Sweetheart of the Rodeo [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Extra tracks]

The Byrds | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 25, 1997)
• Original Release Date: 1968
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Extra tracks
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002AHB
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (100 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,720 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

After Chris Hillman dragged new friend Gram Parsons into the Byrds, they made an album as close to a country masterpiece as a rock act could ever make. In fact, the only tunes better than the definitive covers here of songs by Bob Dylan ("You Ain't Going Nowhere"), Guthrie ("Pretty Boy Floyd"), and the Louvin Brothers ("The Christian Life") are Parsons's originals, especially the incomparable "Hickory Wind." Sweetheart wasn't the first country-rock album, but with its gorgeous three-way harmonies and sweet pedal steel, it remains the best. --David Cantwell

Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: BYRDS
Title: SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO
Street Release Date: 03/25/1997
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 69 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Landmark album May 31, 2003

By Peter Durward Harris HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD

This album was considered revolutionary when it was originally recorded - a rock band recording a country album with a rock edge - but it was so influential that nobody hearing it now will think there is anything revolutionary about it.

Bob Dylan wrote two of the songs - You ain't going nowhere and Nothing was delivered - while there are also covers of songs by soul singer William Bell (You don't miss your water) and Woody Guthrie (Pretty boy Floyd).

Gram Parsons contributed two songs - One hundred years from now and Hickory wind. He also wrote Lazy days, which was recorded for the original album but not included on it. This is added as one of several bonus tracks, some of which feature Gram as lead singer instead of Roger McGuinn.

The remaining tracks are covers of country songs that had previously been recorded by (among others) George Jones and Merle Haggard.

Not long after this album was recorded, Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons left and formed the Flying Burrito brothers. The music here set the pattern for that band and other country-rock bands such as Poco and the early Eagles music. But in the new millennium, mainstream pop, rock and country music all seem far removed from this album. Modern singers and bands doing music of this type are classified as alt-country. Although the term alt-country covers many different styles, the influence of this album is obvious in many alt-country singers and bands.

The music here is excellent on its own merit. It was not very successful at the time but has grown in status with the passage of time.

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterpiece January 26, 2000

By Richard Malitz

Format:Audio CD

Let me start this review saying this: I did NOT like country music when I bought this album. I bought it thinking it would be a good "starter" album if I wanted to check out country. Well, not only did I like this album, I love it. It is the best Byrds album to me, and yet it is 100% country. There is basically no connection to the classic Byrds sound, unless you count McGuinn and Hillman's vocals. With new member Gram Parsons, he took the band into country heaven. I have always liked pedal steel guitar, and on this album, it is on every song! It is heaven to listen to. The 2 Dylan covers are my favorite Dylan covers the band has done. While Parsons only sings on 3 cuts on the album (due to contractural problems his vocals were taken off some songs)the new CD reissue has the original versions with him singing lead vocals. Now you can compare One Hundred Years From Now and The Christian Life to the originals. The best part is both versions of both songs are great. You also get some additional bonus tracks and an awesome instrumental featuring pedal steel vs. Clarence White, who's regular guitar playing is amazing. Remember, this is 100% country, and some of the finest music I have heard. Hearing McGuinn, Hillman, and Parsons sing lead on separate tracks showcases 3 amazing voices. I love Parson's voice the best, he is pure country, and it blows me away at how young he was. I was expecting to see 4 hippies in 1968 with long hair and beards on the cover. Wrong, they look like 4 clean cut college kids! You must buy this album, I did on a whim and I can't get enough. One more reason to buy this CD, this is my first review, and I had to mention THIS CD out of over 600 that I own!

51 of 55 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Major Statement from Out of Left Field June 4, 2001

By Jan P. Dennis VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

I'll never forget the first time I heard Sweetheart of the Rodeo. I was a grad student at Indiana University in English. It was 1969. The Vietnam war was just cranking up.

Talk about conflicted!! At that time, I was probably the world's #1 Byrds fan. Still under the spell of their matchless previous release, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, I was completely unprepared for Sweetheart. Yeah, they'd done a few country-tinged tunes before--"Time Between," "The Girl with No Name, "Goin' Back," "Wasn't Born to Follow"--but "The Christian Life," "You're Still on My Mind," and "Life in Prison"?? What's going on here?!

It was a brilliant move to bridge the hardcore country stuff with "You Ain't Going Nowhere," "Nothing Was Delivered," and "Hickory Wind." And that's what won me over. I could immediately relate to those latter tunes, and they provided the link to the uncompromising country stuff, which I ended up liking nearly as well. Is this the ur-country/rock statement? I don't know, and I really don't care. I do know that it's held up all these years as well as anything else in this backwater sub-genre of the great American popular music river.