Customer Reviews

The Best of the Byrds Greatest Hits, Volume II

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When this album originally came out in 1972 (a year before the reunion album--the band's last), this Greatest Hits II made a lot of sense. The Byrds previous two albums especially (Byrdmaniax and Farther Along) contained some fairly weak tracks. So compiling a "greatest hits" album (though none of these even cracked the Top 40) was a golden opportunity to compile all the best tracks between 1968's The Notorious Byrd Brothers (not Sweetheart of the Rodeo as the previous reviewer indicated) through 1971's Farther Along.

This collection fails on several accounts:

1) In the CD age a 30-minute CD (actually 30:29) isn't giving you much bang for your buck. The length could eadily have been doubled and still fit on a single disc.

2) Too much attention was paid to the last two studio albums--arguably the weakest of their career. Of the eleven tracks on this disc, these two albums are represented by four songs, including the slight "America's Great National Pastime" and the equally goofy "I Wanna Grow Up To Be a Politician."

3.) Too many great songs were overlooked. Where's David Crosby's "Lady Friend," which was only available as a single (peaked at #82) until it was released on The Byrds Boxed Set? Why only one track from the landmark Sweetheart of the Rodeo? "I Am a Pilgrim" was also released as a single from the album. The Byrds' cover of the Dylan-penned "Lay Lady Lay" was another single-only release until the Boxed Set.

The truth is all of these songs (except "Citizen Kane") are on The Byrds Boxed Set--90 songs of prime Byrds material. If your budget can afford it, get the box. Otherwise, ten bucks will get you some of the great late-period Byrds like "Chestnut Mare," "Ballad of Easy Rider," "Wasn't Born to Follow" and "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man," which belong in any serious Byrds fan's collection. RECOMMENDED (for the budget-minded)

The first thing you'll notice when looking at the track listing for "The Best of the Byrds" is that it contains none of their mid-60s mega-hits (all of which are on the first Greatest Hits album). Like The Beatles, who they were often compared to, The Byrds shifted gears around 1967 and began concentrating on recording great albums. But while The Beatles continued to enjoy singles chart success, The Byrds took their music in a more decidedly anti-commercial direction. Namely, in the wake of Gram Parsons's brief membership in the band, they began incorporating elements of traditional country music into their sound.

What's most noticable on this album is that nearly every song has a strong country flavor. The best tracks are the story song "The Ballad of Easy Rider," one of their best Bob Dylan covers, "You Ain't Going Nowhere," "Jesus is Just Alright" (later made into a hit by The Doobie Brothers in a less country sounding version), "He Was a Friend of Mine," and the political commentary of "I Wanna Grow Up to Be a Politician." While the music is strong, however, this collection is pretty slight at only 11 songs. Additionally, the CD booklet contains only a track listing and a few perfunctory liner notes. A band with a legacy as large as The Byrds should have a more representative anthology album, not to mention CD bonus tracks.

Overall, a short collection of classic material from a band whose stature deserves much more.

Some of these other reviewers just didn't get it. These songs are gems, they are adventurous sonic masterpieces that are in some ways reminiscent of some of the songs on the Beatles White Album.
Not that the Byrds' style is the same, but certain of these songs display such wit and humor that the listener is not sure if a song is a complete parody or partially serious. Yet at the same time the originality of the musical arrangements shine through. If you like some of the White album songs such as Rocky Raccoon, Honey Pie, Back In The U.S.S.R., and Bungalow Bill, then you should like this album. Many of the songs have a countrified sound, like McCartney's Rocky Raccoon, but distinctly Byrds. The Byrds infuse influences from older musical traditions, such as the 1930s tinge on Citizen Kane. The Beatles had done this on Honey Pie, but it was more of a 1920s sound. And the subtle parody of Back In The U.S.S.R. is mirrored by I Wanna Grow Up To Be A Politician.
The songs: Citizen Kane is about ultra-wealthy publisher William Randolph Hearst, who back in the 1930s owned a castle and 40 miles of prime California coastline. The castle was called Xanadu. The major Hollywood movie stars would drop by for wild parties, and the song is a slightly exaggerated account of their escapades.
Tiffany Queen is another song about people who might be having too much fun at parties. Chestnut Mare is the wild horse the narrator is intent on catching, but its not really a wild horse anymore if he catches it, is it?
I wasn't Born To Follow and Easy Rider romanticize the freedom of the individual and the lure of the American Road, pre-sport-utes. Jesus Is Just Alright With Me was paid a tribute when the Doobie Brothers' later version cloned the Byrds' sound almost exactly, and become a hit.
He Was A Friend Of Mine is a folk rock tune expressing the nation's emotions after President Kennedy's assassination.
This eclectic batch of songs somehow fits together as a whole. If you are open to the idea of music combining brilliant electric guitar work and country music influences, along with intelligent lyrics, and some humor, then this could be your CD.

A superb overview of late Byrds! Lets face it, the later Byrds albums were often uneven, but this fine disc collects many of the greatest tracks in one convenient package. Here you can see the transformation of the band from folk pop to country rock. The vocals are top notch. An excellent choice for fans of The Band, The Dead or The Eagles. This album includes some fine and often over looked songs with sharp social criticism. Especially well suited to casual fans of the band, and I recommend it highly. Stand out tracks include `I Wanna Grow Up To Be A Politician', `America's Great National Pastime' and `You Ain't Going Nowhere'. I must admit though, that I find `Chestnut Mare' to be tiresome.

I consider myself to be a great fan of the Byrds, including the latter-day Byrds after everyone was either fired or quit except McGuinn. Clarence White deserves to be the "Sixth Byrd", since he's been playing on Byrds albums since "Younger Than Yesterday". My problem is not with McGuinn's new lineup of players. My problem is with the track selection.

If Columbia is going to feature the faces of these four guys on the cover, then they should not have featured any of the tracks from "Notorious Byrd Bros." or "Sweetheart of the Rodeo". Those two records don't need to be plucked from anyway. They should stand alone and left intact as classic concept albums. They rightfully belong to the likes of Crosby, Hillman, Gram Parsons and Mike Clarke, not Battin and Gene Parsons, whose faces don the cover of "GH Vol.II". Columbia should have recognized that "Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde" started the last phase of the Byrds, where McGuinn was the only remaining original. Therefore, this record should have reflected the best of the Byrds since "Dr. Byrds".

With that being said, I also don't approve of the inclusion of some very terrible songs like "America's Great National Pastime" (this song in particular does not deserve to be under the Byrds title. I have no idea why McGuinn allowed for this to happen), and "I Wanna Grow Up to be a Politician" and "Citizen Kane". Let's get real! These are not good songs! Again, I love the latter-day Byrds, so I've come up with my own version of "Greatest Hits Vol II". I hope some of you fans will agree:

1. Ballad of Easy Rider
2. Chestnut Mare
3. Your Gentle Ways of Loving Me
4. All The Things
5. Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man
6. Just a Season
7. Gunga Din
8. I Trust
9. Kathleen's Song
10. Mae Jean Goes To Hollywood
11. Glory, Glory
12. Bugler

This volume is an attempt to chronicle the Byrds' work from "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" through "Farther Along". Most of the material on the album is quite good, but the last three cuts really don't belong there, especially when there is far better material which was excluded. Further, the inclusion of "He Was a Friend of Mine" on this album makes no sense, as it was recorded by the original lineup several years before. Better song selection would have helped this album immensely. As it is, it seems half-hearted and ultimately disappointing to discriminating Byrds fans, who really should pass on this one.

I agree that at first thought this collection seems spotty-and unnecessary. However, I think the reasoning behind this original release was:

Sony/Columbia's desire to get all the Byrds recordings on the market in the new digital format of the late 80's -early 90's. The floodgates opened when the sound vaults were mined to put product on the market in the new format-some done well-and some-like this-not so well. My copy in not remastered-a direct analog to digital transfer.

Though I don't agree with the track selection, there were hits and album tracks that warranted a follow up to the earlier Greatest Hits, esp. in the new decade of the seventies. And let's face it-record companies are known for milking an artist's material.(CCR)

I believe this patchy album (LP)was initially compiled as a UK release by the European division of CBS records. The late Byrds were very popular in England and only released one album per year. This may have appeared after "Farther Along".

Can you find these tracks in other places? Yes you can-the rematered albums and both box sets do them justice.

One other factor that to consider is this-the album was released originally in the lp/cassette/8-track formats that were popular in the early 70's when 35-40 minutes were pretty much standard fare. Sony/Columbia could have added more tracks to this project as they added bonus tracks to the first greatest hits project when it was remastered in 2000. I don't look for this to happen-esp. since the appearance of the latest box set. In the early 90s bonus tracks were not as common a practice as they are today.

AS my title states-I think the best way to put this release is-FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY-those who want to have everything released under the Byrds name. However, those are the fans who already own the songs on the original recordings. If that is the case-why bother? Also, the "20 Essential Tracks" pretty much covers the ground for those who do not want to purchase the box sets. Think of this release as more of a period piece. As it probably did not sell well, don't look for it to be upgraded. (If you miss this flight-you haven't missed anything). FOR BYRDMANIACS ONLY.