Byrds is the twelfth and final studio album by the American rock band the Byrds and was released in March 1973 on Asylum Records. It was recorded as the centerpiece of a reunion among the five original band members: Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke. The last time that all five members had worked together as the Byrds was in 1966, prior to Clark's departure from the band. During the reunion, the current, latter-day lineup of the band continued to make live appearances until February 1973, with McGuinn being the only member common to both versions of the group.
Upon its release, Byrds received generally poor reviews, with many critics bemoaning a lack of sonic unity and the absence of the Byrds' signature jangly guitar sound among the album's shortcomings. Nonetheless, the album reached number 20 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart and was also moderately successful in the United Kingdom, where it reached number 31. In the U.S., Byrds was the band's highest charting album of new material since 1965's Turn! Turn! Turn!, which had also been the last Byrds' album to feature Clark as a full member. Three of the album's songs, "Full Circle", "Things Will Be Better", and "Cowgirl in the Sand", were released as singles during 1973, but none of these releases became hits.
Background
By 1972, the Byrds' guitarist and leader, Roger McGuinn, had grown dissatisfied with the current version of the group. The band's membership had finally stabilized in 1970, but by early 1972 dissension was brewing due to disagreements over band members' pay. As a result of this, Gene Parsons (the band's drummer since 1968) was fired by McGuinn in July 1972 and replaced by session musician John Guerin. The Byrds continued to tour and record sporadically throughout 1972, but no new single or album was forthcoming. Chris Hillman's work with the Stephen Stills-helmed band Manassas was paused while the band were on hiatus; Gene Clark's critically lauded but financially unrewarding solo career was in need of a boost; and Michael Clarke had been without a band since the break up of the Flying Burrito Brothers in 1971. The attendant article suggested that the reunion album would be a one-off project and that the current lineup of the Byrds would continue to tour and record, with no question of disbanding. In the absence of any new Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young product, Geffen became acutely aware that a historic reunion of the original Byrds could prove to be highly lucrative for all concerned.
The reunion actually took place in early October 1972, beginning with a rehearsal at McGuinn's house, where the band initially worked on one of the guitarist's new songs. Significantly, the group played none of their old material during this first rehearsal, but instead concentrated on selecting suitable songs for a new project. As part of the deal, Clive Davis, the president of Columbia Records, specified that McGuinn and Crosby would be required to record a joint album together for Columbia, which was to be released in 1973. While the original quintet prepared to record the reunion album, the existing Columbia lineup of the Byrds, featuring McGuinn, Clarence White, Skip Battin, and John Guerin, continued to make concert appearances in the United States. During these sessions, the band recorded all eleven of the songs that would appear on the finished album and at least two outtakes: the McGuinn and Jacques Levy penned "My New Woman" and the traditional folk song "Fair and Tender Ladies".
In 2009, a cache of multitrack tapes dating from the Byrds' reunion sessions and featuring a number of alternate versions and at least one outtake were discovered. Crosby had long been vocal about his displeasure over McGuinn's decision to recruit new members following his dismissal from the band in 1967 and had publicly stated his opinion that, "there were only ever five Byrds." Rogan has described "Cowgirl in the Sand" as making striking use of the band's crystal clear harmonies, while Clark's harmonica playing lends the song a distinctive country flavor, in keeping with the song's subject matter. McGuinn decided to make another attempt at producing a definitive recording of the song during the reunion sessions, resulting in a rendition that the guitarist himself was dissatisfied with. The version of "Laughing" featured on Byrds saw the return of McGuinn's raga rock style of guitar playing, which had last been utilized on the band's Fifth Dimension and Younger Than Yesterday albums. The album's sleeve was adorned with photographs taken by Henry Diltz, which fittingly pictured the band in the L.A. folk club The Troubadour, where McGuinn, Clark, and Crosby had first formed the nucleus of the Byrds in 1964.
The album peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, during a chart stay of seventeen weeks, making it the band's highest charting album of new material in the U.S. since 1965's Turn! Turn! Turn! album. Landau went on to note the disunity evident on the album: "It is a different band for each of the four lead singers and while they make complementary music, it is never a continuous piece, which is what the Byrds were once all about." In fact, the consensus of most reviewers was that there was a lack of unity throughout the album and that the band's trademark jingle-jangle guitar sound was largely absent from the record. Both McGuinn and Hillman were actively touring between recording sessions for the album, the former with the Columbia version of the Byrds and the latter with Manassas. and again by Rhino Records in 2005 and 2008. Most recently, the album has been reissued by Raven Records in 2014, with the addition of two previously released bonus tracks, both recorded by Clark in 1971 and featuring all five members of the Byrds.
Track listing
Singles
- "Full Circle" b/w "Long Live the King" (Asylum 11016) April 11, 1973 (US #109)
- "Things Will Be Better" b/w "For Free" (AYM 516) April 24, 1973
- "Cowgirl in the Sand" b/w "Long Live the King" (Asylum 11019) June 1973
- "Full Circle" b/w "Things Will Be Better" (AYM 545) August 8, 1975
Personnel
Adapted from the books So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star: The Byrds Day-By-Day, The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited and the album liner notes.
The Byrds
- Roger McGuinn – guitar, banjo, Moog synthesizer, vocals
- Gene Clark – guitar, harmonica, tambourine, vocals
- David Crosby – guitar, vocals
- Chris Hillman – electric bass, guitar, mandolin, vocals
- Michael Clarke – drums, congas, percussion
Additional personnel
- Wilton Felder – electric bass on "Cowgirl in the Sand"
- Johnny Barbata – drums on "Cowgirl in the Sand"
- Dallas Taylor – congas, tambourine
Charts
{| class="wikitable"
!Chart (1973)
!Peak
position
|-
|US Billboard Top LPs
| align="center" |20
|-
|UK Album Charts
| align="center" |31
|-
|Canadian RPM 100 Albums
| align="center" |19
|-
|Dutch MegaCharts Albums
| align="center" |6
|-
|US Cash Box Top 100 Albums
| align="center" |18
|-
|US Record World Album Chart
| align="center" |14
|}
Release history
{|class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!Date
!Label
!Format
!Country
!Catalog
!Notes
|-
|March 7, 1973
|Asylum
|align="center"|LP
|align="center"|US
|SD 5058
|Original release.
|-
|March 24, 1973
|Asylum
|align="center"|LP
|align="center"|UK
|SYLA 8754
|Original release.
|-
|1974
|Warner Bros.
|align="center"|LP
|align="center"|Japan
|P-8509Y
|
|-
|1990
|Elektra
|align="center"|CD
|align="center"|US
|7599 60955
|Original CD release.
|-
|1998
|WEA
|align="center"|CD
|align="center"|UK
|60955
|
|-
|2004
|Wounded Bird
|align="center"|CD
|align="center"|US
|5058
|Digitally remastered reissue of the album.
|-
|2008
|Rhino
|align="center"|CD
|align="center"|US
|8122 799075
|
|-
|2014
|Raven
|align="center"|CD
|align="center"|Australia
|RVCD-381
|Digitally remastered reissue with two previously released bonus tracks.
|-
|}
References
Bibliography
- Rogan, Johnny, The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited, Rogan House, 1998,
- Hjort, Christopher, So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star: The Byrds Day-By-Day (1965–1973), Jawbone Press, 2008, .
- Einarson, John, Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of the Byrds' Gene Clark, Backbeat Books, .