The Byrds Album: “The Essential Byrds”

The first five Byrds albums plus "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" are essential listening. If you don't want to pick those up, this exceptional two disc collection gathers up the band's most important hits as well as some essential album tracks and single B-Sides. MIA are two essential tracks from the 1972 reunion (although "The Byrds" has finally been issued on CD by Wounded Bird Records and is available here at amazon.com).

The best disc is the first with its focus on the band's early years. Gene Clark's songs immediately took center stage as he was the most talented of the four songwriters in the original quintet. Crosby, Hillman and McGuinn eventually came along as songwriters developing the most when Clark split the band during the recording of the band's third album. "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better", "She Doesn't Care About Time" and "Eight Miles High"(primarily written by Clark)are among the highlights here. Also McGuinn's skills as an arranger are at the forefront on "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Mr. Tambourine Man".

The second disc focuses much more on the years after the departure of Crosby, Clark and Hillman with just McGuinn as the only original member. We get a sampling of Gram Parsons' tenure with the group (from "Sweetheart of the Rodeo")and McGuinn's single masterpiece as the only original member ("Untitled"). Some of these tracks are truly stunning featuring the incredible Clarence White on guitar. His guitar work on the later Byrds albums is truly stunning.

The sound quality is exceptionally good and the liner notes interesting. The Byrds imploded fairly rapidly; Gene Clark offically left after the second album (although material he wrote or co-wrote appeared on the band's third and fifth albums respectively). Crosby departed after the band's fifth album "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" and Hillman after "Sweetheart of the Rodeo". McGuinn would produce one final worthwhile album under the band's name "Untitled".

I've been a Byrds fan since 'Mr. Tambourine Man' the single was followed by that first great album in 1965. I have everything and wouldn't part with any, but of them all this is a very strong personal favorite.

It is for me where the rubber meets the road -- a career retrospective that samples in chronological order at least two cuts from each of the eleven original Columbia albums, each selected with such taste that despite inevitable omissions there's not a single misstep or annoying cut to spoil the experience.

All the surprises are good ones: every selection is the original released take, the sound quality is exceptional, and the remastering so crisp I've never heard these sound better.

Gripes? Sure, I wish "Spanish Harlem Incident" were here, and that the back cover was the front cover.

But for those times when you're in a Byrds sort of mood but can't put your finger on a specific period, why not take the Grand Tour?

DISK 1: Tracks (1-4) = "Mr. Tambourine Man" album. (5/6) = `Turn! Turn! Turn' single; (7-9) = "Turn! Turn! Turn!" album. (10-12) = "5D (Fifth Dimension)". (13-16) = "Younger Than Yesterday".

DISK 2: (1/2) = `Lady Friend' single. (3-5) = "Notorious Byrds Brothers". (6-7) = "Sweetheart of the Rodeo". (8-9) = "Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde". (10-11) = "Ballad of Easy Rider". (12-13) = "(Untitled)". (14-15) = "Byrdmaniax". (16-17) = "Farther Along".

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POSTSCRIPT (6/6/06) RE: A 44 TRACK VERSION OF THIS ALBUM

My thanks to the reviewer on 6/3/06 (above) who points out the existence of a 44 track U.K. version of this album.

The album I have is Columbia Legacy C2K 89110 (USA) released 2003. Side 1 = 16 tracks, side 2 = 17 tracks. Total is 33 tracks, not 35.

With 11 extra tracks the U.K. version will be hard to resist for those who can find it. It is unique in offering album cuts that have never appeared on USA compilations.

On the other hand, "more" is not necessarily better -- losing 'Lady Friend' for 'Artificial Energy' is to my mind not a good trade, and 'Spanish Harlem Incident' is still passed over. The USA version remains a tightly focused "lean and mean" first class retrospective, and no one should hesitate to pick it up.

For anyone discovering The Byrds for the first time, here is the perfect beginners guide to this legendary band from the sixties. This set covers slightly more ground than their two greatest hits albums put together. It also features two tracks that were only released as singles as well. The first disc covers their most vital period, with hits such as "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" in addition to recording songs written by Bob Dylan. The second disc covers their transition from folk-rock to country with the addition of Gram Parsons (and later Clarence White) featuring such tracks like "Hickory Wind" and "The Ballad of Easy Rider". Interestingly, they didn't have a major hit during this period. The liner notes, written by columnist Alan Brisbort give a lengthy backstory of the band from their early days up to the artists whom they influenced. If you like what you hear, look into their back catalog as well including "Greatest Hits" and "Best of ..Vol. II". They have a few tracks not covered here such as "Bells of Rhymney", "Citizen Kane" and "America's Great National Pastime".

I purchased this 2-disc album March 28, 2012 with a number of other music albums, and thought I had made a good purchase. But, I had only listened to the first 15 of 16 tracks on disc 1 while driving on a short trip, before removing the disc and putting it away.

Today, several months later, I was driving a bit further and decided to listen to the entire album. When Track 16 ("My Back Pages") began to play, it was as it should be - for the first seconds. Then the music became strangely garbled to the point it was horrible. This went on for a minute or two as I tried to find any problem with my CD player - thinking something had happened to the headunit or my vehicle. Then the music began playing properly again. I checked other tracks and determined the headunit wasn't defective and decided to play track 16 when I returned home at a player there. The same thing happened again on my expensive Panasonic home player. All of the other tracks were great, but this one was so garbled it could have caused a wreck had the volume been up in traffic while I was driving. As it was, I had to pull to the side of the road to check out my vehicle. That's how badly garbled those few minutes are after track 16 starts on disc one.

This is not some joke. I don't like writing bad reviews of a product holding the music of a band I've always enjoyed hearing. The CD looks fine - no scratches or obvious flaws and all the other music on Disc 1 is fine. The CD I have has a number on the barcode label sealing the jewel case - C2K89110. The UPS on the back label with the track listings is 6 9699-89110-2 4.

Below that is columbiarecords.com and sonymusic.com/essentials. Other information says the album was manufactured by Columbia Records in New York.

At this point, all I know to do is purchase track 16 of disc one from Amazon Downloads and create another disc. Disappointing to say the least, and a shame that Columbia ruined disc one with such. Otherwise, I had found the album very enjoyable. Another option would be this Sony UK album -

. Maybe the loss of those minutes in track 16 of this "Limited Edition, Original recording remastered" album wouldn't have been so very bad - if it weren't for the fact "My Back Pages" by the Byrds was an old favorite of mine.

This set will please those who don't want to shell out for the box set, but want more than just a single greatest hits cd. Fans of the Byrds probably have most of these songs somewhere else and need not apply.