clark did 'til McGuinn made him cease and desist, I think I read elsewhere (on another site with such tapes: a fairly well-documented era) But, though it does go in sev. directions---Danko sings a cool "Honest I Do," we also get good "The Shape I'm In" and "The Rumour": even some 80s-appropriate chrome 'n' coke, like Chaplin singing "Shake Your Ass," and his suave, hearty turn from Beach Boys tours, "Sail On Sailor," plus some post-Byrds Clark songs that go on too long---it also works as a fairly euphoric, certainly energized Byrds tributes, with real good harmonies, emulating-not-imitating the Bryds. Also another toot of the coke for a 9: 24 "Eight Miles High" which doesn't much miss McGuinn (more speedy than jazzy, but I think it works) Finale: luvly "Turn Turn Turn." Dang if only The Byrds could have kept Gene. Here's the tracks & notes:
http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=1628
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From the same source---via re-link from ilxor tylerw, who wasn't kidding about this live Notorious Byrd Brothers-era line-up being a power trio. The distortion, intended or not, fits in beautifully with the churnin' urn and surging urges of bass and drums, with voice x guitar rising above or running through right on time. "A Satisfied Mind" turns into a proto-folk-metal waltz, the set's overall (this is from '67) historical parallels would be more like Dead in "Cold Rain and Snow" and "Cream Puff Wars" mode, Dylan & Hawks, Blues Project, some live BUffalo Springfield ("Renaissance Fair" hits like a more aggressive but still lilting intro to Springfield's "Rock & Roll Woman"), "Milestones" seems like it might have been a source for extended versions of "Eight Miles High," which here is short and several tracks away. Meanwhile, "Milestones" and "Baby What You Want Me To Do" are trebley but solid, like the mutant white blues child of McGuinn, Danny Kalb abd Mike Bloomfield (three-way DNA is just now the coming thing; look it up). Also some of this kinda prefigures Green On Red. It does go from fast to hasty occasionally, and in fact. "Wedliketoplaymorebutwegottago." (Also, "Thank you, we'll be back in a couple of hours." Any tapes of that set?!)
So if McGuinn could do this, why did he run out of steam with departure of remaining original bandmates and of new inspiration Gram Parsons? And leave it all (and then some) up to Clarence White, at least on the early CW-era tapes I've heard? Oh well, lots more of those to check, and a whole other thread on that era.
Anyway, link to this set, in San Francisco, 1967:
http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=2195

This also has some Green On Red and even Television appeal (think Verlaine mentioned xpost Blues Project's Danny Kalb as inspirational)

Sorry for mentioning Green On Red twice, but see thread incl them in name for my recent live tape reactions (this is better overall)

yeahhh that late 67 trio tape is wild, even if it is a pretty terrible recording. does seem like mcguinn could've become a serious guitar hero right about then, but that is kind of the end of his acid rock explorations, isn't it?

lou reed always talked about seeing mcguinn do eight miles high sometime in 66 and how it informed a lot of his playing later on.

Really!! Wow.
xpost Listening on headphones, no prob w sound, although it does go from 1:25 of "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" to about 1:50 or so of "My Back Pages," starting in the middle of the latter, but it's too corny a song for this kinds sound anyway, so cool w me. I've got at least one other Byrds tape, somewhere, with maybe a nine-minute "Eight Miles High," don't remember the show date, but's pretty rowdy, and why I was speculating about his use of "Milestones" in extended versions of "Eight..." But yeah, I'm afraid he lost interest, or spirit (said Crosby got him into progressive jazz, so maybe the departure of/associations with Cros removed any encouragement; doubt Hillman or subsequent bandmates would provide much stimulus in that direction).

yeah later eight miles high get fairly out, but he leaves a lot of the heavy lifting to clarence white. i love that period of the byrds, but it'd be cool if there was one album that was all eight miles high/why/universal mind decoder trippy 12-string workouts.

Oh indeedio---maybe call it Bluefolded? Bluetangled, Bluejangled----lot of jangle of course on In The Studio 1965-1966, but so many instrumental backing tracks bring out the tensile, sinewy mesh as well---at best. McGuinn and Clarke seem by far the most consistently engaging, but Cros (and sometimes Clark?) can certainly rise to the occasions, especially on the former's "Stranger In A Strange Land." Only known as an instrumental, I think; a bonus track on the 90s CD of Turn! Turn! Turn!---have any words turned up? Considering the Heinlein novel, and lyrics of other DC songs rejected by the Byrds, like "Triad"--ah, the possibilties. Speaking of xpost Lou Reed giving props to McGuinn, this and other tracks here bring the VU to mynd more often than the Beatles, say, even in '65.

Forgot the link, sorry! http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=1861

the former's "Stranger In A Strange Land." Only known as an instrumental, I think; a bonus track on the 90s CD of Turn! Turn! Turn!---have any words turned up?

Yes, but not with the Byrds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMzOcys76BU

Blackburn & Snow, short lived Frisco-based harmony duo. Sherry Snow dated the Cros, and that's how they got the song, a flop single in '66-7. She later popped up in the original version of Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks.

Their version owns so hard.

Wow, thanks! Ever heard an album by them??
Ah, the Cros as 60s songwriter; maybe I should make a Spotify playlist...reminds me, "Everybody's Been Burned" was the one that got stuck in my head, when I briefly owned Younger Than Yesterday in high school. Good album?

Great album.

I'll check it out, thanks. Also wondering about Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde---an interesting take from an ancient xgau round-up, archived on his site (though he didn't mention it in later Byrds reviews, apparently:

The original Byrds made many things possible. Their hit version of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" early in 1965 opened the way to AM radio not only for Dylan but for all the young song-poets. The careful electronic counterpoint of their guitar ensemble was expanded (with inspiration from avant-garde jazz) into what McGuinn calls "space music," the basic rock feedback-volume experiment. And their roots in bluegrass and commercial folk made their trend-signalling turn to country and western last year a natural one.

The group's eighth and latest album, Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde (Columbia CS 9755), which is already off the charts although it appeared just a few months ago, combines all these elements, so much so that it appears a hodgepodge when compared to the conceptual sureness of 1968's Notorious Byrd Brothers (a smooth-flowing post-Pepper studio album) and Sweetheart of the Rodeo (a bittersweet tribute to country music).

Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde includes two compositions from the motion picture Candy, a reworking of the folk tune "Old Blue," country songs written with Gram Parsons, Dylan's "This Wheel's on Fire," and a medley of "My Back Pages," "Baby, What You Want Me to Do," and the break song with which the group closes its club sets. Although the material is a little thinner than usual, it is not really confused: the record functions as a token of McGuinn's unfaltering love for his entire musical past--folk, rock, space, country and live performance.

Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde is first-rate Byrds, a high recommendation. The excitement generated is no longer exquisite, I suppose, but it lasts. Its major fault has plagued the group ever since the personnel changes began two-and-a-half years ago, when Gene Clark left because he was afraid of airplanes: a lack of strong voices to harmonize behind McGuinn's studiously unpolished lead. Its virtue is typical of the Byrds, who are in turn typical of Los Angeles commercial rock: a kind of ironic pressure produced by the tension between the no-nonsense constrictions of AM radio and the breakaway energy essential to rock's popularity. No matter how tightly a Byrd song is produced, its beat, its phrased guitars, and its uncitified harmonies all imply an insurrectionary human energy that transcends technics.("technics"?)

Also, maybe a typo in "phrased": did he write "phased", as in what Beefheart called "psychedelic Bromo-Seltzer"? Either word is appropriate, though.

There are some good songs on Dr Byrds but it's by no means a lost classic. My favorite late-period Byrds album is easily Ballad of Easy Rider.

Wow, thanks! Ever heard an album by them??
Ah, the Cros as 60s songwriter; maybe I should make a Spotify playlist...reminds me, "Everybody's Been Burned" was the one that got stuck in my head, when I briefly owned Younger Than Yesterday in high school. Good album?

― dow, Sunday, March 1, 2015 10:18 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Incredible album! Other than Mind Gardens of course. Definitely look for the version with bonus tracks. Lady Friend is possibly Crosby's greatest song...

the version with bonus tracks actually includes 3 different versions of "Mind Gardens"! (but it's worth it for "Lady Friend" alone)