Integrating Gene Clark's Debut into Byrds 1966-67 Albums

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by ShockControl, May 5, 2016.

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  1. Byrdman77

    Byrdman77 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Leigh On Sea, UK
    That third Burritos album goes well with the Ballad of Easy Rider album
     
  2. pacman68

    pacman68 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    From my previous thread. AFTER UNTITLED. GENE COMES BACK TO THE BYRDS cause his solo career is floundering.

    BYRDMANIX

    1. Glory Glory
    2. Pale Blue
    3. I trust
    4. She's the Kind Of Girl - I think this song fits in well with this album. Plus recorded around same time.
    5. One In A Hundred - See above
    SIDE 2
    1. I Wanna Grow Up to be a politician.
    2. I remember The Railroad - same feel on this song. Strings...drippy production.
    3. My Destiny
    4. Kathleens Song
    5. Jamaica say you will
    6. In The Misty Morning

    FARTHER ALONG
    1. Tiffany Queen
    2. Roll in my sweet Baby's Arms - I've heard this from the new release. Would have fit great on this album.
    3. Father Along
    4. Rough and Rocky - from new Clark release
    5. Bugler

    Side 2
    1. Lost My Driving Wheel
    2. Antique Sandy
    3. Precious Kate
    4. She Don't Care About Time - From New Clark release
    5. Lazy Waters
    6. These Bars Made a prisoner out of me - From new Clark release

    THE BYRDS REUNION ALBUM
    1. Full Circle
    2. Sweet Mary
    3. Changing Heart
    4. For Free
    5. Here Tonight - from the Flying Burrito Brothers session.
    6. Fair and Tender Lady - outtake I used the one from the album So Rebellious Lover. But they did record a version of this song for this album.

    Side 2
    1. My New Woman - From Roger's solo record.
    2. Things Will be better
    3. Cowgirl In The Sand
    4. Long Live The King
    5. See The Sky About To Rain
     
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  3. Byrdman77

    Byrdman77 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Leigh On Sea, UK
    I think in an alternate universe the best thing may have been this - Mike Clarke doesn't leave, they get Gram Parsons in the band but then Gene Clark comes back and so does David Crosby and they all stay together and record albums throughout the 1970's (and Gram doesn't die!) :)

    You could easily add Crosby back into The Byrds with all his Demo's now available too: Long Time Coming, Guinnevere, Deja Vu, Almost Cut My Hair plus his great stuff from his solo album (Traction In The Rain / Laughing) and the Crosby Nash album (Where Will I Be? / Page 43 / The Wall Song) - the latter songs really do sound like The Byrds.
     
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  4. Mechanical Man

    Mechanical Man I Am Just a Mops

    Location:
    Oakland, CA, USA
    Seeing the recording dates listed as you have done is really mindblowing. I always think of Turn! Turn! Turn! as being from a different era of the group than 5D, so it's crazy that the sessions for TTT started just 3 months prior to "Eight Miles High". The Byrds were sure flying at a high rate of speed back then.
     
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  5. Maggie

    Maggie like a walking, talking art show

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I know -- the timeline of their development is head-spinning. The RCA version of "Eight Miles High" (which is not very different from the final version, and hardly "embryonic" or any other adjective one usually uses to describe first drafts -- it's just a little slower) was recorded just five weeks after "He Was a Friend of Mine." I do think the RCA version of "Why" is a little less radical and a little closer to its source ("Heat Wave") than the final Columbia version recorded just a few weeks after that, but still, it's pretty radical!
     
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  6. Mechanical Man

    Mechanical Man I Am Just a Mops

    Location:
    Oakland, CA, USA
    Wow! I would have never put that together, but you're right, I can totally hear it now. Weird that one of the earliest bonafide psychedelic songs had its roots in the Motown/Tamla school of R&B.
     
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  7. pacman68

    pacman68 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I totally agree about Crosby's songs. They seem to be more in touch with the true Byrds sound then any of the other guys. Listening to his new CROZ album. Imagine Roger's 12 string underneath and it's pure Byrds. Wish a great producer would get those guys to do one more album. They could even pull a Beatles and add music to one of Gene's 1000 demos he has lying around.
     
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  8. Ram4

    Ram4 Lookin' good

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    There is no doubt had the original lineup remained together in the late 60's they would have still been great. Crosby's darker songs that made it to CSN&Y, alongside Gene's darker songs would have kept that Byrds classic sound going. But would Hillman have ever come out of his shell and wrote songs had Gene never left? They certainly wouldn't have needed a 4th singer at the time. Would they have explored the country stuff just as much? I think so, they were already dabbling, but they never would have done Sweetheart of The Rodeo type honky tonk country material. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere and Nothing Is Delivered would probably have been covered (although the latter would probably have been less country). Who knows. The problem for me was Crosby singing lead in the Byrds, it just doesn't work (of course when he's doing harmony it's magic and co-lead I didn't mind). And his lyrics on most occasions were high school level to me.
     
  9. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
    And a remarkable cd it is!
     
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  10. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
    hard to imagine Gram Parson and Croz in the same band, or even in the same room
     
  11. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Just imagine someone put up a sign saying "free cocaine in this room"
     
  12. Byrdman77

    Byrdman77 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Leigh On Sea, UK
    Actually happened, he sings on Do Right Woman on the first Burritos album! He recently said on Twitter he got on with him.
     
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  13. pacman68

    pacman68 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    The full band would have released some masterpieces if they would have stayed together.
     
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  14. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    He must have gotten over the fact that his girlfriend Nancy Ross dumped him for Gram.
     
  15. PretzelLogic

    PretzelLogic Feeling duped by MoFi? You probably deserve it.

    Location:
    London, England
    I got hooked on Gene's Only Colombe/ French Girl 7" today, and wondered if they would work in the context of Younger or Notorious. Even one of them on each album would make a huge sonic difference. Only Colombe in the stereo mix, I reckon would be perfect for Notorious- the mono mix has those backing vocals by The Ballroom, which are just a bit too sugary.

    Gonna play it again now, in fact...
     
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  16. christian42

    christian42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lund, Sweden
    Here's my attempt. I made three albums out of everything, and tried to make sure the material was somewhat evenly distributed. I can't imagine McGuinn letting everyone else have lots of vocals without himself getting in on the action, for example. And that's the main problem, because he's easily the least prolific of the four songwriters here.

    The first album could have been released at around the same time as "Younger than Yesterday" (or Gene's album for that matter), since all tracks had been recorded by then. Gene introduces country influences here, but on the whole it's a fairly traditional pop/rock album.

    So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star McGuinn/Hillman
    Think I'm Gonna Feel Better Clark
    Renaissance Fair Crosby/McGuinn
    Have You Seen Her Face Hillman
    Keep On Pushin' Clark
    My Back Pages Dylan

    Elevator Operator Clark
    Time Between Hillman
    Everybody's Been Burned Crosby
    C.T.A.-102 McGuinn/Hippard
    Tried So Hard Clark
    Why (re-recording) McGuinn/Crosby

    4 tracks by Gene, 2 by Chris (with one more co-write), 1 by David (with two more co-writes, both of which are mainly his songs IIRC), and 1 by Rog (plus one cover and three co-writes).

    Second album could have been released at the beginning of autumn '67. The final track recorded here is Tribal Gathering, which was recorded in mid August. The album has a sound of country psychedelia, but also some baroque touches.

    So You Say You Lost Your Baby Clark
    Draft Morning Crosby/Hillman/McGuinn
    Tribal Gathering Crosby/Hillman
    Thoughts and Words Hillman
    Is yours Is Mine Clark
    Change Is Now McGuinn/Hillman
    Lady Friend Crosby

    The Girl with No Name Hillman
    Don't Make Waves McGuinn/Hillman
    Needing Someone Clark
    Old John Robertson (album mix) McGuinn/Hillman
    It Happens Each Day Crosby
    Echoes Clark

    Another 4 by Gene, Rog doesn't get a single track here, but he's all over the co-writes at least, David gets 2 (with two more co-writes that were mainly his), and Chris is all over the album with 2 songs that are all his and another five co-writes.

    The final album would have been ready in time for a Chrismas release if they'd so desired. There are more covers here, so I guess Crosby would have left after this album anyway. :)

    Artificial Energy Hillman/McGuinn/Clarke
    Back Street Mirror Clark
    Dolphin's Smile Crosby/Hillman/McGuinn
    Natural Harmony Hillman
    Don't Let It Fall Through Clark
    Goin' Back Goffin/King

    Get to You McGuinn/Clark
    The French Girl Tyson/Fricker
    Triad Crosby
    Flight 713 McGuinn/Hillman
    Only Colombe Clark
    Wasn't Born to Follow Goffin/King

    Another 4 for Gene to sing, Rog has 1, and gets co-writes on another four tracks. He's also a big presence on the two Goffin/King tracks. David only has 2 songs here (another straw that broke the camel's back), and Chris continues a strong presence, though mainly through co-writes.

    I haven't actually made playlists of these "albums", so I don't know if the sequencing works everywhere.
     
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  17. Byrdman77

    Byrdman77 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Leigh On Sea, UK
    It's interesting to think about what songs of Gene's may have made it onto Byrds albums but few would fit on the albums as they were recorded for me, despite the presence of Hillman and Clarke on many of his tracks.

    I wonder if The Byrds ever worked on any of the songs that made it onto Gosdin Brothers? Highly likely, except Gene was so prolific he'd probably be moving on to new material all the time.

    Is Yours Is Mine would have made a good Byrds song, Tried So Hard, So You Say... I can see all three of those making YTY - not really anything else to be honest.
     
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  18. Byrdman77

    Byrdman77 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Leigh On Sea, UK
    I've finally got the Blu-spec version of Gene and The Gosdin Brothers album. The Mono mix of the album makes so much more sense to me, I always thought the album was a mess but I had the Echoes remix and resequenced first for years, so I'm trying to forget that now and learn this original version.

    One thing that struck me straight away was how amazing Elevator Operator is in mono, it's so punchy and tight and Michael Clarke sounds like he is in his element.

    In terms of integrating Gene into The Byrds albums, we now have Backstreet Mirror and Don't Let It Fall Through as other contenders along with Only Colombe and The French Girl. There's also the If I Hang Around demo I guess.

    For my money Elevator Operator would have worked perfectly on Fifth Dimension so I'd put that on there. Tried So Hard would fit well with Hillman's songs on YTY. So You Say You Lost Your Baby is the best song here, it could open YTY. I'd put Only Colombe on Notorious somewhere as it was recorded after the release of YTY and Gosdins.
    As for Backstreet Mirror which is a great track, I think it fits really well with the soundtrack version of Child of The Universe - perhaps I'd have that as a stand alone single from The Byrds, a double A-side. Going to work on some tracklistings for sure...
     
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