Poll: Byrds - Worst Career Move

The Byrds ended decades ago. Led Zeppelin ended decades ago. Face it, nobody other than Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, and (occasionally) Neil Young and the Croz's adopted son wants to play music with David Crosby any more. I don't blame McGuinn in the least for doing the right thing and letting the Byrds rest in peace now.

 

Hear, hear. As it was, Crosby still delivered some great moments and I agree that it might have been improved under better circumstances. I get that he was difficult to work with and all, but I feel a little bad when I see people slamming him so bitterly. I judge him first and foremost by his work and I think he brought some great stuff to the Byrds. They were never quite the same after they ousted him.

 

Why can't McGuinn letting his ego take over be an option?

 

"Wait And See" is terrible, possibly the worst Byrds track of all time. Crosby was right to make fun of it. Oh Susannah is pretty cool (the fast part) but the track is ruined by the abrupt stop in the middle of it and McGuinn's impersonation of a 12 year old just learning how to play guitar before the band comes back in. And doing "Times Are A-Changing" was one Dylan track too many by that point. "The Day Walk" should have replaced it.

 

The Byrds worst career move was not taking David Crosby into a back alley behind the studio and giving him a communal beatdown on a regular basis. After all, when Terry Melcher said Croz, and not Charles Manson, was the most dangerous man in Hollywood that really tells you something.

 

When did he make fun of it? What did he say? He did cowrite the thing after all.

"Worst Byrds track of all time"... that's a whole other discussion. If I limit myself to only the original band and only tracks that got released, I can still think of several I'd choose ahead of Wait and See. Oh Susannah, CTA-102, and Mind Gardens spring to mind. As does my pick for the winner: Space Odyssey.

 

I'm thinking he may have gotten Wait and See confused with Don't Make Waves.

 

Masterpiece...

 

I sort of like "Space Odyssey". The prize for "Worst Byrds track of all time" goes to "Mind Gardens".

 

I voted the original Gene force out but if they had somehow kept him during that brief re-join after Crosby left and then also recruited Gram that would have been an awesome assembly of talent right there.

Also replacing John York with Skip Battin was bad in terms of the novelty tunes that really stunk up the last few studio albums. I though York was a real good backup singer for Roger, and I like the heavy style of bass he brought to their sound.

 

The single track that mars what is otherwise a goddamn masterpiece of an album.

My pick(s) - "Tunnel Of Love", "Antique Sandy", "Child Of The Universe", "Well Come Back Home".

 

Yeah, that seemed like another missed opportunity. Gene could have really helped to take their next album to another level, but then I guess maybe we wouldn't have gotten Dillard & Clark.

 

Yes, I confused those tracks. My apologies. Wait and See is trite, but Don't Make Waves is abysmal.

 

Given the all the pot they were inhaling how could any of them possibly remember that promise?

 

My alternate-universe fantasy is Gene staying in the band just long enough to sing lead on "Get to You" and then record "That's Alright by Me" with the band (a full-on psychedelic Notorious-style arrangement of that song would be amazing). "That's Alright by Me" replaces "Space Odyssey" as the album's closing track, and then Gene quits the band shortly after Notorious is released in January 1968. That way we'd still get the first Dillard and Clark album in the fall of that year.

 

This whole line of thought, that the lack of original songs on Sweetheart shows some sort of artistic dip, just baffles me. How could an album of such miraculous quality
be indicative of any kind of weakness at all?

 

I like Child of the Universe. But yeah, if you open up the competition to post-Notorious albums, there's lots more contenders for all-time worst song. It's almost not fair including Battin in such a discussion, because his material clearly dominates the proceedings.

 

Not all of us think Sweetheart is "an album of such miraculous quality."

 

For a bunch of guys who had such a turbulent, occasionally acrimonious history (I'm thinking of the fight on the beach, for one, and some other things I've heard both on and off the record) they sure managed to stay in each other's orbit over the years.
It was like a go away/come here-style dysfunctional relationship ... En masse.

 

Yep. I think it's a very good album that's also very overrated.

 

I agree.

I don't know that they would have continued successfully if the reunion album had been great but their legacy would have, perhaps, continued into the 70's and kept the band's name in the public eye. It's possible given the success of the Eagles with "Take ait Easy" and the growing interest of country rock that they could have been enormous before falling apart again if the album had been great.

I honestly believe that they had grown too far apart to continue and had little in common by the time of the reunion. The
McGuinn, Hillman's and Clark proved that Gene couldnt or wouldn't operate within that group (imagine Crosby added to the mix AND Michael Clarke who's propensity to drink and take drugs was similar to Gene's) and neither McGuinn or Hillman were very sympathetic at the time.

Still, it would have been nice to see them close out their career with a if al great album reflecting the interesting turns that each member had taken over the years.

 

Part of that reputation lies less with The Byrds (I think) and more of the mythology of Parsons.

 

They're a lot like the Who and the Replacements. Bands consisting of guys who had little in common personally and who didn't get along with (or even really like) each other, but whose musical talents somehow fit together perfectly.

 

Except that bewildering reunion album!

 

I liked it