Byrds Bonanza! New Byrds Vinyl Bootleg! Vancouver 1971 (and some back pages)

THE BYRDS
Across the Borderline
(RetroRock Records, limited edition of 310 vinyl records)

VENUE:
PNE Gardens; Vancouver, British Columbia; November 26th, 1971

SOUND QUALITY: Not too shabby, I’d say, provided the antique vintage of the recording…it says ‘stereo’ on the cover, but I’m not too sure. There’s very little separation coming through my speakers and one channel is definitely weaker-sounding than the other. So we’ll call it “jazzed up” stereo, possibly a first-generation soundboard, which is an incredible find in this day and age. The vinyl suffers from a little distortion on side three, but nothing that turning up the volume won’t fix. Overall, an upgrade of a tape that’s been available in very limited circulation among Byrds fanatics.

COVER:
Cardboard sleeve with a colorful, ‘psychedelicized’ picture of the band against a blue sky, a bird on one bandmember’s head. Different band photo on the rear cover with similar psychedelic effects photoshopped in, the bird in flight, track listing, etc. Robust, waxy inner sleeves house two thick slabs o’ shiny 150g black vinyl.

TRACKLIST:
Side One
Lover of the Bayou • So You Want To Be A Rock ‘n’ Roll Star • Mr. Spaceman • Bugler • I Wanna Grow Up To Be A Politician • My Back Pages • BJ Blues/Baby What You Want Me To Do

Side Two
Soldier’s Joy/Black Mountain Rag • Mr. Tambourine Man • Pretty Boy Floyd • Rollin’ In My Sweet Baby’s Arms • Chestnut Mare

Side Three
Jesus Is Just Alright • Eight Miles High • Hold It • I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better • Roll Over Beethoven

COMMENTS:
Thanks to the vagaries created by loopholes in international copyright law, it seems that live music from the 1970s – particularly FM radio broadcasts – are fair game for release on CD and vinyl by dodgy European labels. The situation is a godsend for rock ‘n’ roll fans, who now have access to budget “copyright gap” recordings by their favorite artists that were only previously available as higher-priced bootleg titles. This album, however, doesn’t seem to be one of those…Across the Borderline documents a 1971 Canadian performance by the Byrds, and although the show doesn’t appear in my tattered old Hot Wacks guide and it’s not listed on the Bootlegpedia or Bootleg Zone websites, it’s been circulating in limited trading circles for years. Its relative obscurity doesn’t matter, ‘cause the album captures a fine performance that will certainly appeal to any old-school Byrds fan.

The band line-up for Across the Borderline comprised singer and guitarist Roger McGuinn, guitarist and mandolin wizard Clarence White, bassist Skip Battin (who doubled on piano), and drummer Gene Parsons (a multi-instrumental talent who also played harmonica, banjo, and pedal steel guitar). This is the same line-up that recorded the 1971 albums Byrdmaniax and the underrated Farther Along, which was released roughly a week before this concert. Oddly enough, the performance includes only one song from the former and two songs from the latter, but it does feature four songs from the previous year’s Top 40 LP Untitled, starting with an appropriately ‘swampy’ take of “Lover of the Bayou” with ringing guitars and a black cat moan. “So You Want To Be A Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” features a soaring arrangement with jangly fretwork, solid rhythms, and an overall psychedelic vibe while “Mr. Spaceman” provides a jaunty sonic trip through the cosmos and Bob Dylan’s “My Back Pages” is given a gorgeous, chiming performance.

“I Wanna Grow Up To Be A Politician” is an upbeat, bluegrass-tinted tune featuring Parsons’ spry banjo plucking. A mash-up of the band’s original “B.J. Blues” with Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me To Do” closes out the side with a bluesy instrumental jam. Side two opens with a twangy, pickin’ ‘n’ a grinnin’ medley of the traditional “Solder’s Joy” and “Black Mountain Rag” that leads into another gem plucked from the Dylan songbook, the magical, effervescent “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Side two also includes a rowdy cover of Woody Guthrie’s outlaw ode “Pretty Boy Floyd” that is turbocharged by Parsons infectious banjo licks. McGuinn’s “Tiffany Queen” may be the best song from Farther Along, a guitar-driven locomotive that is almost punkish in its intensity. The side closes with my personal fave from Untitled, “Chestnut Mare,” a brilliant story-song with subtle instrumentation and an overall yearning ambiance.

The third side opens with a foot-shuffling, up-tempo reading of Arthur Reid Reynold’s gospel standard “Jesus Is Just Alright,” which the band originally recorded for its Ballad of Easy Rider LP two years previous. The heartbeat of the concert, however, is the lengthy, extended version of the band’s signature “Eight Miles High,” which showcases the band’s instrumental prowess with psych-drenched passages, a lively bass/drum solo, and McGuinn and White’s dueling fretwork. After a short boogie-rock instrumental vamp (“Hold It”), the side closes with a charming take of Gene Clark’s folk-pop gem “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” and a raucous cover of Chuck Berry’s classic “Roll Over Beethoven.” Side four? Well, it has grooves and breaks so that it resembles a regular album side, but it’s blank, as empty as a politician’s promise. Nevertheless, Across the Borderline provides over an hour of great music and while it duplicates a number of songs from the legit release Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971, it compliments rather than competes with that set. Grade: B+ (Rev. Keith A. Gordon)

Back Pages [A few CD reviews from the old print issues of Live! Music Review, available online for the first time.]

THE BYRDS Cooped Up (Groove Master GRMA oo6, 74:24)

[review by Sid Griffin, October 1999 issue of Live! Music Review]

Venue/Sound Quality: outtakes of studio demos, various live recordings from radio and audience recordings, generally 8 on a 10 scale)

Cover: full outtake shot from the first CBS album photo shoot in Griffith Park, rear is b&w of Mcguinn and Crosby harmonizing in studio during first LP sessions.

Tracklist: You Showed Me/ Here Without You/ She Has A Way/ The Reason Why/ For Me Again/ Boston/ You Movin’/ The Airport Song/ You Won’t Have To Cry/ I Knew I’d Want You/ Mr. Tambourine Man/ All The Things/ You All Look Alike/ You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere/ I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better/ It’s No Use/ The Only Girl I Adore/ The St. Louis Browns/ Cobras/ Rock & Roll Time/ Tiffany Queen/ Precious Kate/ BB Class Road/ Chestnut Mare/ So You Want To Be A Rock n Roll Star/ Rollin’ In My Sweet Baby’s Arms/ We’ll Meet Again

A worthwhile but ultimately not indispensable addition to the Byrds’ canon.

Best thought of as a noble companion to Raven’s fine release of Byrds Parts 1964-1980 last year, this is one every dead serious Byrds freak will have to have, but which other, more casual fans can let go by. Dig; tracks 1-11 are merely the CBS remastered versions of the Preflyte material, different takes much of it, but so what? Remember the differences in these recorded versions are minimal and the entire Preflyte sessions have been available on cassette for some time. To wit, who needs all 14 versions of “She Has A Way?” Besides me, I mean.

The next two cuts are “All The Things” and “You All Look alike,” two fine songs from the last great Byrds album, Untitled. Rarely ever performed live, they are worth hearing by anyone and worth having by any Byrds freak. Skip Battin sings that latter pretty darn well and McGuinn is reduced to a backing role, but Clarence White shines per usual. It will be interesting to compare these versions to the outtakes coming forth shortly on Sony’s reissue of Untitled.

Next up is an FM broadcast of an overheard song, “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.” Ho hum. The CD says this is from 1970 but no way., not with that piano solo and the very Rick Vito sounding lead guitar. I’s say it is from the middle of Roger McGuinn’s solo years. 

Then up to bat are outtake versions of “Feel A Whole Lot Better” and “It’s No Use,” each allegedly with different vocals. The first sounds just like the version found on the Sony reissue of the first album where Gene Clark’s vocals are up high (though the stereo separation sounds awesome) and then it falls apart with producer Terry Melcher cutting in to ask “who sings the high part?” That would be you, David. The latter sounds like a slightly earlier version or simply a different mix with the vocals up high. Note how McGuinn detonates a killer solo, the first acid rock solo on record ever.

“The Only Girl I Adored” is next. Y’all remember it from the Together Byrds flotsam & jetsam of 1969. It’s the same old late 1964 post-Beefeaters demo we’ve known and loved all these years.

Two cuts follow from a Skip Battin solo album, “The St. Louis Browns” and “Cobras.” I remember Skip’s albums and although “Captain Soul” did have McGuinn and company him up, I sure don’t remember them backing him up on these two relatively undistinguished cuts. But maybe McGuinn ain’t around and Gene Parsons and Clarence were. Still, these are not the greatest ex-Byrd cuts by a long shot.

1975 saw McGuinn a charter member of Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Review and, rejuvenated, he formed a band called Thunderbyrd with David Bowie’s guitarist, Mick Ronson who was also on that tour. “Rock n Roll Time” is Thunderbyrd in the studio slamming through a song McGuinn wrote with Bob Neuwirth and Kris Kristofferson, but alas, the powerful backing is lost as McGuinn’s tough guy, angry vocal is silly. Anger and menace are simply not Roger McGuinn calling cards.

Next are three cuts alleging to be the only true stereo versions of songs recorded from the last Byrds album for CBS. The sound quality and stereo separation are impressive but except for “Tiffany Queen,” none are Byrds classics. So what’s the big deal? Again, it will be interesting to compare this stuff to the original and outtake material on the upcoming reissue of that album. 

German TV supplies the poorest sounding cuts on the CD, flat lo-fi versions of “Chestnut Mare” and “Rock n Roll Star.” The band sounds tired and not that involved in their performance. You have to wack the volume way up to even hear them and what on earth is that German gal saying with her voice-over. Ouch.

A fine acoustic lo-fi TV version of “Rollin’ In My Sweet Babys Arms” follows and though the sound quality ain’t there the performance is… wow. Who is that on mandolin?!! Cooped Up then ends with a different vocal performance over the same backing track of “We’ll Meet Again” from the first album, Melcher again heard on the talk back, the vocals up nice and loud. A nice touch to a messy, if unique, hodgepodge of Byrds music from here and there.

Gene Clark & Friends: A Star for Every Stage (Massive Attack Discs CD-R 990105, 69:41)

[Review by Sid Griffin, September 199 issue of Live! Music Review]

Cover: Two panel insert featuring a slightly blurred b&w photo of Gene Clark and Rick Danko performing. The inside panel is a backstage photo of the entire band with tracklist

Sound Quality: A pretty clean board tape (10)

Tracklist: It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue/ Old Paint/ Honest I Do/ The Rumour/ The Shape I’m In/ Shake Your Ass/ Why Did Yoy Leave Me/ Silver Raven/ Feel A Whole Lot Better/ Chimes Of Freedom/ Sail On Sailor/ So You Want To Be A Rock n Roll Star/ Eight Miles High/ Turn Turn Turn

The band is actually the Twentieth Anniversary of the Byrds troupe put together by Gene Clark and Michael Clarke playing in some club in southern Indiana. How Messers. Clark, Clarke, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Blondie Chaplin, John York, and Rick Roberts must’ve reflected on how their stock had fallen to A)/ have to band together like this, B)/ go out as “The Byrds” since this is how unscrupulous club owners billed them and C) to be playing bar band versions of their hits in dives like this is a thought too painfully cruel to dwell on for more than a few moments.

All that talent and this is the best show they can come up with? Ouch. John York starts it off earnestly enough with all the charisma of a sofa, a permanent Byrd wanna-be who was actually in the band! Wow, go figure that one. Then Rick Danko stumbles through a fairly bluesy Jimmy Reed take of “Honest I Do” which ain’t bad before the late, and we do mean great, Richard Manuel joins him for a fine version of “The Rumor.” Hey, is that actually Michael Clarke playing drums on that? Nice one, Michael! Then more of the guys come on to blast through a decent “The Shape I’m In," Richard Manuel singing all the best he can, before the real rot sets in.

Why on earth these talented musos wrote and performed (prostituted?) a whore’s dinner of a song called “Shake Your Ass” is beyond at least one Byrds fan and though it does rock, man, this is bar room Bad Company/Bachman Turner Overdrive bluster at its finest… meaning it is far, far beneath their talents – much less attention of the kind of people who gave us “She Don’t Care About Time” or “King Harvest.” It’s bar room crap from middle-aged members of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame who oughta know better. It’s clumsy too, so naturally the audience digs it and cheers lustily.

Next up is a wobbly Gene Clark singing “Why Did You Leave Me?” with a slur in his voice and more than his share of flat notes. Heartbreaking. If he was sober when he sang this, then I am the Pope and mass is now Tuesday evening. His classic “Silver Raven” is next, delivered in a haunted vocal which reminds all just what the fuss about Gene Clark is all about. If not pure dynamite, then still fairly explosive and proof Clark wasn’t finished just quite yet despite all the bad things he was doing to himself.

From here on out, the hits are plowed through in a manner fairly acceptable for a bar room but disappointing for playback later. Michael Clarke takes “Feel A Whole Lot Better” too damn fast, “Chimes of Freedom” has York imitating McGuinn and some fool plays a Hendrix styled solo (!) on it. “Sail On Sailor” is pretty well well handled by all with Blondie’s vocal not too shabby. “So You Wanna Be A Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” is again too damn fast and the vocal far too gritty. “Eight Miles High” is messy if earnest and not all that bad and “Turn Turn Turn” is sung off key.

In summation, no doubt the kind folks at Massive Attack thought they were pleasing Byrd fans with this release but it is, upon serious reflection, easily one of the most disappointing releases in the Byrd family’s vast back catalog.

Roger McGuinn: Flying Alone (Main Street 103, 66:41)

[review by Bill Glahn, July 1995 issue, re-edited]

Venue: My Father’s Place, Roslyn, NY July 12, 1975 

Sound Quality: low generation recording from WLIR broadcast, excellent

Tracklist: Flow River Flow/ Wasn’t Born To Follow/ Mr Spaceman/ So Long/ My Back Pages/ The Lady/ Chimes of Freedom/ My Driving Wheel/ Goin’ Down The Country/ You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere/ Chestnut Mare/ Lover of the Bayou/ Lisa/ Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door/ Mr. Tambourine Man/ Somebody Loves You/ So You Wanna Be A Rock ‘n’ Roll Star/ Eight Miles High/ Take A Whiff On Me

Don’t let the title of this one fool you. This is a full band performance of the tour to promote McGinn’s Roger McGuinn & Band album, released just a month earlier. McGuinn was still trying to establish himself as a solo artist after years of leading the Byrds.  RM&B was his third record without using the Byrds moniker. His previous album, Peace On You, had been his first to crack the Billboard top 100. There would be no such success this time around. Assigned a company producer and session band by Columbia Records, RM&B just wasn’t an album that was going to set any Byrds’ fans on fire. McGuinn was wise to avoid too much material from his current album in the setlist. Fans of the final years of the Byrds, where McGuinn’s nasally and distinctive voice was the focal point of the band (along with the picking of by-this-time deceased Clarence White) will find this to be an extremely attractive release, far more so than the album he was promoting. The stylistic differences in his live set were almost non-existent to late period Byrds.

There seem to be a few edits, possibly to cut out radio station announcements. The length is typical for a WLIR broadcast, which usually allowed an artist an hour plus encore time. I will assume this is complete.

The band is extremely tight, Roger is in fine voice, and some of the recent songs surpass their studio counterparts. “My Drivin’ Wheel” brings across the melancholy of the song’s protagonist in a way not heard since Tom Rush recorded the song. Other highlights include “Somebody Loves You,” “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” and “Wasn’t Born To Follow.” There aren’t any low points – it’s a hoppin’ show from start to finish.

With a history as rich as McGuinn’s, I would think some enterprising bootlegger would do a two or three disc retrospective. There’s great tapes in circulation from the Byrds, McGuinn solo and band, McGuinn Clark and Hillman, etc. McGuinn is too important an artist to be overlooked by the underground industry. This disc is a great start to rectify things. 

The Byrds: All American (The Third Eye DE 1007; 72:36)

[review by Bill Glahn, May 1996 issue]

Venue: American University, Wash., D.C. April 18, 1970

Sound Quality: the pits, bottom of the barrel bootlegging

Cover: unimmaginative

This is a highly circulated soundboard recording, a more complete version of the show featured on the Retrorock syndicated radio broadcast. Unfortunately, the bootlegger seems to have been at the bottom end of the circulation chain. There’s a whole lot of hiss, tape warble, drag, level drops, and just about anything else that can ruin a (once) fine quality recording. Evidently the manufacturers aren't Byrds fans at all. Songs are misidentified in the track listing - I mean, does “You All Look Alike” sound anything like “Well Come Back Home?” Sheesh.

Although I think this is the strongest live line-up of the Byrds, and I’d love to see more material from this period, this is not a good place to start.  

Roll The Tapes [What's circulating in the taper's community.Reprinted from the pages of Live! Music Review] 

ARTIST: McGuinn, Clark and Hillman

VENUE: The Bottom Line, New York City 02.24.79

SOURCE: 60 min FM broadcast, performance (9), quality (8)

TRACKLIST: Sad Boy/ Long Long Time/ Little Mama/ Don't You Write Her Off/ Release Me Girl/ Turn Turn Turn/ Surrender To Me/ Chestnut Mare/ It Doesn't Matter/ Feeling Higher/ You Ain't Going Nowhere/ Ten Feet Away/ Stopping Traffic/ (So You Want To Be A) Rock & Roll Star/ Mr. Tambourine Man/ Eight Miles High/ Feel A Whole Lot Better/ Bye Bye Baby

COMMENTS: By the late seventies, various incarnations of the Byrds had run their inevitable course, notching out a place in rock & roll history. For Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark and Chris Hillman – arguably the creative heart and soul of the Byrds – life did not begin and end with that legendary band. The threesome got together to create a handful of albums during the period surrounding the change of the decade, and if none of it is as memorable, in retrospect, as the Byrds' material, well it ain't half bad, either!

As shown by this FM broadcast from New York's famous Bottom Line, the trio of McGuinn, Clark and Hillman had a few musical tricks left up their sleeves. The performance dates from around the time of the release of their self-titled first album and, in fact, includes much of the material from that underrated LP. The first part of the show kicks off with songs like Gene Clark's soulful "Little Mama," "Long Long Time," "Release Me Girl" and "Sad Boy," all from their debut. The rollicking, popish "Don't You Write Her Off," the album's single and a minor charting hit for the band, features some fine harmonies from the trio, the choruses a joyful interplay of vocals and instrumentation.

After warming up the crowd with their new material, McGuinn, Clark & Hillman throw a few musical bones out for the audience and listeners at home. Performing classic Byrds sides like "Turn Turn Turn," "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Eight Miles High" and one of my personal favorites (from the Byrds' Untitled LP), "Chestnut Mare," the trio successfully pulls off new interpretations of their old songs, much to the audience's satisfaction. They close the show with the closing track from their album, "Bye Bye Baby," leaving the crowd wanting more. One of the most overlooked collaborations in rock, McGuinn, Clark & Hillman performed pop-influenced, country-tinged rock in a fresh new vein rather than resting on their considerate laurels as artists. There's very little live music by these guys that I can find circulating in trading circles. If you're a fan of the Byrds or any one of the member's solo work, I'd recommend tracking down this or any other show you find. You'll be glad that you did.  (Rev. Keith A. Gordon)

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