Pictured above: The Byrds, 1967
The recording sessions for The Byrds’ 1968 release The Notorious Byrd Brothers, which started in late 1967, were marked with severe internal conflict and tension. This resulted in several line-up changes, including the leave of drummer Michael Clarke due to disputes with other members in his playing abilities and the firing of David Crosby after a debacle during the recording of the song Goin’ Back, with David Crosby arguing the song shouldn’t be included in the album in favor of his controversial song Triad. By the end of the sessions, only Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman remained.
Due to pressure by Columbia to get the album out by the first month of 1968 added onto the band’s case of writer’s block resulted in not every song intended for the album being finished in time for inclusion, rather the album being packaged with some outtakes from Younger Than Yesterday and unfinished being saved for the next album.
The Notorious Byrd Brothers
Side A:
01. Artificial Energy (2:19) [1]
02. Lady Friend (2:34) [2]
03. Goin’ Back (3:22) [1]
04. Natural Harmony (2:16) [1]
05. Draft Morning (2:35) [1]
06. Wasn’t Born to Follow (2:02) [1]
07. Don’t Make Waves (1:40) [2]
Side B:
08. Triad (3:31) [1]
09. Change is Now (3:22) [1]
10. Old John Robertson (1:50) [1]
11. Tribal Gathering (2:06) [1]
12. Dolphin’s Smile (2:03) [1]
13. It Happens Each Day (2:48) [2]
Released: January 5th, 1968
Track sources:
[1] - The Notorious Byrd Brothers, 1968 - 1997 CD reissue
[2] - Younger Than Yesterday, 1967 - 1996 CD reissue
Pictured above: The Byrds, 1968
Following the release of The Notorious Byrd Brothers, Roger McGuinn envisioned a concept for its followup to be a double album overview of American popular music, moving throughout different genres until culminating into futuristic electronic music making use of the Moog synthesizer.
However, a more immediate concern in recruiting new members with an upcoming US college tour looming temporarily set aside McGuinn’s idea. Eventually, they found a new drummer in Chris Hillman’s cousin Kevin Kelley and a pianist in Gram Parsons, who soon moved to guitar. Unbeknownst to McGuinn or Hillman, Parsons had his own musical agenda in which he planned to unite his love for traditional country music (which he saw as the purest form of American music) with the youth culture’s passion for rock and convinced the band to record their next album in Nashville, under the premise of it allowing them to “immerse themselves” within the country parts of McGuinn’s concept.
By the time recording sessions in Nashville ended, the band had nearly an album’s worth of country material, and there were talkings of abandoning McGuinn’s concept entirely in favor of releasing a country album, tentatively titled Sweetheart of the Rodeo. However, following the poor reception of a conservative audience in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium and a disastrous appearance on the WSM program of legendary Nashville DJ Ralph Emery, plans for the country album were canceled and the band spent the next few months touring, with Parsons leaving the band before their South African tour in protest of the country’s apartheid policies.
“Personally, I think his ‘protest’ was just an excuse to leave the band, but that’s just me.”
- Chris Hillman, 2008
He was soon replaced by longtime Byrd-in-waiting Clarence White and Kevin Kelley was replaced soon after with Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram Parsons), and months later recording sessions for The Byrds’ sixth album continued with intent to fill in the musical gaps in the concept that were yet to be filled in. The album was finally released in 1969.
20c.
Side A:
01. Pretty Polly (2:56) [1]
02. I Am a Pilgrim (3:42) [1]
03. Old Blue (3:23) [2]
04. The Christian Life (2:33) [1]
05. Blue Canadian Rockers (2:05) [1]
06. You Don’t Miss Your Water (3:51) [1]
07. Hickory Wind (3:34) [1]
Side B:
08. All I Have Are Memories (4:48) [1]
09. Nothing Was Delivered (3:34) [1]
10. Your Gentle Way of Loving Me (2:37) [2]
11. Pretty Boy Floyd (2:37) [1]
12. Life in Prison (2:47) [1]
13. You’re Still on My Mind (2:26) [1]
14. Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man (3:56) [2]
Side C:
01. Nashville West (2:31) [2]
02. Lazy Days (3:29) [1]
03. You Got a Reputation (3:10) [1]
04. One Hundred Years From Now (2:43) [1]
05. Stanley’s Song (3:15) [2]
06. You Ain’t Going Nowhere (2:38) [1]
07. Get To You (2:40) [3]
08. My Back Pages / B.J. Blues / Baby What You Want Me To Do (4:17) [2]
Side D:
09. Candy (3:40) [2]
10. Child of the Universe (3:17) [2]
11. Bad Night at the Whiskey (3:26) [2]
12. King Apathy III (3:02) [2]
13. This Wheel’s on Fire (4:47) [2]
14. Space Odyssey (4:04) [3]
15. Moog Raga (3:27) [3]
Released: March 5th, 1969
Track sources:
[1] - Sweetheart of the Rodeo, 1968 - 1997 CD reissue
[2] - Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, 1969 - 1997 CD reissue
[3] - The Notorious Byrd Brothers, 1968 - 1997 CD reissue
Author's comments:
Phew, those were quite a few posts in quick succession huh? Unless something else comes up, this should probably be the last Spare Creativity post, and the next post will officially be the first one to delve into the 70s. What are your expectations for the decade in the Something Creative universe? Feel free to comment about that below, and as always thank you for reading.
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