Album Reviews

A “country” album from The Byrds? Back in 1968 when this album was released, “Country” was the enemy, the home of beer-swilling, drug-warrior, war in Vietnam supporting, long hair-hating rednecks.

Predictably, the record flopped but over time it has gathered strength. Today the Nashville-recorded set is considered one of the most important and influential LPs among the second wave of “country-rock” albums.

As my friend Ken Kessler insists on pointing out, everything The Everly Brothers did back in the 1950s was “country-rock” as was Conway Twitty’s “It’s Only Make Believe,” among others. Gram Parsons did not invent country-rock, Kessler also insists on pointing out, but what Parsons did or did not invent is not the point of Parsons’ greatness.

The album’s backstory is almost as interesting as the record itself, and by all means be sure to read John Nork’s stupendous Byrds story elsewhere on this site and his interviews with McGuinn, Hillman and David Crosby (Crosby, of course, had left the group before this record was made).

Much has been written about how due to legal issues and McGuiinn’s concern that his group was being undermined, he erased and re-recorded some of Parson’s vocal performances that can now be found on expanded CD versions of this album.

That is true, but some of Parsons’ most affecting vocals and best tunes, “Hickory Wind” and “One Hundred Years From Now” made it onto the original LP and alone are worth the price of admission. He does a good job on Merle Haggard’s “Life In Prison,” the sound of which is strongly reminiscent of what would later become The Flying Burrito Brothers.

However, the rest of the country/honky-tonk album isn’t exactly filler. Two of Dylan’s “basement tape” tunes made it here before Dylan’s versions were released and there are effective covers of Woody Guthrie’s “Pretty Boy Floyd,” Merle Haggard’s “Life In Prison,” and William Bell’s classic “You Don’t Miss Your Water.” A mocking-sounding cover of The Louvin Brothers’ “The Christian Life” won’t even please atheists.

Joining McGuinn and Hillman are some Nashville cats as well as Parsons and the late great Clarence White, so you can be sure of some great string twanging.

With engineering by Roy Halee and Charlie Bragg you can be sure of great sound as well, with this reissue sounding remarkably true to the original Columbia “360 Sound” edition. It’s rich and warm-sounding, with particularly three dimensional and life-like vocals, especially those of the background singers.

A short, sweet record, with a colorful cover to match the music. The 120g pressing is typical of what Sundazed has been getting lately from Brooklyn Phono: quiet during the music with slight “shushing” sound in between tracks. Not perfect, but very good and considering what Sundazed charges, good enough. Not everything mandates 180g or 200g treatment, though when Sundazed was getting good results at that thickness from the now dismantled Gloversville, NY MCA plant, it was an added bonus. Too bad that plant had to close.

And too bad Sony Music Studios, where R.M.LoVerde cut the lacquer also had to close.