But stuff like the Harrison Ford stuff is just a bit to soap opera-ish for me. She’s just trying to sell her book at that point
Just on this Best Of Volume 2 stuff... although I find The Byrds post Sweetheart patchy, I do think a double compilation of their finest work would make for an excellent album: York Era: Ballad of Easy Rider (Alt) Old Blue Tulsa County Oil In My Lamp (Alt) Gentle Ways Gunga Din Deportee There Must Be Someone Way Behind The Sun It's All Over Now Baby Blue Fiddler a Dram Sing Me Back Home (Live from The Fillmore) Battin Era: Lover of The Bayou (Studio) Pale Blue All The Things (Alternate) Bugler Precious Kate Yesterday's Train (Alternate) Just A Season I Trust Kathleen's Song Jamaica Say You Will Chestnut Mare Amazing Grace (Live at Royal Albert Hall)
If I had known global megastar Harrison Ford I think I might have included it too... I really want to know if Roger knew about any of that stuff when he went to see Star Wars, he was a big Star Wars fan, even wearing a T-shirt at some shows. He must have known who Ford was, but not sure if he knew everything. I wonder if he can still watch Star Wars now?!?!
It’s more coherent than Jimmis books but you aren’t going to learn a lot about the music from it. The Roger in her book is at least humanized; I’m Jimmies books he’s just sounds like a robot programmed to jerk mode.
I think Seiter is writing from the place of having been the band's employee. I doubt many of them treated Seiter especially well, especially at the height of the Byrds' fame in the mid-60's.
The fact that he seems nice now doesn't preclude him being a jerk in the 60s. According to Hillman, McGuinn became a much better person after getting born again. In this 1979 People Magazine article he says that Roger became "a 100 percent better person" when he converted to Christianity. He adds that McGuinn "used to do horrible, jerky things."
Well stated. To be fair, I'm not the person I was in that same time period. I hope others who know me would say it's an improvement.
“My Destiny” White sings a traditional bluegrass number. Nice gospel piano, and White does an emotive job on his first vocal on Byrdmaniax, but overall, I find it yet another disparate puzzle piece to fit into a stylistic mishmash of an album.
In Dolores' book he comes across very well during the height of The Byrds fame but it seems as well as his band falling apart, his marriage also fell apart at the same time and the whole thing just sent him to the bottle. I felt I understood this band better for reading this book.
“Kathleen’s Song” Moving right along to the penultimate track on Byrdmaniax, the last of the McGuinn-Levy songs intended for the Gene Tryp musical. It’s a highlight of the album, although the orchestration, while tasteful enough, threatens to border on the precious. As we discussed, the same take minus orchestra can be found on the 1990 box, while an earlier take was cut from Untitled at the last minute, and appears on the Untitled/Unissued remaster. Both are superior, in my opinion.
I remember reading once that Melcher was very defensive about the use of strings on this album and commented that the band didn't complain about the strings he used on Easy Rider but here its way too over the top and the mix drowns out the vocals so its not a valid comparison. It is one of the better songs on this album but the fact that its an outtake from Untitled should tell you something.
I think though on easy Rider the songs were just good anyway. the strings didn’t take away from anything and we’re harmless enough.
As I've already said, I consider it the peak of the album, like that song in a Broadway musical that is the highlight. I think McGuinn and Melcher were thinking along these lines when placing the album's song order. The strings are tasteful and rich. If anything, McGuinn's a weak ballad singer (sorry). I suspect Paul Simon, who has stated he wished he'd taken lead vocal on Bridge Over Troubled Water, would have achieved a similar result, compared to Art Garfunkel's peak delivery. Yes, Kathleen's Song is breathtaking. When I've played the record in entirety to someone (usually someone totally unfamiliar with it, that is exactly the response they give. Achingly, jaw-dropping beautiful.
My Destiny - it's alright, but the mix is particularly lifeless and sludgy despite all the overdubs. The piano is too schmaltzy too. The quad mix has a bit more oomph so prefer that version. Kathleen's Song - sounds like Pale Blue part 2, though that's no complaint as I love both songs. The overdubs are a tad overbearing though, especially in the middle section where it sounds like there are bloody explosions going on. Sounds like Melcher was going for the Bridge Over Troubled Water effect. The 90 Box Set version without the strings works better for me because it allows the guitars to stand out more. Still, despite that complaint, I adore this song.
“Jamaica Say You Will” Byrdmaniax closes with Clarence White singing this cover by the then-little- known Jackson Browne. (White went on to play on the song the following year on Browne’s debut album.) It’s a fine production — the strings are tastefully restrained and for once serve to enhance the number. Unlike most Byrds albums, Byrdmaniax ends on a high note.
BONUS TRACKS “Just Like a Woman” “Pale Blue” (alternate version without orchestration) “Think I’m Gonna Feel Better” “Green Apple Quick Step" (session) The band had already attempted the Dylan cover for Untitled. This version is nothing to write home about, with its laconic McGuinn vocal and meandering organ solo. White sings Gene Clark’s “Think I’m Gonna Feel Better,” from Clark’s first solo album, which White played on. It sounds like a not-quite-polished rehearsal run-through, but it probably would have been a good fit on the original Byrdmaniax. In fact, some fan who compiled something on YouTube called Byrdmaniax Repaired (reimagining the album using mostly live versions and alternate takes) replaces “Tunnel of Love” outright with this track. It doesn’t hurt!
Jamaica Say You Will is a great track, and could have been a hit, in my opinion. While Clarence White's vocal sounds devout, his diction gets in the way of clarity, and that compromises the story, which is a good one - a big part of its charm. My guess is the label (Columbia) was by this time uninterested in promoting the band anyway. So, no standout tracks, assuming one agrees with me that Byrdmaniax has several, would have made a difference. However, it means nothing to me at this point. I'm happy to have the record as virtually a private recording done for my pleasure. hahaha
Jamaica Say You Will is one of the better songs on the album, but for me it's one of the worst sounding thanks to the drums. Not the playing but how they're recorded - the cymbals dominate with an overbearing splashy sound while the drums themselves sounds really small and tinny, kinda like Black Sabbath's Under the Sun. Dunno what's going on there. And again, the overdubs are way superior on the quad mix and there are a whole bunch of elements missing from the standard stereo mix. Dunno what's going on there either. Oh well, it still manages to be a fine song.
Not a bonus track because it wasn't on the reissue, but there's another version of Green Apple Quick Step out there. I have it under the title of Sally Gooding Meets the Byrds on a Clarence White cd (White Lightning), but going from the track length it's probably the same as Byrdgrass on the There Is a Season boxset. Anyway, it features an extra Clarence overdub in place of the fiddle, which is always nice to hear.
Yeah, its a weird mix, the vocals get buried a bit too and I don't know what they were going for with the last few seconds of this track; sounds like something went awry; as a song though, its probably the best composition on the album.
I'm not by a record player, but if I recall, it sounds like they were doing a ritardando, where everyone slows down in lock step. I note that musical historian McGuinn likes to do these and they are, to me, impressive. There's one right near the end of Tulsa County Blue. They are even harder to get right when recording the instruments on multi-track, but I'm sure the Byrds were up to it (this later group's personnel) and I like it. The mix is always a problem. I've love to hear the quad version one day.
Farther Along Wikipedia entry: Farther Along is the eleventh album by the American rock band the Byrds and was released in November 1971 on Columbia Records. For the most part, the album was recorded and produced by the Byrds themselves in London, England, over the course of five work-intensive days in July 1971. It was quickly released as a reaction to the commercial failure of the Byrds' previous album, Byrdmaniax, and as an attempt to stem the criticism that album was receiving in the music press. SIDE 1 "Tiffany Queen" (Roger McGuinn) – 2:40 "Get Down Your Line" (Gene Parsons) – 3:26 "Farther Along" (traditional, arranged Clarence White) – 2:57 "B.B. Class Road" (Gene Parsons, Stuart Dawson) – 2:16 "Bugler" (Larry Murray) – 3:06 SIDE 2 "America's Great National Pastime" (Skip Battin, Kim Fowley) – 2:57 "Antique Sandy" (Roger McGuinn, Skip Battin, Gene Parsons, Clarence White, Jimmi Seiter) – 2:13 "Precious Kate" (Skip Battin, Kim Fowley) – 2:59 "So Fine" (Johnny Otis) – 2:36 "Lazy Waters" (Bob Rafkin) – 3:32 "Bristol Steam Convention Blues" (Gene Parsons, Clarence White) – 2:39
“Tiffany Queen” McGuinn gets the album off to a rousing if rough and ready start with this rocker, his only composition on this album. Did the band get their mojo back?
Ok so for me Farther Along is the worst Byrds album, but it still has a few gems. Tiffany Queen though is a mess, the timing is really off at times and it sounds like a rehearsal. Hard to believe they felt it was strong enough to open an album. I hear McGuinn wrote a Tiffany Queen 2 in the 80's interestingly. Pretty sure he wrote this song about the woman he left his wife for, that's what I recall anyway, I might be wrong.
