Customer Reviews

Great Speckled Bird

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It is probably fair to say that this is Ian & Sylvia's most important album, and yet it was never sold under their name. It marks an astonishing intersection of roads, bringing together the well-known folk duo, drummer N.D.Smart III (already of Barry & the Remains and Mountain and later a Gram Parsons sideman), two Canadian newcomers who would enjoy higher profile careers afterward (Buddy Cage and Amos Garrett) and Todd Rundgren as producer while Nazz was still in business. This high-powered concoction yielded one of the best country rock albums of all time.

Released in 1969 on the Ampex label for the five minutes that this old recording equipment manufacturer flirted with running a record company, "Great Speckled Bird" immediately sank without a trace and remains a genuine dark horse today. A search of "Ian & Sylvia" will not pull up this release on Amazon; you have to already know about it even to think of buying it.

And buy it you should. Propelled by the toughest country rock sound anybody was doing in 1969, Ian Tyson brings together a handful of timeless classic songs seldom matched, particularly "Calgary," "Long Long Time to Get Old," "Flies in the Bottle" and "Rio Grande." Sylvia's contributions are suprisingly modest here but her "Truckers Cafe" is a classic country woman's lament.

It's tempting to imagine what might have become of this record if it had been released on a proper record label and if it had been billed as "Ian & Sylvia & the Great Speckled Bird." Surely it would now be on every record shelf that also holds "Sweatheart of the Rodeo," "Nashville Skyline" and Michael Nesmith's first few solo albums.

"Great Speckled Bird" comes around on cd about as often as Halley's Comet, and usually for a similarly short duration of time. My advice is to get this true classic of the country-rock genre as quickly as you can, while it's available. Originally issued in 1970 on Bearsville Records, this album is on a par with "Sweetheart of the Rodeo", "Workingman's Dead", "The Gilded Palace of Sin", and "Music From Big Pink". It truly is that great.

Previously known as a folk duo, Canadians Ian Tyson and Sylvia Fricker went to Nashville to record this countrified effort. Todd Rundgren, also a Bearsville artist, was enlisted to produce. The original album featured an even dozen country-inflected tunes done to perfection. All were Tyson and Fricker originals except for "Crazy Arms", and the material is uniformly strong, with clear vocals and sparkling musicianship from beginning to end.

The contributions of Amos Garrett (guitar) and Buddy Cage (pedal steel) deserve special mention. Garrett was and is a very special talent. He clearly was an influence on another guitar great, Richard Thompson, who has named Garrett as one of his favorites. Garrett's lead guitar alternately stings and purrs with a string-bending technique he developed from listening to a pedal steel. He later worked with Geoff and Maria Muldaur, who were produced by Joe Boyd--the producer of R. Thompson's band Fairport Convention. I'm fairly confident that Boyd exposed the young Thompson to Garrett's playing, when Thompson was in the process of breaking free of Fairport. In 1972, as part of a project called "The Bunch", Thompson also covered "Crazy Arms" in a fashion similar to Great Speckled Bird.

Buddy Cage (pedal steel) went on to win further laurels with New Riders of the Purple Sage, after leaving Ian and Sylvia's band. Together on "Great Speckled Bird", Garrett and Cage interweave beautifully. They sound like they were born to play together.

My favorite songs on this album are "Long, Long Time to Get Old" which has rollicking, unforgettable pedal steel work from Cage, "Flies in A Bottle" (poignantly sung by Tyson), "Disappearing Woman" and "We Sail". The last two are great Sylvia Fricker compositions that together bring the album to a close. "We Sail" is a hymnlike anthem that in its own way is as stirring as another 1970 tune--the Beatles' "Let it Be".

If you aren't too familiar with Ian and Sylvia, just know that they were great songwriters (Ian wrote "Four Strong Winds", Sylvia authored "You Were On My Mind"). Ian has a very straightforward, outdoorsy tenor voice that occasionally sounds like Roy Orbison. Sylvia sounds like June Carter Cash with a vibrato, which may take a novice a few listens to get used to... but the material is so strong on "Great Speckled Bird" that nothing detracts from it.

You won't regret buying this album. If you've never heard it, you are in for a treat.

Ian and Sylvia were innovators in the "old" folk days. Their harmonies and arrangements still leave people breathless. With the addition of Amos Garrett and company to create Great Speckled Bird it just got better and better. The harmonies deepened and became more comples and Sylvia's voice soared to the heavens. Harmony? Listen to "We Sail" alone in a quiet room at decent volume and prepare to be amazed. Some albums don't deserve to be reissued.. my question is why did it take so long for this materpiece to reappear

This album is from Ian and Sylvia's early days. There was a freshness to their music. From "Crazy Arms" to "Truckers Cafe" it has an enthusiasm that will have you hanging on every song.

I was really glad to find this item. This album was the crucible for the folk-rock era. Ian Tyson always had the ability to select the best leading edge musicians to make up his various bands but he outdid even himself on this album. Ian & Sylvia were the "gold standard" in this era of electric folk music. The vinyl is a collector's item.

I came across this album just before the summer of 1970 while visiting Los Angeles. Instantly it became one of my favorites of the year, a year that included a lot of gems.
It came at a time when The Band was huge, The original Flying Burrito Bros. had already disbanded, Linda Ronstadt was in full force w/ her Country/Folk flavor, also influenced very much by Gram Parsons, and even the Grateful Dead were now more influenced by folk/country sound.

Now...Gram, Jerry, Janis, Ian & Sylvia among other great bands/influences were a big part of the famous Canadian Train Ride in 1970 that was producing some of the greatest Americana Music that we know today.
This GSB Lp provides what it was like. If you've seen the movie/documentary, you don't really catch what this LP/CD is like.
This is a must, if you're into really great Americana ala Gram Parsons/FBB music.
I disagree with those that think that this was mixed in really quick. It is so TIGHT, I never get tired of listening to it. In fact, once the CD became available, it was one of the CD's I purchased way back when. My LP was so worn out, it had to be replaced.
My favorite tunes include; Calgary....Love What You're Doing Child...Long Time To Get Old...Truckers Cafe.
Really, the only song that I don't rate an 'A' is "We Sail". That gets a 'B'.

Ian & Sylvia and Nashville was not a good mix. The entire album seems forced, as if they are trying to be something that they are not. Stick with "Ian & Sylvia's Greatest Hits" or "The Complete Vanguard Recordings", both of which are wonderful if you are a fan of their's.