THE BYRDS BEST SONGS FREE
Tambourine Man and Turn, Turn, Turn) not only feature a wealth of Dylan songs definitively covered and some traditional folk songs successfully electrified, but also many examples of co-founder Gene Clark’s excellent songwriting, which extends far beyond the Essential Byrds‘ three cuts, “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better”, “She Don’t Care about Time”, and “Set You Free This Time”. No American band has had a more significant impact on the development of rock: one can trace the genre’s transformations by following the course of the Byrds’ career, from folk rock through psychedelia and country rock to their final lazy proto-soft rock style. It’s hard to imagine the audience for whom this intermediate package was designed: the casual listener will likely find the career retrospective too diffuse, whereas one not content with just the hits won’t be appeased by this release, as she will be on her way to realizing that every Byrds album should be considered “essential.”
While not altogether egregious, The Essential Byrds, a two-CD, 33-track collection, falls uncomfortably between The Byrds Greatest Hits (all of whose songs are reprised here) and the box set, which complements the hits with a wealth of previously unreleased material gathered in one convenient spot. Elektra pioneered this approach with their creative reconfigurations of the Doors’ hits over the years. Similar to the serial-reissue strategy is the hits-repackaging ruse, except the target here is not the fanatic, but the more casual listener, who buys one hits collection only to discover that important songs are included on some other compilation. And they wonder where Internet piracy comes from.
The record company’s original blundering sloppiness and irresponsibility turned out to be a financial boon and now this rote reissuing of “classic” albums three or four times, each offering a little something extra, seems to be a common strategy for maximizing profits by exploiting those most devoted to their product. This penalized the biggest fans, as they not only would have immediately bought the initial reissues but also would find the supplemental materials mandatory.
THE BYRDS BEST SONGS SERIES
Their influence on folk, country, rock were critical to the generation of all of these sub- genres and should not be underestimated.After having done a shoddy job reissuing the Byrds catalog on CD in the late ’80s, Columbia tried to rectify things with a lavish series of re-reissues, giving these seminal albums the deluxe treatment they deserve, complete with studio outtakes and comprehensive liner notes. The artistic tensions that resulted in a continually changing line-up also fired great innovation and brilliant music that in retrospect puts the Byrds in the same class as the Beatles, Stones, Dylan and Hendrix. Whilst the importance of the Byrds albums measured by critical acclaim or chart success is not high their influence is immeasurable. (If I Needed Someone from Rubber Soul being the most obvious example).
Such was their influence that the Beatles (particularly Harrison) repaid the compliment by copying the Byrds sound on certain tracks. Early success came through covers of Dylan songs in a style which was to become their trademark – essentially folk music played up-tempo with superb harmonies and the lush sound of Mcguinn’s 12 string Rickenbecker to the fore.Įssentially merging the lyrical beauty of Dylan and the musical inventiveness and harmonies of the Beatles the Byrds were highly instrumental in the creation of both Folk and Country rock. The origin of the Byrds can be traced back to 1964 Los Angeles.
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