It’s too easy to think in stereotypes about bands. The Byrds will, for most people, be the studio band of the first few albums, a beautiful execution of great songs peaking with Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. Then it was all downhill as Roger McGuinn kept the name alive through successive personnel.
Except it wasn’t like that, as this album makes abundantly clear. Taken from a tape discovered in McGuinn’s garage, it captures Big Chief Byrd with Gene Parsons (drums), Skip Battin (bass) and, crucially, Clarence White on guitar. They are smoking hot; together, tight harmonies and razor-like guitar. The songs are given a heavier rock feel that does not drown the more delicate moments, but the show also encompasses an acoustic set that allows White to show off his bluegrass licks, and McGuinn his deft banjo picking.
It goes a bit Hawkwind during the drum-and-bass solo bit of Eight Miles High (anyone seen that German DVD?) and, by the time the vocals come in after approximately 15 minutes, the whole thing has careened irredeemably out of control. It’s the only duff moment in 19 numbers.
White was killed in a road accident two years later. There could be no better way to remember him than this.
by Tim Holmes
Tracks
1. Lover Of The Bayou (Roger McGuinn, Jacques Levy) - 3:35
2. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Bob Dylan) - 2:47
3. Truck Stop Girl (Lowell George, Bill Payne) - 3:21
4. My Back Pages (Bob Dylan) - 2:22
5. Baby What You Want Me To Do (Jimmy Reed) - 3:38
6. Jamaica Say You Will (Jackson Browne) - 3:33
7. Black Mountain Rag/Soldier's Joy (Traditional, Arranged Clarence White, Roger McGuinn) - 2:02
8. Mr. Tambourine Man (Bob Dylan) - 3:38
9. Pretty Boy Floyd (Woody Guthrie) - 2:34
10.Take A Whiff (On Me) - (Huddie Ledbetter, John Lomax, Alan Lomax) - 2:39
11.Chestnut Mare (Roger McGuinn, Jacques Levy) - 5:24
12.Jesus Is Just Alright (Arthur Reynolds) - 3:03
13.Eight Miles High (Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby) - 18:38
14.So You Want To Be A Rock 'N' Roll Star (Chris Hillman, Roger McGuinn) - 3:07
15.Mr. Spaceman (Roger McGuinn) - 2:57
16.I Trust (Roger McGuinn) - 5:31
17.Nashville West (Gene Parsons, Clarence White) - 2:43
18.Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry) - 2:59
19.Amazing Grace (Traditional) - 2:31
The Byrds
*Roger McGuinn - Guitar, Vocals
*Clarence White - Guitar, Vocals
*Skip Battin - Electric Bass, Vocals
*Gene Parsons - Drums, Vocals
1964 The Byrds - Preflyte (2012 Retro World double disc release)
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