Customer Reviews

Byrd Parts: Oddities, Curios, Rarities & Essentials by Members of the Byrds, Alone and Together 1964-1980

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This collection is primarily comprised of rare recordings by various combinations of Byrd members, or by various performers with the Byrds as session performers. The most valuable cuts are three outtakes from the Fantastic Expedition of Dillard and Clark, presented in digital format for the first time. Aside from a couple of ISB cuts and some Clarence White stuff, there is very little to salvage here......unless you have a sense of humour.

Terry Melcher's version of Just a Season might be the funniest performance since William Shatner's interpretation of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds! Its painfully obvious that he has neither the singing nor timing skills of his mother, Doris Day. He should have stayed where he belonged, on the other side of the sound wall.

Jackie DeShannon's Splendour in the Grass, while having all the original members playing on it, does not have a particularly Byrdsy sound to it. The David Hemming's tracks are very commercial sounding, like the stuff you might have heard on a Dean Martin TV special during the period.

If you care, there's some pre-Byrds Crosby tracks as well as a track each from the Hillmen, Jet Set, and Beefeaters.

If you really care, there's a Skip Batin track, and a couple of Gene Parsons tunes.

And, if you'll listen to just about any damn thing, there's three tracks from the dreadful McGuinn, Clark and Hillman days.

It's a weird brew, but not a ripoff. I would only recommend it to dangerously fanatical Byrds enthusiaist........like myself.

There is some interesting stuff here. One day this CD will be out of print and go for big money. You'll wish you'd scored a copy! Is it stunning? no. I was pretty underwhelmed when I first heard it, but some of the tracks have grown on me. The David Hemmings (yes, David Hemmings - the star of Blow Up) tracks are decent . I don't really agree with the previous reviewer's opinion. They are lavishly produced, but don't have the screechy horn and string arrangements that some sixties recordings are ruined by. The Dillard and Clark tracks are available elsewhere, but are still excellent. The International Submarine Band really rock! If you are dying for more Byrds, this is worth picking up for it's oddness. Next, seek out comps by the Nightcrawlers and Birdwatchers.

Nice stuff but some not so nice could of put parts 1&2 on a single c.d.

For those of you, who like me, track down every bit of Gram Parsons' musical legacy, you need not bother with this. The two International Submarine Band "rarities" are on the Deluxe two volume Legacy Edition of Sweetheart of the Rodeo which has many other must have Parsons material, included the songs that Gram recorded for "Sweethearts" but was replaced because (Depending on who you believe) of a legal issue or McGuinn's fragile ego. Don't bother with this, unless non-Parsons Byrds is your thing.