Hyde’ was even less successful than ‘Sweetheart’ with the band blaming Columbia and Bob Dylan producer Bob Johnson’s production of the album. It is the only Byrds album that features Roger McGuinn on lead vocals on every track which was a deliberate attempt to forge a link with the Byrds’ legacy. Hyde’ and the music reflected the implied schizophrenia in its title and included country rock, psychedelia and folk rock which was, while eclectic, a typical Byrds mix. Furthermore, despite its now legendary status, ‘Sweetheart Of The Rodeo’ was not particularly successful when it was released and Roger McGuinn was not fully supportive of the move to country rock having originally planned for the album to be a history of 20th century American music, with country being simply only part of this narrative. McGuinn may have got himself a new version of the Byrds, but life was not going to be easy particularly with the late ‘60s practice of record companies requiring bands to deliver a new album every 6 months or so. Once he was a member of the Byrds, White lobbied for his old Nashville West friend and drummer Gene Parsons to replace ‘Sweetheart’ drummer Kevin Kelley and when Hillman himself jumped ship, McGuinn recruited session musician John York on bass who was replaced in 1970 by Skip Battin.
#THE BYRDS EASY RIDER FULL#
His logic was that White’s technical skills meant he could continue the new country rock direction and also play the more psychedelic older material and McGuinn was in full and eager agreement. In one of his final acts with the Byrds, Chris Hillman was key to Clarence White joining as a full-time member after playing on various earlier Byrd’s albums when he recommended that White should be asked to join the band. The success of the original Byrds was due to the varied influences and talents of the original members Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke and McGuinn wanted to rebuild the Byrds as an instrumentally proficient unit with his signature guitar sound and the country-influenced sounds of emerging guitar hero Clarence White, who had already changed the course of bluegrass with his acoustic guitar playing and was now beginning to do the same for country and rock music with his innovative electric guitar playing. However, this very brief summary ignores completely the Roger McGuinn incarnation of the Byrds which he convened after ‘Sweetheart’ and Chris Hillman’s and Gram Parson’s subsequent departure to form the Flying Burrito Brothers leaving McGuinn as the last original member. The Byrds’ place in the pantheon of rock greats is assured given their influence on folk rock, psychedelic rock and with ‘Sweetheart Of The Rodeo’ country rock and subsequently americana.
0 kommentar(er)
