The Byrds - Very Best of the Byrds
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Music CD Cover Artist: The Byrds Edition: Music CD Format: Import, Original recording remastered CD Release Date: 1997-11-17 Music Label: Columbia Europe Soundtracks:
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Free Music Notes for Very Best of the Byrds Album
Free Music Review: Close To Being A Complete "Very Best Of"
Hit: 5 Stars
Since one thing most (if not all) Pop recording artists back in the days of the 78- and then 45-rpm single sought was that elusive "hit single" - the songs that got them heard on radio and juke boxes and, eventually, television. The major labels that signed them wanted the same thing, of course, as their primary motivation was (and still is) profit. And that became even more pronounced with the dawning of Rock & Roll in the mid-1950s.
Indeed, in 1986 the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was opened in Cleveland, and while it may not have been a specific goal of any artist or group to achieve that honour, I'm sure the 159 artists/groups inducted to date regard it as the ultimate recognition of their talent. Also, as with any such Hall, there will be disputes over who "deserved" or "didn't deserve" to get in.
The folk-rock group The Byrds, for example, simply do not have the consistency of top hits attributed to some of the other groups inducted such as, of course, The Beatles and Rolling Stones, as well as Jefferson Airplane/Starship, Gladys Knight & The Pips and The Bee Gees, as other examples. But then, of course, neither did The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band, Cream, The Velvet Underground and a host of others, whose admission was clearly based upon factors other than commercial success.
In the case of The Byrds, they boasted just 16 Hot 100 entries from their first in mid-1965, Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man, which soared to # 1, to their last in early 1970, Jesus Is Just Alright, which struggled to a # 97 b/w It's All Over Now Baby Blue (all three cuts in this volume). After their second hit, another Dylan tune called All I Really Want To Do, could only manage a # 40 in July 1965 b/w I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better (which "bubbled under" at # 103), lost out to the Cher rendition (# 15), they got back to # 1 late that year with Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season). This was a tune adapted by folk singer Pete Seeger from The Book Of Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8.
After that, however, they would return to the Top 20 just once (Eight Miles High - # 14 in May 1966), and the Top 40 just three more times (Mr. Spaceman - # 36 in October 1966; So You Want To Be A Rock 'N' Roll Star, a # 29 in February 1967, and yet another Dylan tune, My Back Pages, # 30 in April/May 1967 b/w Renaissance Fair, which is also here. Those came in order. Before Eight Miles High they had their only two-sided hit, minor as it was, with It Won't Be Wrong (# 63 in March 1966) and its flipside, Set You Free This Time, which finished at # 79. For some reason, they omit that from this release.
In between Eight Miles High and Mr. Spaceman came the # 44 5 D (Fifth Dimension), which peaked in Juy/August 1966. After My Back Pages, the best they could do was a # 65 with The Ballad Of Easy Rider, from the Peter Fonda film, in late 1969 (and their second-last hit), and two # 74's with Have You Seen Her Face? (June 1967 - omitted here) and their fourth charting Dylan tune, You Ain't Going Nowhere (May 1968). Another omission from this volume, Lady Friend, stalled at # 82 in August 1967, while Goin' Back did even worse at # 89 in November 1967.
The members certainly paid their dues along the way to the Hall (inducted in 1991). James McGuinn, who played the 12-string guitar and changed his first name to Roger in 1968, had previously worked with Bobby Darin and The Chad Mitchell Trio, while drummer Mike Clarke has been a member of The New Christy Minstrels. The others were guitarist David Crosby and bassist Chris Hillman. Before becoming The Byrds they recorded as The Beefeaters for Elektra, and also as The Jet Set, circa 1964/65. Clark left the group after Eight Miles High, while Crosby split late in 1967 to form Crosby, Stills & Nash (also inducted into the Hall in 1997).
In 1968 they reformed with drummer Kevin Kelly and guitarist Gram Parsons, but then Parsons and Hillman departed that same year to form The Flying Burrito Brothers, at which point McGuinn brought in drummer Gene Parsons, guitarist Clarence White, and bassist John York. Gram Parsons died from a drug overdose at age 26 on September 19, 1973, Gene Clark passed away at age 46 on May 24, 1991, and Mike Clarke died of liver failure at age 49 on December 19, 1993. As a trio, McGuinn, Clark & Hillman had a # 33 Hot 100 with Don't You Write Her Off in the spring of 1979 on Capitol.
The sound reproduction is excellent, and in the fold-out insert are three pages of liner notes, written by Patrick Humphries and Dave Swaney. Certainly one of the better "Very Best Of" compilations to emerge in 1993.