Interesting. In my own mind I think of "Lady Friend" as the bad-ass last track to Younger Than Yesterday, and "Moon Raga" as a kind of coda or hidden track to Notorious. But that could be the reissue sequencing I've been used to talking. "Triad" has never sounded like a good song to me - I like to think of it as a weak b-side to the whole Notorious experience. It's kind of neat as a time-capsule piece I guess, but it represents all the stuff I don't personally like about the hippie era - the meandering, indulgent, and self-serving side of things.
If you can't get enough of the Byrds, and think there should be a Byrds Remix/Mashup ("You Showed Me" integrated pretty effectively into a few Hiphop jams) sometimes you have to listen a bit beyond them, this takes TTT to its logical, spiraling, circular culmination:
If you only look at album releases, it might seem that way. But from September 1967 through September 1968, the Byrds actually had eight separate line-ups that performed live shows: McGuinn, Hillman, Crosby, Clarke McGuinn, Hillman, Clark, Clarke McGuinn, Hillman, Clarke McGuinn, Hilman, Gram Parsons, Kelley McGuinn, Hillman, Kelley McGuinn, Hillman, White, Kelley McGuinn, Hillman, White, Gene Parsons McGuinn, York, White, Gene Parsons Because only three of the above line-ups released albums, it seems like the transitions were more abrupt than they really were.
I completely agree with you and find the song creepy. But I think it somehow adds to the the crazy vibe of the album. I could just as easily leave it off though.
And of course he didn't just write, he appears on half the album... he sings and plays on all of side two except "Space Odyssey," and he plays guitar on "Draft Morning" on side one.
I agree completely. The lyrics to me come across as sleazy/self indulgent, and Crosby really oversings it. It's not a great song and deservedly an outtake in my opinion. The Airplane's version is much better, though even that is no masterpiece.
I think the studio “Triad” sounds great—well performed with a great vocal from Crosby. Really evocative of the whole Byrds/San Fran/Airplane/Buffalo Springfield scene that was emerging and would soon pull Crosby out of the Byrds (musically “Triad” even reminds me a bit of “For What It’s Worth” in some sections). Crosby was confrontational and liked to stir the pot, and he brought an edge to The Byrds that was sorely lacking in their later period, IMO. If anything, it’s the live version of “Triad” on CSNY’s 4 Way Street album that I find almost unlistenable on some days.
Pretty sure the vocals were recorded after he left, they had to come up with some of the lyrics because they didn't remember them all.
It's kind of hard to tell who's singing, but I believe it is Chris Hillman comped with Curt Boettcher.
I like Triad, the Byrds version.. I think the vocal and guitar phrasing in it are great. The lyrics are secondary to the tune to me.
ESL classes should all come with a warning that learning English may enable you to understand the lyrics of "Triad."
I agree. TRiad is a good song evocative of the period. read any early interviews with Crosby and you'll see he was not shy about sex and lots of it. Plus many people did experiment with lifestyles back in the 60s and the 70s.
In a recent interview Hillman mentioned he regretted not asking Stephen Stills to participate on his latest. I wish these guys would stopping tenatively offering one or two incidental elements as guest artists and commit themeselves to a full collaboration. Manassas was an artistic high point for Stills and Hillman, and they sang beautifully together. Revisiting that partnership, maybe with someone like Ritchie Furay, might spark some reenergized creativity.
Why don't all the living, functioning Byrds and Buffalos make an album together? They each contribute 2 songs. There's your album.
Yep. The Byrds never did live vocals with a track, they always recorded the backing track first and then overdubbed the vocals. Crosby was fired after the backing track was completed but before any vocals had been done. McGuinn and Hillman claim that they could not remember Crosby's lyrics (and given the acrimony of the firing, they couldn't just go ask him) so they had to write their own. Crosby believes to this day that they deliberately rewrote the lyrics so they could screw him out of 2/3 of the publishing.
You forgot one. From Byrds Flyght: In october 1967, Gene Clark briefly rejoined The Byrds after David Crosby had been fired. Before the end of october, he left again. Then, in november 1967, it was Michael Clarke's turn to leave. He was replaced by Kevin Kelley, and the lineup (as from the end of november 1967) was Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman and Kevin Kelley. The band was booked to appear at the Winterland, San Francisco in december 1967. Roger McGuinn came down with the flu, and was unable to perform. Gene Clark was called to fill in, and the lineup for this particular performance was Gene Clark (playing a Gretsch), Chris Hillman and Kevin Kelley. True or not, I don't know, but I have problems with imagining Gene Clark playing all the guitar licks alone at a Byrds concert.
absolutely. Crosby is acting like he's a jazz musician riffing on a standard. The Byrds version is really good, I don't get the oversinging; the live version is hugely oversung. Grace's version is great, the pun aside. She shifts wonderfully from purr to full throated singing, and the fact that a woman sings it makes it empowering (for 1967), not twisted when Crosby sings it.
Hmm. I've always heard that Kelley joined in early 1968. There's a circulating recording of part of the December 9, 1967 Winterland show and McGuinn is most definitely there. And it sure sounds to me like Michael Clarke on drums, but I couldn't 100% swear to it because the fidelity is too poor. According to setlist.fm, they also did a show the day before, so maybe that was the show where Gene filled in, but it seems unlikely that if Roger was too sick to play on the 8th that he could come back on the 9th and sound fine. According to setlist.fm, the Byrds did a bunch of shows in November and the first half of December 1967, but then there's a gap of almost a month from December 17 to January 13 1968. My guess would be Clarke's departure happened during that time, since presumably they'd need a little downtime to rehearse with Kelley before going out live. Here's the audio from that Winterland show:
To me, Crosby is oversinging lines like "You are afraaaaaiiiiiddd!" It strikes me that he really feels like he's making a profound statement about societal norms, and his vocal delivery reeks of "Listen to MEEE! This is profound!" But really, it's just a complex intellectual rationale for getting his rocks off. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, and perhaps that wasn't his intent, but that's the reaction it elicits from me. The lyrics definitely go down better when sung by a woman. And Grace actually employs a little subtlety in her delivery, which helps a lot too.
Part of a lost studio version appeared in a 1967 tv documentary called "Songmakers." Tbh, the surviving evidence suggests it's a nothing-special Byrds studio jam along the lines of "John Riley (version 1)" (which I actually happen to love).
