The Byrds - Phoenix (1970)
For most of 1969 Roger McGuinn was busy writing songs for a country-rock stage production of Ibsen's Peer Gynt, but after writing twenty-six songs the project was eventually abandoned. Of those songs, just four turned up on The Byrds 1970 album '(Untitled)', with a few more being held over for 'Byrdmaniax', and the rest being locked away in the vaults. When the time came to start recording their next album proper, the band thought that it was about time they released a live album, and so two New York concerts in February and March 1970 were recorded, including a sixteen minute version of 'Eight Miles High', which would eventually take up one complete side of the double album. It was to be titled 'Phoenix', to signify the artistic rebirth that the band felt this album represented, but because they still hadn't made up their mind about a title when producer Terry Melcher had to submit paperwork to the record company, he put the placeholder '(Untitled)' on it, and due to a misunderstanding at the pressing plant that became the album's official title. For this reconstruction I've replaced the live 'Lover Of The Bayou' with the studio version, added in some of those songs from the aborted Gene Tryp stage show, and completed it with some alternate versions and out-takes recorded at the same sessions. I've also included a live recording of 'It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)', as this was recorded in the studio sessions, but has yet to appears on record. It's a shortish double album, but it does indicate that 'Phoenix' would have been an apt title.
Track listing
01 Lover Of The Bayou02 Chestnut Mare03 Truck Stop Girl04 All The Things05 Yesterday's Train06 Hungry Planet07 Just A Season08 Take A Whiff On Me09 Willin'10 You All Look Alike11 Kathleen's Song12 Just Like A Woman13 White's Lighting #114 Welcome Back Home15 It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)16 White's Lightning #217 Amazing Grace
Personally, I never liked the arrival of Skip Battin in the band--his songwriting was from a kitsch-pop place, not Byrdsian--so I have always felt that 'Ballad' was the last great Byrds album. As far as that goes, this reconstructed Phoenix would get more plays from me than either Untitled or Byrdmaniax. Thanks for making us think again.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Battin never fit. Ballad could have been a much better album as well, as the out takes now available have shown. Maybe had York not left, more of his vocals would have been included, including his better take on Tulsa County.
DeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteI will probably do my own take on "Phoenix" with that - as a single album. I always hated "Hungry Planet". And with "Welcome Back Home" minus its long Buddhist coda it's much easier to switch things around.
Agreed with Ken that Battin's style didn't fit in well with the roots-rock they were making at the time, though at least on (Untitled) he was reigned in a bit.
Hate to be that guy, but "Just Like A Woman" (which I personally find quite dull, so it makes sense it didn't make an album) is from the Byrdmaniax sessions in January 1971.
Would agree, "Just Like..." isn't very good, mostly due to Gene Parson's drumming. He could play country very well, but not much else. Agree with your comments on Hungry Planet and Welcome back Home as well. Not a Battin fan at all, be it his playing, singing , or writing. Wrong guy for that band.
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