THE BYRDS, 'The Last Byrds Album' (Updated)

The Byrds

THE LAST BYRDS ALBUM  (1972)

Tiffany Queen   
Bugler
Antique Sandy
Lazy Waters
I'm So Restless*   [Roger McGuinn]
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Draggin'*    [Roger McGuinn]
Born to Rock and Roll**
Farther Along
Lost My Drivin' Wheel**
Time Cube*    [Roger McGuinn]

All tracks taken from the CD re-issue of 'Farther Along' except where noted

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The follow up to 1971's Byrdmaniax started out as a band produced offering to be released that same year. Discussions for a reunion of the original line-up of the Byrds were already in motion and McGuinn's dissatisfaction with the latter-day line-up was further compounded with arguments over salary with drummer Gene Parsons. After a disappointing 45 single release of "America's Great National Past Time" (sung by bassist Skip Battin and written by him and lyricist Kim Fowley) backed with the Clarence White led rendition of the traditional "Farther Along" in Nov. 1971, the album originally titled Farther Along would be shelved by leader Roger McGuinn (though the other members would subsequently concur) and put the future of the band's current line-up in doubt.

By July 1972, Parsons had been fired and replaced by session drummer John Guerin. To further cement his return to controlling the group--a single with "Born to Rock and Roll" backed with a cover of "Lost My Drivin' Wheel" was issued as Roger McGuinn and The Byrds. Session musicians had been employed to back McGuinn on at least one of the tracks--but company rules made the recordings be labelled as 'The Byrds' since McGuinn was not contracted as a solo artist with Columbia. Half of the Farther Along tracks were combined with new songs McGuinn had recorded including the sides to the 45 single to make The Last Byrds Album. It's also fitting that Bob Dylan would appear on a song--bringing things full circle--playing harmonica on "I'm So Restless". Clarence White sings lead on "Bugler" and "Farther Along"; Skip Battin sings lead on "Lazy Waters"...McGuinn takes the rest. 

After disbanding the latter-day Byrds in Feb. 1973, McGuinn and the original Byrds would join forces once again to release Full Circle on David Geffen's Asylum label.

1.  Full Circle    [Byrds]
 2. Sweet Mary     [Byrds]
 3. Changing Heart     [Byrds]
 4. For Free       [Byrds]
 5. The Water is Wide     [Roger McGuinn]
 6. Things Will Be Better    [Byrds]
Side B:
 7. Cowgirl in the Sand      [Byrds]
 8. Long Live the King     [Byrds]
 9. My New Woman     [Roger McGuinn]
10. Laughing    [Byrds]
11. Bag Full of Money    [Roger McGuinn]
12. (See the Sky) About to Rain     [Byrds]



In reality, McGuinn had wanted to changed the band name to put his in front, but was discouraged from doing so by whomever at the time. Farther Along was released in Nov. 1971 and the band was reported to be unhappy with it--though Clarence White's vocal on "Bugler" was a highlight. The CD re-issue of this album included versions of "Bag Full of Money", "Born to Rock and Roll" and "Lost My Drivin' Wheel". These songs and versions of "Draggin'", and "I'm So Restless" (reportedly lost) with new drummer John Guerin were left unreleased at the time in 1972. In 1973, McGuinn released his eponymous solo debut and it included remakes of "Lost My Drivin' Wheel", "Draggin'" (featuring Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys on piano and bgv), "I'm So Restless'" (featuring Bob Dylan on harmonica), and "Bag Full of Money" (featuring Crosby on harmony) along with "My New Woman" (with backing by the original Byrds line-up and saxophonist Buddy Emmons) and the traditional "The Water is Wide" (again featuring Crosby). A proposed McGuinn/Crosby LP never happened--though those two songs were great. I included them with "My New Woman" on my mix of the Byrds reunion LP for that reason.

THE BYRDS, 'Byrdmaniax' [LP re-imagined]

The Byrds

BYRDMANIAX   (1971)

• I Trust (Everything is Gonna Work Out All Right)
• Just Like a Woman*
• Absolute Happiness
• Green Apple Quick Step
• I Wanna Grow Up to Be a Politician
• (Is This) My Destiny
• Lover of the Bayou* (studio)   [[Untitled/Unissued]]
• Willin'*  [[Untitled/Unissued]]
• Pale Blue
• It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)*    [Easy Rider soundtrack]
• Jamaica Say You Will** (alt. mix)    

-----------------------------------All tracks taken from the original LP except where *

The often maligned tenth album by The Byrds has always been a challenge to listen to. Though I have revised my hard stance against Skip Battin somewhat (a song per LP) in my updated Byrds alt-discog. Much like Farther Along that would follow it, the LP is not without its charms. However, only half-an-album's worth of decent tunes does not a good album make. I previously paired these two 1971 LPs together whilst throwing in some of McGuinn's eponymous solo LP from '73. With the awesome new alt-discog sites I've seen over the past few months (Something Creative; Strawberry Peppers, and more you should check out--Ed.), I've gotten the idea to further revise my timeline, heh. I will follow-up with revised takes on The Last Byrds Album and Pheonix in future posts.

So what I did with this album was remove all but one of Skip's songs (the one on here I do like) and "Glory, Glory"--ugh. Anyways, I could see the band going to use leftovers from Pheonix (the actual title for 1970's [Untitled] double LP) like "Lover of the Bayou" and a couple decent Dylan covers. Also, Gene Parsons doesn't have a vocal on the album--so "Willin'" would have a spot here. I also originally considered Clarence White's take on "Think I'm Gonna Feel Better" by Gene Clark...but a proper vocal take was probably never recorded; it remains an outtake for me. However, I am proud of the mix of "Jamaica Say You Will" I made combining elements from the quadraphonic LP version (containing additional woodwind and orchestral flourishes) with the album version. The problem with the latter is a slight pitch problem that flattens White's vocal take. McGuinn's harmony part is also off due to this. You can compare the performance of the two mixes and hear what I mean. The quadraphonic mix has the correct speed but the band's instruments are buried under Melcher's overdubs (even more than the album version). Putting them together makes sense. I also did the same with both versions of "One Hundred Years From Now" from the Sweetheart of the Rodeo album. Welp--that's all folks (for now). Special thanks to ernestmannerisms for the cover art!

P.S. Look up 'Byrdmaniax Repaired" on YouTube. That's another live/studio LP combination like '[Untitled]' (which was considered by the band at one point).

THE BEACH BOYS, 'Beach Boys '67' [LP re-imagined]

BEACH BOYS '67 

Heroes and Villains

Vegetables
The Little Girl I Once Knew
Gettin' Hungry
Holidays
Good Vibrations
She's Goin' Bald
Little Pad
Trombone Dixie
Cool, Cool Water
Graduation Day

BEACH BOYS '67 would be released in the summer including the latest single "Heroes and Villains" opening up side A ('the latest and greatest from the group') followed by the new recording of "Vegetables", with the previously released non-LP single "The Little Girl I Once Knew" up next, along with "Gettin' Hungry" (a quirky new R&B track in a stripped down style released as a Brian and Mike duo 45), and an instrumental leftover from the forthcoming 'SMiLE' project entitled "Holidays" as the closer. Side B would mirror the TODAY! LP by featuring a theme of Brian Wilson's latest musical whims (so to speak). Including the Pet Sounds-era instrumental leftover "Trombone Dixie" and a new track from the SMiLE era ("Cool Cool Water") to further remind of what's to come. I think BW would've got a laugh from the irony of "Graduation Day" (a TODAY! outtake from '65) closing the record. I did, anyway.

----Cheers to Scott G. for his excellent mixes that I used.Check his page here.

The Something Creative blogspot has also been a source of inspiration and mixes.

'SMiLE' would be released in the Fall of '67 minus "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes and Villians" (11 tracks including "Our Prayer" as the unlisted intro). 

 

Just as he did with "Help Me, Rhonda" back in '65--BW improves a track from the previous LP in a new 45 with "Vegetables" (released as a double A-side with "Surf's Up")

With all the alternate discography and 'what if' scenarios that I see, things can become very convoluted depending on how OCD you wanna get (lol). One of my favourites is The Alternate Albums and More! blogspot. His mixes of Beach Boys, Beatles, Monkees, etc. are some of my go-to playlists. In perusing some of the various other blogs of this nature--I saw a discussion on what album The Beach Boys could have released in between Pet Sounds and Wild Honey instead of the 'Best of ,( vol. 2)' compilation and SMiLe's  subsequent replacement, Smiley Smile.
I was mostly inspired by this article to make this one happen. 

Cheers!

Ryan Adams and The Sweetheart Revolution, "TRAPPED IN THE NEW WORLD (Live 2001-02)" [imagined LP]

RYAN ADAMS 

Trapped in the New World  (2002)

• Mix Tapes
• 1986 (a.k.a. "Trapped in the New World")
• Alanis
• Soundtrack of Your Life
• Coma White
• Diamonds or Hearts
• You're So Pretty, You're So Cool
• Psalms
• Sunday, Wish You Were Here
• Rocket Man (Take 2, live) +   [Taken from CMT Crossroads ep. with Elton John

All songs unreleased except "Rocket Man" (added as a bonus track).

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Collection of live recordings from 2001-02 bootlegged and easily found online. These songs were a darker collection of bluesy psychedelic style jams. No studio versions of any of these songs have leaked. "Diamonds or Hearts" is a re-write of the bootlegged Gold outtake "Fool's Gold" (and was also re-recorded in 2005 during the Jacksonville City Nights sessions). "Vampire" was subsequently recorded during the Love is Hell sessions. "Soundtrack of Your Life" was later recorded with new lyrics as "Luxury" during the Rock N' Roll album sessions. Nine songs clocking in around 44 minutes. As close as it gets to Ryan's vision to TV host Charlie Rose about "finding a connection between deep, spiritual R&B and psychedelic rock music." A lot of material to go through...sound quality and finding a good flow is key. A lot of the songs from this period were just extended jams. It's not unimaginable Ryan's ambitions exceeded the quality of material. Here's some more background:

After completing a tour promoting his major-label debut, Gold, Ryan Adams was showing no signs of slowing down. After having completed two more albums: the twangy country-rock 48 Hours and (the debut of his Nashville based band, The Pinkhearts) Let It B-Minus--a disc of Replacements-meets-Pixies style rock wrapped in Stones nostalgia--Adams was back in the studio in Nashville with legendary producer Scott Litt to record the follow-up to Gold with his touring band, The Sweetheart Revolution. It's unknown exactly which 19 songs were recorded (besides allegedly the 2004 b-side "Suspicion") because the sessions were scrapped. Ryan and the band finished up work on the Pinkhearts CD --though some of the tracks were supposed to be included as bonus material part of the never released 20/20 box set rumored in 2007. It's also been said RA re-recorded the material on his own after a fan mentioned 'wanting to hear what it sounded like' on social media. 

After scrapping the sessions with Scott Litt, Ryan Adams would go on to record his next project, Love is Hell. This begins another really interesting period of creativity and unreleased albums with Adams ultimately at loggerheads with his label, Lost Highway. I will cover this next chapter in future posts....Cheers!