Byrdmaniax

Infobox Album | Name = Byrdmaniax
Type = Album
Artist = The Byrds


Released = June 23, 1971
Recorded = June 2 & October 6 1970 and January 9–January 24 1971
Genre = Rock
Length = 34:04
Label = Columbia/Legacy
Producer = Terry Melcher
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|2|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ktkvikz6bbf9 link]
*Robert Christgau (B-) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=the+byrds link]
*"Rolling Stone" (Not Rated) [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thebyrds/albums/album/221506/review/5941873/byrdmaniax link]
Last album = "Untitled"
(1970)
This album = "Byrdmaniax"
(1971)
Next album = "Farther Along"
(1971)

"Byrdmaniax" is an album by American band The Byrds, released in 1971. It remains one of their most poorly received, largely due to the heavy strings, horns, and gospel chorus overdubbed onto the songs by producer Terry Melcher and arranger Paul Polina, reportedly while The Byrds were on the road and without their approval.

Upon release, "Byrdmaniax" did much to undo the critical standing The Byrds had earned thanks to "Ballad of Easy Rider" and "(Untitled)", and it faded quickly from the public's consciousness, only reaching forty-six in the United States in a short chart stay, and failing to reach the United Kingdom charts at all.

Two of Roger McGuinn's songwriting contributions are collaborations with lyricist Jacques Levy from the aborted country-rock musical "Gene Tryp", an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt". "Kathleen's Song", one of the best-loved of the "Tryp" tunes, was in fact a leftover from the "Untitled" sessions - promo copies for that record actually included the song (under the abbreviated title "Kathleen") on the sleeve track listing, though it was absent from the disc itself. The other two McGuinn compositions are a subtle, modal acoustic ballad ("Pale Blue") and a flop quasi-gospel single, "I Trust".

The Fats Domino pastiche "Tunnel of Love" (by Skip Battin and Kim Fowley) is an adaptation of a poem called "The Garden of Love" by William Blake.

Personnel

* Roger McGuinn - guitar, vocals
* Clarence White - guitar, vocals
* Skip Battin - bass, vocals
* Gene Parsons - drums, vocals
* Paul Polena, esq. - strings, horns & reeds
* Sneaky Pete - steel guitar
* Byron Berline - fiddle
* Larry Knechtel - pianos & organs
* Terry Melcher - piano on "I Trust"

Track listing

#"Glory, Glory" (Art Reynolds) – 4:03
#"Pale Blue" (Roger McGuinn/Gene Parsons) – 2:22
#"I Trust" (McGuinn) – 3:19
#"Tunnel of Love" (Skip Battin/Kim Fowley) – 4:59
#"Citizen Kane" (Battin/Fowley) – 2:36
#"I Wanna Grow up to Be a Politician" (McGuinn/Jacques Levy) – 2:03
#"Absolute Happiness" (Battin/Fowley) – 2:38
#"Green Apple Quick Step" (Gene Parsons/Clarence White) – 1:49
#"My Destiny" (Helen Carter) – 3:38
#"Kathleen's Song" (McGuinn/Levy) – 2:40
#"Jamaica Say You Will" (Jackson Browne) – 3:27

2000 release bonus tracks

"Byrdmaniax" was remastered and re-issued in 2000 with four bonus tracks. Only two were actually from the album sessions - a version of Gene Clark's "Think I'm Gonna Feel Better", sung by Clarence White. (White had played guitar on Clark's original 1967 solo recording of the tune.) And featured as a hidden track was an alternate (first-take) version of "Green Apple Quick Step", with White producing - humming to get Parsons's banjo in tune, and directing his father on harmonica. This tune is also referred to as "Byrdgrass".

The other two bonus tracks are actually from the sessions for their previous album, Untitled. One of them is a langorous version of Dylan's "Just Like a Woman"; the other is a stripped-down, two-guitar version of "Pale Blue".

Singles

#"Glory, Glory" b/w "Citizen Kane" (Columbia 45440) 20 August 1971

ources

* "Byrdmaniax" CD booklet essay, David Fricke, c.2000.
* AllMusicGuide.com
* "Top Pop Albums 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c.2002.