The Byrds - "Younger Than Yesterday" redone

I was recently inspired by the Albums That Never Were blog post, in which The Byrds’ album The Notorious Byrd Brothers was redone as if David Crosby had not been fired. I looked at the band’s previous album, Younger Than Yesterday, the first without any input from Gene Clark, and created a new version. This one includes three songs by Clark that were on his first solo album released nearly simultaneously with Younger Than Yesterday.

SIDE A

1. So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star

2. Have You Seen Her Face

3. Needing Someone

4. CTA – 102

5. Renaissance Fair

6. Time Between

7. Everybody’s Been Burned 

SIDE B

1. So You Say You Lost Your Baby 

2. Mind Gardens 

3. The Girl with No Name 

4. Tried So Hard

5. It Happens Each Day

6. My Back Pages

Without contributions from Clark, Chris Hillman stepped up with four songs, plus a co-write with Roger McGuinn. This is interesting because prior to this, no other Hillman-written songs had been recorded by the band other than one track that was a group effort.

Rather than simply inserting Clark's songs, I looked at the album overall to see if I could improve it (at least in my mind). The album as released is very short – the first side clocks in less than 14 minutes. Besides adding three Clark tunes, I also decided to jettison two other tracks to make room for them. I removed Hillman’s “Thoughts and Words” as I didn’t think it contributed much, especially as the opening track of Side B. Plus, Hillman already has four other writing credits on the album. I also removed “Why,” a song co-written by McGuinn and Crosby. This was an odd choice in the first place because the band had released a slower version of the same song as a B side to the “Eight Miles High” single the previous year.

Clark’s solo album, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers, includes both Hillman and Michael Clarke throughout, so it actually has three “Byrds” playing on it. I included the tracks “Needing Someone,” “So You Say You Lost Your Baby” and “Tried So Hard.” The first two I added because I simply liked them the most. I included “Tried So Hard” because I saw a video on YouTube of Clark performing it in maybe the late 1970s so I figured it must have been important to him. Also, Hillman recorded it in the early 1970s with his later group The Flying Burrito Brothers, so obviously he liked the track too.

Finally, I also added one outtake from the album, Crosby’s “It Happens Each Day.” Other than the insertions and deletions, the album's tracklist remains pretty much the same, although I moved the cover of Dylan’s “My Back Pages” to the end to close out the album. Because the album title is inspired by the song, and since it was released as a single, I thought ending the album with it made sense.

The result is an album with more variety, more tracks and a longer running time (each side is just under 16 minutes). It wasn’t until after I’d figured out a tracklist I liked that I realized the songs opening both sides have the same two first words in their titles. Weird.

And now for a special treat (ha!), I went the extra mile and created a second version of the album as a double, adding in more Clark songs and outtakes (see below). Sides A-C are about 15:10 give or take a second, while the fourth side is about 20 seconds shorter. You decide what you like more: a single or double album.

For cover art, I needed a photo that included Gene Clark, making the one I chose a bit dated. But doesn't having a photo of them a year or two earlier fit in with the album's title? Hmmmm. Otherwise, I think it looks good for a simple design. I removed some background imagery and added titles.

SIDE A 

1. So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star

2. I Know My Rider (I Know You Rider) 

3. Think I'm Gonna Feel Better 

4. Time Between

5. The Same One 

6. Mind Gardens 

SIDE B 

1. So You Say You Lost Your Baby 

2. The Girl with No Name 

3. CTA-102

4. Is Yours Is Mine 

5. Everybody's Been Burned 

6. Echoes 

SIDE C 

1. Have You Seen Her Face 

2. It Happens Each Day 

3. Needing Someone

4. Don’t Make Waves 

5. I Found You 

6. Psychodrama City 

SIDE D 

1. Renaissance Fair 

2. Couldn't Believe Her

3. Why

4. Tried So Hard 

5. Thoughts and Words 

6. My Back Pages 

Here's a YouTube playlist of the double album version.

Sources: 

* Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers

* The Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday 1996 version with bonus tracks

* The Byrds box set

The Byrds - "Rise and Fall"

The original five members of The Byrds reunited in 1973 and released a new album titled simply Byrds. There was a lot of publicity about the reunion, but the album was not especially well received by critics or the band members. As a result, plans for a tour were scrapped and the members basically went their separate ways again.

I wanted to see what a Byrds album might have been had the band given it another shot.

SIDE A
1. Rise and Fall
2. John, John
3. The Lee Shore
4. Heavenly Fire
5. Train Leaves Here This Morning

SIDE B
1. My New Woman
2. No Other
3. Jamaica Say You Will
4. Safe at Home
5. Critical Mass /
6. Homeward through the Haze

In compiling the songs for this album, I wanted to raid the members' 1973-74 albums as little as possible so that in theory those albums could have existed as well. That wasn't always easy as you'll see.

I opened the album with "Rise and Fall," which Chris Hillman recorded for the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band's self-titled debut album, and used that name for this album's title. That's followed by the traditional song "John, John," an outtake from Roger McGuinn's self-titled solo album that came out a few months after Byrds. The first of David Crosby's contributions is "The Lee Shore." This song was originally an outtake from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's Deja Vu, but was also considered for that group's uncompleted 1974 album Human Highway, and Crosby and Nash performed it live around this time as well.

The next track on this album is "Heavenly Fire," which like the previous Southern-Hillman-Furay band song was co-written by Hillman and Len Fagen. Side one ends with an outtake from Gene Clark's No Other solo album. "Train Leaves Here This Morning" was co-written with Bernie Leadon who recorded it for the Eagles' debut album.

The second side opens with "My New Woman" from Roger McGuinn's solo album. It's the only track here that features all five Byrds members, and I suppose it was an outtake from the Byrds sessions. The use of a saxophone on this song seems out of place, but I don't know of any other version of the track. This is followed by "No Other," the title song from Clark's solo album. The Jackson Browne-penned "Jamaica Say You Will" is another outtake from Roger McGuinn. Hillman's "Safe at Home" (another Souther-Hillman-Furay track) comes next and adds a burst of rock needed here to pick up the tempo.

The album concludes with two tracks from the Crosby & Nash album Wind on the Water. Here I've featured "Critical Mass" as an intro to "Homeward through the Haze" rather than Graham Nash's "Wind on the Water."

Proving once again that the arrangement of tracks can be critical, my first attempt of this came out terrible. But after some rearranging I think this collection is a stronger one than that of the Byrds album. Some members said that they had held back some of their better tunes for their own solo albums rather than using them for the Byrds reunion. And in a way, this rectifies that.

For a cover, I took a photo I found online by Eric Wagner for an Earth Island Journal article titled "The Rise and Fall of the East Sand Empire," cropped it and added titles.

The Byrds - "Blackbyrd Pye"

Gram Parsons' time in The Byrds was short, and it's difficult to discern how much of an impact he really had on the band. He did convince the rest of the band, specifically Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, to record a country album rather than McGuinn's idea of one that took on multiple music genres (see our earlier post).

The result was Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and while that album is highly rated today, it was a commercial disappointment at the time. Byrds fans didn't want a country album, and country music fans didn't care for The Byrds. After Parsons refused to take part in the Byrds' tour of South Africa, McGuinn and Hillman fired him.

Strangely, a few months later Hillman quit The Byrds to join Parsons in a new band called The Flying Burrito Brothers. That band's debut, The Gilded Palace of Sin, came out in February 1969. By the time a new Byrds album Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was released a month later, McGuinn was not only the last original member of the band but the only one remaining from the lineup that recorded the previous album.

For this outing, I wanted to put together an album that might have come out had McGuinn, Hillman and Parsons remained together for another Byrds album.

SIDE A

1. Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man

2. Sin City

3. My Uncle

4. Child of the Universe

5. Bad Night at the Whiskey

6. Christine's Tune 

SIDE B

1. Wheels

2. King Apathy III

3. Old Blue

4. Juanita

5. Hippie Boy

6. Stanley’s Song

I took songs from both The Gilded Palace of Sin and Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde for material. I didn't include any tunes written by other members of the respective bands, and I didn't include any cover tunes other than "Old Blue," a traditional song McGuinn arranged.

The album opens with "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man," a Byrds song McGuinn and Parsons co-wrote before Parsons was shown the door. This is followed by two Parsons-Hillman songs from the Burritos' album: "Sin City" and "My Uncle." Two songs McGuinn co-wrote with friends come next ("Child of the Universe" and "Bad Night at the Whiskey"), and the first side closes with another Parsons-Hillman song, "Christine's Tune."

The second side opens with "Wheels," just as it does on The Gilded Palace of Sin. McGuinn's "King Apathy III" and the previously mentioned "Old Blue" follow. Two more Hillman-Parsons penned songs, "Juanita" and "Hippie Boy," come next before the album closes with "Stanley's Song," an outtake from Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde.

Since neither The Gilded Palace of Sin nor Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde sold very well, it's doubtful that this album would have made a bigger dent in the charts. However, it might have been welcomed by critics at the time and might be well-regarded today.

All tracks are from either The Gilded Palace of Sin or the expanded version of  Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde.

For a title to this album, I did a lot of pondering. I don't like the name Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde and I assume The Gilded Palace of Sin is related to the song "Sin City" and Vegas, but it doesn't really do anything for me. I started thinking about country music and that led me to think about comfort food, and for some reason, I thought of the line "four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie" from the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence." So I titled this album Blackbyrd Pye.

While searching Google images I came across the one above for a San Clemente, Calif., pie shop and used that with new titles, including using y's for i's as the Byrds often liked to do.

Here's a YouTube playlist of the album.

The Byrds - "20 c."

For the follow-up to The Byrds' The Notorious Byrd Brothers album, Roger McGuinn came up with a concept for a double album that would be a history of American music in the 20th century: bluegrass and Appalachian music, country and western, jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock. The album would conclude with futuristic electronic music, featuring a Moog synthesizer.

But before The Byrds could record, they needed new members. Gene Clark had left before The Notorious Byrd Brothers was completed, and both David Crosby and Michael Clarke had been fired. That left only McGuinn and Chris Hillman. They first hired Kevin Kelley as the band's new drummer. To assist with his album concept, McGuinn also wanted to hire a keyboardist with jazz experience. Gram Parsons was offered the job, but he was more keen on country music and convinced Hillman (who already came from a country and folk music background) that it was a better move than McGuinn's concept. With urging from Parsons, Hillman and producer Gary Usher, McGuinn eventually acquiesced. The band then recorded Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

The funny thing is, since Sweetheart of the Rodeo includes country, folk and traditional music, much of McGuinn's concept is actually on the album. For this re-imagined album, I look at what an album might have been if McGuinn had stuck with his original vision. Both Hillman and Parsons were gone soon after Sweetheart of the Rodeo was completed, so what if it hadn't been released and McGuinn kept working on the album, eventually incorporating songs that would end up on the next Byrds album Dr. Byrd and Mr. Hyde with new band members? Here's what I came up with:

SIDE A
1. Pretty Polly
2. I am a Pilgrim
3. Old Blue
4. The Christian Life
5. You Don't Miss Your Water
6. Hickory Wind

SIDE B
1. Nothing was Delivered
2. Your Gentle Way of Loving Me
3. Pretty Boy Floyd
4. Life in Prison
5. You're Still on My Mind
6. Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man

SIDE C
1. Nashville West
2. You Got a Reputation
3. Lazy Days
4. One Hundred Years from Now
5. Stanley's Song
6. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere

SIDE D
1. Candy
2. Child of the Universe
3. Bad Night at the Whiskey
4. King Apathy III
5. This Wheel's on Fire
6. Moog Raga

Using the chronological concept, I rearranged most of the songs from the two albums into a double album.

Side A starts off with a McGuinn/Hillman original that's very much a traditional style folk tune and then continues with mostly old traditional songs. Side B moves along in time, with Dust Bowl ballads, a song about Prohibition gangster Pretty Boy Floyd by Woody Guthrie, and the Bakersfield sound (including a Merle Haggard song, "Life in Prison"). Side C shows a bit more modern country and folk, and a rocker in "Lazy Days." The final side includes songs of psychedelic rock ("Bad Night at the Whiskey") and hard rock ("This Wheel's on Fire"). Finally, the album ends with the electronic piece that McGuinn had actually recorded during the sessions for The Notorious Byrd Brothers.

The result is that it still lacks jazz and blues. But other music forms are well represented: bluegrass, traditional Appalachian music, country and western, folk, country rock, hard rock/psychedelic rock, and finally an electronic piece recorded on a Moog. Honestly, I'm not sure The Byrds could have properly pulled off jazz and blues, but who knows?

For an album cover, I once again went with a design from http://idesignalbumcovers.tumblr.com/

The Byrds - "Gene Tryp"

In 1969, Roger McGuinn and friend Jacques Levy conceived of a play that would be based on Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt." Titled Gene Tryp, the Ibsen storyline would be loosely followed, but set in the American southwest instead of Norway. According to McGuinn, Gene Tryp would include 23 songs, and supposedly, most if not all would be recorded by The Byrds.

It is unknown how many songs were actually written. What is known is that The Byrds recorded six songs originally intended for Gene Tryp. Four of the songs appeared on the band's "(Untitled)" album, and two more would end up on their next album, Byrdmaniax. So not only was Gene Tryp not completed, but what songs were recorded for the project didn't even end up on the same album.

It wasn't until 1992 that "Gene Tryp" the play was finally performed at the Colgate University Theater, and directed by Jacques Levy. For that performance, apparently only the songs known to have been recorded by The Byrds were included. So perhaps that's all that was actually completed before McGuinn and Levy gave up and moved on to other projects.

This is my attempt to create an album that features all known songs for Gene Tryp.

SIDE A
1. Chestnut Mare
2. All the Things
3. Lover of the Bayou
4. I Wanna Grow Up to be a Politician
5. Kathleen's Song
6. Just a Season

SIDE B
1. Yesterday's Train
2. Hungry Planet
3. Take a Whiff on Me
4. You All Look Alike
5. Well Come Back Home

For this recreated Gene Tryp album, I made all of the first side the "Gene Tryp" concept. From what I've read this is the order the songs were performed in the 1992 production. It's impossible to determine what a 23-song, double album version of Gene Tryp would have sounded like, but I actually like the idea of a truncated version anyway.

I used most of the remaining studio tracks from "(Untitled)" on the second side. This includes songs written by other members of The Byrds and allows the album to be more of a group effort than simply a McGuinn/Levy production.

And I used the cool cover design from http://idesignalbumcovers.tumblr.com.