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/