Back Catalogue: The Byrds
Posted Wednesday 10/01/2008 12:00 AM in
Back Catalogue
by
Douglas Wolk
Singer-guitarists Jim (later Roger) McGuinn and David Crosby, singer Gene Clark, bassist Chris Hillman and drummer Michael Clarke got together in 1964, hoping to be L.A.’s answer to the Beatles. They found their calling as the first great folk-rock band, transforming Bob Dylan songs into tightly wound electric marvels, and grew steadily more adventurous across two years of hits. Then everything went sideways: In short order, all but McGuinn peeled off and their commercial fortunes nosedived. Newcomer Gram Parsons became the Byrds’ leader, steering them toward country music, but he split after one groundbreaking album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and McGuinn soldiered on. Elbow grease didn’t make up for the lost magic, and by 1973 the 11th incarnation of the Byrds had called it quits. Though subsequent reunions were brief and ineffectual, their inventions birthed great music in the ’80s (Tom Petty’s and R.E.M.’s extrapolations of folk rock) and again recently (bearded buckaroos such as Devendra Banhart). Parsons died in 1973, Clark in 1991, Clarke in 1993. Crosby, a longtime addict, nearly died on many occasions.ESSENTIAL
The Byrds, Mr. Tambourine Man
The Byrds, Greatest Hits
The Byrds, Sweetheart of the Rodeo
GREAT
The Byrds, Fifth Dimension
The Byrds, Younger Than Yesterday
The Byrds, The Notorious Byrd Brothers
CHECK IT OUT
The Byrds, Turn! Turn! Turn!
The Byrds, (Untitled)
The Byrds, There Is A Season
BE CAREFUL
The Byrds, Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde
The Byrds, Ballad of Easy Rider
The Byrds, Live At the Fillmore February 1969
FOR FANS ONLY
The Byrds, Byrdmaniax
The Byrds, Farther Along
The Byrds, Byrds
