My New Woman is on McGuinn's first solo album; Fair and Tender Ladies is in a private collectors hands.
That's a great track. It always bothered me that they faded it halfway through the sax solo — you get the feeling it goes on a lot longer.
I want to know if McGuinn originally intended to be on the reunion album or to keep it all along. Its definitely the best use of Crosby's vocals on all the reunion era recordings.
If wiki is correct, it looks like they started the album prior to the Byrds reunion sessions, but finished it afterwards. So they were basically concurrent sessions, and we can conclude that Hillman presumably didn’t think Borrowing Time was good enough for Manassas, whenever he wrote it.
“Laughing” It’s curious that Crosby would choose to remake this, a key track on his first solo album, released just two years before. Driven by the dark, open-tuned acoustic guitars, this version is taken at a much slower tempo and trades some of the trippy vibe in favour of a seriously leaden trudge — which serves the song. In place of Jerry Garcia’s sensitive steel guitar punctuation, here we get a welcome taste of early Byrds-style 12-string raga-rock soloing (don’t tell me it’s not McGuinn!). When I listen to this take, my mind can’t help but hear the signature Joni Mitchell vocal part in the original, but the “aaahhh” section (yes, I’d call it a crescendo) is cool here too. The longest track on the album by far. A strong version of a song Crosby performs to this day.
Crosby said he pulled this out because it was intended for the Byrds when he initially wrote it; its a good tune but to me its a pale remake of the one on his solo album.
Laughing is great, probably the most substantial sounding songs on the album and as mentioned it's a welcome return of McGuinn's 12-string. Problem is, Croz's earlier solo version is literally perfect so this just can't compete.
I listened to this album again earlier - isn't that McGuinn singing on the wordless vocal harmony in the chorus?
I would be shocked if the band’s consensus opinion was that McGuinn’s other two reunion songs were better than My New Woman. They would have had to be on something far more powerful than hash for that to be the case. I think he must have always intended to hold that recording back for his own album.
I'm pretty sure it's Crosby playing his Guild Starfire on this track, not McGuinn's Rick. Laughing is a fine song, and it's really too bad the Byrds did not record it in 1967-68, when they might have turned it into a masterpiece. The version here is flaccid and weak. It's a good enough song to survive an apathetic performance and still sound okay, but it pales in comparison to the earlier version. This track really underscores the apathy of the guys. Hillman's bass in particular is so unimaginative, compared to the great stuff he did in 1967. Lesh's bass on the original is more Hillmanny than Hillman's is.
Yeah I think this debate has come up in the past, but either way it's the most 5D-sounding moment of the album. But....if most of the 12 string isn't McGuinn and his vocals are barely present, what exactly did McGuinn do on the album? Finishing off touring commitments is something, but for someone who had recently complained about not being able to dominate the White-era Byrds' direction as much as he would've liked, you'd have thought that he would've jumped at the chance to stamp his mark on this album. And yeah the non-inclusion of My New Woman adds to the weird conundrum. Well there you go - the associated conundrums associated with this album are more interesting than its musical content!
I'd suggest if Terry Melcher (or someone else other than McGuinn or Crosby) had produced My New Woman, it might have been a single and performed well. I am unsure who performed the 12-string part on Laughing on Byrds, but it's either McGuinn or Crosby playing as McGuinn would have played it. Either way, I like it, and it's the closest to sounding like the Byrds album I was hoping for.
Well, it wasn't really his choice whether or not he made his mark. Crosby was the one with all the power at this point, since he was a superstar and the producer of the album. McGuinn says that he felt that Crosby was trying to deliberately "sideline" him, to downplay his importance in the band. Since McGuinn didn't really have any leverage at this point, he says he decided not to fight back but to intentionally "give Crosby enough rope to hang himself." In other words, he passively accepted a reduced role and held back his best stuff, figuring that if the album turned out poorly or did poorly it would be Crosby who got the blame. Bear in mind this is McGuinn's perspective from many years later, so it's possible he said this in part to save face regarding the perceived low quality of the album. It's also likely that his drinking problem as well as Crosby's powerful hash contributed to his passivity at the time of recording.
"(See the Sky) About to Rain" The album concludes with its second Neil Young cover — and the second Neil Young cover on the album to have a false ending. (Hey producer, how about a bit of variety in the arrangements?) Yes, it’s a cover, but unlike “Cowgirl,” this song would have been unfamiliar to most listeners at the time. As NPS pointed out in #3042, Young didn’t release it until On The Beach in 1974, although he’d been playing it in concert since the Harvest era. This version features the album’s default instrumentation, including mandolin. Like “Cowgirl,” it's okay, but falls somewhat flat for me. But as for that false ending, the massed acoustic and electric guitars do help end things with a touch of majesty.
Wow, it's taken since February 1 to get through the Byrds' catalogue — nearly six months. I've been posting the song-by-song chronology ever since Rfreeman apparently vanished halfway through Untitled, but I'm heading out of town. If anyone would like to tackle the live releases or the box sets — at least the re-reunion tracks on the first box — be my guest.
Thanks, roman.p and Rfreeman, for taking us to here! This thread has refreshed my interest in songs on a series of LPs that I love, like, or mostly-like-well-enough. Anyone who likes both the late and original versions of the band: How do you rank the last three records, Byrdmaniax, Farther Along, and Byrds? To me, they're the bottom rung of their releases: I'd put Byrds above Farther Along, and Byrdmaniax at the bottom. I still listen to Byrdmaniax, though. Sometimes. Most of it. As to the legitimacy of the later band: I learned about the Byrds' music a couple years after they'd broken up, so I learned about all the versions at the same time. I heard "Wasn't Born to Follow" for the first time when I saw the movie Easy Rider (on re-release, but in a theater), and loved it. Until then, all I knew about the Byrds was the singles "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Turn! Turn! Turn!," and Eight Miles High." So I bought Notorious Byrd Brothers, which is still my favorite. Then I bought Best of Byrds Volume 2, then I think Byrdmaniax, Dr. Byrds, Untitled, Younger Than Yesterday, Mr. Tambourine Man, 5-D, Easy Rider ... somewhere in there, the rest of the records, as I had money. I remember looking at Dr. Byrds and trying to figure out who was on the record from the album photos; I'd thought maybe Hillman was still with the band. I already knew about David Crosby from CSN, and Chris Hillman from Manassas. Anyway, my introduction was out of sequence which means I never loved one version, only to see it splinter. The Byrds have always been a dozen musicians to me.
I love I'm So Restless, they should have used that instead of Sweet Mary - it could have been arranged like 5D
Taken from Byrdsflyght Byrds Rare items 1. BYRDS OUTTAKES FROM THE REUNION ALBUM (november 1972) In November 2009, Whin acquired two 10" Asylum Byrds master multi-track tape reels, from Wally Heider Recording, Hollywood CA, various November, 1972 dates. Three versions of "Fair and Tender Ladies", which does not appear on the Byrds Asylum album release, are included in the 16 track master tape. To Whin's ears, the earlier version (#4) has David Crosby on vocal. The vocal on the other two versions is Gene Clark. Gene wails on harmonica as well. Studio tracking sheets are included which provide valuable details. As with the film "Byrds, W.P. Outs," all has been carefully preserved and digitally transferred. Writes Whin: "Listening to isolated tracks left me spellbound, as if the instrument or vocal was being performed live right in front of me. You can hear every breath on the vocal tracks". Reel ORIG WP 1 (16 track) 1. Fair & Tender Ladies (later version) 2. The King Is Dead (earlier version) 3. The King Is Dead (later version) 4. Fair & Tender Ladies (earlier version) 5. About To Rain 6. Laughing 7. The King Is Dead (3rd version) 8. The King Is Dead (3rd version instrumental) 9. Fair & Tender Ladies ( 11-25-72 3rd version) Reel Safety MR 3 (24 Track) 10. Laughing 11. The King Is Dead 12. The Circle Song 13. Laughing (undocumented - 1st part) 14. Laughing (undocumented - 2nd part)
