The Byrds - Ballad of Easy Rider
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Free Music Notes for Ballad of Easy Rider
Free Music Review: The Last Great Byrds Album
Hit: 5 Stars
Originally released the same month as the Beatles' Abbey Road, both albums amounted to swan sangs for the respective bands. The Byrds would release spotty albums with occasionally excellent material, but Ballad of Easy Rider would be their last album of uniformly top notch songs.The album opens with the stunning "Ballad of Easy Rider" and in two short minutes McGuinn captures the youth culture's optimistic search for freedom: "The river flows, it flows to the sea/wherever that river goes, that's where I want to be."
The album was very much a band effort. Of the four originals on the album, McGuinn contributed only the title track. John York wrote "Fido," (featuring the only drum solo on a Byrds' album). Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram) and Clarence White are given songwriting credit for "Oil in My Lamp," one of the few lead vocals for White who is better known for his guitar work. The other original is the gentle "Gunga Din" by Gene Parsons, who also provides the vocal.
The country take on "Tulsa County" features some terrific guitar playing by White. "Jack Tarr the Sailor" is the type of sea chantey McGuinn would return to on his solo album Cardiff Rose. Their rendition of "Jesus is Just Alright" was released as a single and though it was little different than the version put out four years later by the Doobie Brothers, the Byrds version spent only one week at No. 97 before falling off the charts. It would also be the last time a Byrds single would dent Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart.
As they had done throughout their career, the Byrds once again went to the Bob Dylan songbook. This time recording a moving version of "It's All over Now, Baby Blue." But the band's most stirring cover is their majestic take on Woody Guthrie's "Deporte (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)," a sympathetic look at the plight of Mexican immigrants.
The bonus tracks are abundant--seven in all. Of the two tracks otherwise only available on The Byrds Boxed Set, "Way Beyond the Sun" is a traditional folk tune and "Mae Jean Goes to Hollywood" is a Jackson Browne song. "Fiddler A Dram" is an experimental song using the then-new Moog synthesizer, which is a curious but non-essential track. "Build It Up" is an instrumental allowing Clarence White to show off his guitar prowess. The other three tracks are alternate takes of the original album's songs, including the long version of "Ballad of Easy Rider." [Only in the sixties would a 2-minute and 26-second song be able to stake a claim as the "long" version!)
The album peaked at No. 36--their highest charting album since Greatest Hits went to No. 6 in 1967. Sales no doubt were helped along by the popularity of the movie "Easy Rider," which featured the album's title song in the soundtrack.
All told, this was the last great Byrds album and it belongs in any serious Byrds fan's collection. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Free Music Review: dusty open plain below a crimson sunset
Hit: 4 Stars
the first song is amazing. I like the cover of Tulsa County a lot. I struggle with Fiddler a Dram and Jack Tarr the Sailor, and yet I appreciate the music of Fairport Convention. It is worth having.Free Music Review: Definitely an essential Byrds release
Hit: 5 Stars
The Byrds career had four phases. The first was their folk/rock phase, which covered early albums such as Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn!, then came their psychedelic phase, which yielded the classic Fifth Dimension. Then of course, their country phase, which brough us the excellent Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. This album defines the Byrds 4th and final phase. This phase basically combined everything. This album includes everything from classics ("Ballad Of Easy Rider," "Jesus Is Just Alright") to the customary Dylan cover (a slowed down "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"). And all kinds of other stuff, including blues on two of the John York vocals ("Fido" and the bonus track "Way Beyond The Sun"), a moog experiment, country, and even an Irish sea shanty. And following up to songs like "Mr. Spaceman", the closing track on the actual album is a neat space folk song called "Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins." Even if you don't plan on getting all The Byrds albums, you should definitely get this one.Free Music Review: All in all, a pretty good album
Hit: 4 Stars
The title song is excellent, as is "Jesus is Just Alright." I don't really care for the warbly "Jack Tarr the Sailor" and "Oil in My Lamp" as much as I do other Byrds songs. They strike me as a bit boring. And the version of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is much different (again, slower and less exciting) than the earlier, unreleased version that eventually appeared on rarities compilations and the Byrds box set. However, this is still a very worthwhile album. It just doesn't rank among my favorite Byrds albums.Free Music Review: A classic of American country/folk/rock
Hit: 5 Stars
Think for a minute of your favorite albums, and try to remember how you felt when you first heard them. Some you loved immediately, and had to play them overand over because you just couldn't get enough. You went around telling your friends how great they were, and wanted them to like 'em as much as you did (they didn't). Others you liked well enough, but not enough to ignite that immediate passion. But over the months and years you came to appreciate them more and more, until you realized that you played and enjoyed them a lot more now than the ones that set you on fire years ago. Why? because they are timeless. The music and words on them are truth, and a truth that you grow to appreciate as you grow older because you have experienced what you only had thought about when you were younger. The Ballad of Easy Rider is one of the finest collections of songs the Byrds ever put together. The themes of movement, world-weariness, and hope reverberate throughout the album, making it a wonderful companion piece to Sweetheart of the Rodeo. What makes this recording especially noteworthy is the fact that it was made with a Byrds lineup that was vastly different from the Sweetheart crew. This makes you wonder about how much Roger McGuinn influenced others. Grab this cd and listen to it for the rest of your life.