| Author | Message | ||
     Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1906 Registered: 01-2005 |
The way cool Gene Parsons/Clarence White invention of the StringBender (B-Bender) guitar, as told by Gene Parsons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIilq3JdC T4&feature=related | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 785 Registered: 10-2008 |
isnt that a bit like saying "the smiths craig gannon.....", or "siouxie and the banshees sid vicious..."? | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1907 Registered: 01-2005 |
Kevin, I can see your point. However Gene did put in a four year stint with The Byrds, which was longer then most of the other members. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 786 Registered: 10-2008 |
Really? I always thought he spent 6 months, or a year tops in the band. To be honest, I never even normally think of gene parsons whenever i think of the byrds. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2444 Registered: 03-2005 |
Thanks for that Michael. I've never seen an actual explanation for the device. I want one! Parsons is quite a shade tree mechanic. Kevin, if you already know this I apologize in advance. This is Gene Parsons, not Gram Parsons. Gene is undoubtedly better known for his association with the Byrds and the late great guitarist Clarence White than with anything else. For example he was in the band for what is my personal favorite of their late albums, "The Ballad of Easy Rider." He played drums but he was actually a multi-instrumentalist and a not-bad songwriter. Not a lightweight at all. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1908 Registered: 01-2005 |
Having lost interest any interst in the Flying Burrito Burritos after Gram Parsons and subsequently a year or so later when Chris Hillman left, I didn't know the following until I looked it up a few hours ago: Gene Parsons hooked up with orginal Flying Burrito Brothers members Sneaky Pete Kleinow and Chris Ethridge in the 1975 reformed version of the Flying Burrito Brothers. The refromed Burritos with Gene and Sneaky Pete released two mid 70's albums with an ex-Canned Heat dude (Joel Scott Hill) on vocals. Chris Ethridge was only on the first one, 1975's Flying Again, and was replaced on the second album, 1976's Airborne, by yet another ex-Byrd, Skip Battin. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 787 Registered: 10-2008 |
randy, you are right. im getting all my genes and grams and parsons mixed up. it could easily have been clark(e)'s with the byrds as well couldnt it!! i guess its because ive been thinking about gene clark a lot recently as well. i've been reading the autobiography, and today i received a cd copy of the vinyl album of gene's two sides to every story album courtesy of cosmo. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1909 Registered: 01-2005 |
Randy, No problemo. Gene no doubt could have gone the same route as Big Star's Andy Hummel did (give up being a professional musician for a career as a mechanical engineer with a large company), if he wanted to. I always had read that it was a Clarence White invention and it was certainly his idea, but without Gene the B bender wasn't going to happen. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2445 Registered: 03-2005 |
Kevin, how's the book going for you? If I'm not mistaken I read it at the beginning of 2005. Even though I already knew his life was fraught, the damn thing put me into a depression for the whole time it took me to read it. | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 319 Registered: 05-2005 |
Gunga Din is a favourite of mine Randy, Gene Parsons song on the Easy Rider album - it's got a Glenn Campbell/Jimmy Webb sound | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 697 Registered: 05-2005 |
I'll chime in here ;)(Someone had to say it when you're talking about the Byrds!) I LOVE Ballad of Easy Rider the album. So many great songs - AND without the usual brilliant suspects(Crosby, Gene Clark, Hillman and Gram - man, what a band!!!). What has really gotten to me over the last half decade or so is the GREAT voice of John York. Has the Gene Clark book been out long? | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 788 Registered: 10-2008 |
Randy, I'm terrible with books. I read the first few chapters a few weeks ago but have only just started reading it again in the last few days so am still in the part of the book which is covering his early family history. I just never seem to have the time(terrible thing to say when it comes to books I know)but trying to balance working life, with family activities, watching and going to football matches,exercising, watching TV and movies, listening to music etc there just never seems to be the time. Dont know how everybody else manages it :-) Geoff, my copy of the book is 2005 | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2446 Registered: 03-2005 |
Don't use the word "brilliant" and David Crosby in the same sentence, Geoff, unless the word "not" is in there someplace. I credit the guy with having a great harmony voice and being an inventive rhythm guitarist--I actually like his parts better than McGuinn's parts on "Set You Free This Time" for example. I also credit "Everybody's Been Burned" and "Lady Friend" as good songs. "Mind Gardens" is a permanent dated joke and most of the other things he's written are ho-hum at best. BUT, the guy was a toxic egomaniac with not even a 20th of Gene Clark's talent (or Graham Nash' or Neil Young's). He was a spoiled child of Hollywood privilege and acted the part to perfection--a destructive force wherever he was, never offering enough good to outweigh the bad. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1911 Registered: 01-2005 |
Randy pretty much nailed David Crosby. I would add though that "Renaissance Fair" (Crosby song co-written with McGuinn) is one of my favorites from Younger than Yesterday. However, without Chris Hillman's four songs ("The Girl with No Name","Thoughts and Words" "Time Between" and "Have You Seen Her Face?") YTY would rank pretty low in the Byrds cataloge. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1912 Registered: 01-2005 |
Randy pretty much nailed David Crosby. I would add though that "Renaissance Fair" (Crosby song co-written with McGuinn) is one of my favorites from Younger than Yesterday. However, without Chris Hillman's four songs ("The Girl with No Name","Thoughts and Words" "Time Between" and "Have You Seen Her Face?") YTY would rank pretty low in the Byrds cataloge. | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 322 Registered: 05-2005 |
I watched 'The Limey' again the other day and 'It Happens Each Day' is on the soundtrack when they drive up the beautiful Big Sur road, that's a Crosby song (outtake on YTY reissue) which I really like. I would have been in the Crosby camp for Triad's inclusion on NBB too but can see that it may have been too much at the time. I like all the incarnations of the Byrds and agree with Geoff that they have an amazing dynasty. So Crosby was definitely a twat but a talented twat and the music industry is full of those(and Graham Nash wrote Marrakech Express) | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 320 Registered: 02-2007 |
Triad's a great song. Jefferson Airplane did a great version on Crown of Creation i think. | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 324 Registered: 05-2005 |
yeh the Airplane version is cool | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2450 Registered: 03-2005 |
As the Hollies song it was originally written to be, "Marrakesh Express" would have been glorious. Here's a question: Which album would have been better? A third Byrds album without Crosby but with Clark, or the third album we got (without Clark except on Eight Miles High)? Crosby drove Clark out of the band. The fear of flying was only part of it; Crosby worked relentlessly to drive Clark out. The price of Crosby was the loss of Clark. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 793 Registered: 10-2008 |
i've never liked crosby but had no concrete reason. he looks and acted like a twat, but that was about all i had to go on. randy's info above just enforces my feeling. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1913 Registered: 01-2005 |
Hard to think of all the ramifications of Gene staying in the Byrds after the second album and Crosby out. However here is one: I would have loved to have seen a Byrds line-up with Roger, Gene, Chris, Michael, and eventually Gram Parsons and Clarence White. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2451 Registered: 03-2005 |
I think as a matter of reality, Gene's bipolar disorder would have still resulted in his leaving eventually, probably at about the same time that Crosby ended up leaving. So maybe you'd get two more albums with him. A band with Gene Clark and Gram Parsons would indeed be interesting. "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" could have dispensed with so many of the traditionals and had more originals. I have to wonder though if they would be able to be in the same band personality and ego-wise. Would they have gotten along with each other? Would McGuinn have ultimately felt totally overwhelmed? Really fun things to think about Michael! | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 702 Registered: 05-2005 |
We ALL know Crosby is/was, as you North Americans say, "an ASSHOLE". When I saw CSN a couple of years back, Nash was calling him that after he started doing the intro to Mr Tambourine Man as people were yelling out requests! Having said that, Lady Friend, Everybody's been burned, Renaissance Fair, Triad and Draft Morning are not bad at all! When you add "Laughing" (from "If I could only remember my name"), apparently written near the time when he was "wiped" (so to speak) from the Byrds, there is no doubt, in my mind, that he was a talented composer. I don't like him as a person but I wish I could compose songs like the afore mentioned. | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 325 Registered: 05-2005 |
'If only I could remember my name' is a really good album. The Byrds story is complicated and involves alot of competing egos plus the dysfunctions inherent in almost all bands, Crosby is a major part of the first part of the story and of the Byrds magic like it or not. The subsequent line-ups of the band would never have existed if they had remained a stable entity but then we would have missed out on Gene Clark's amazing solo stuff which is some of my favourite music. I like Graham Nash Randy just pointing out that he could write trite hippy shit as well as the next man | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1039 Registered: 08-2004 |
Crosby is a self-absorbed millionaire & has been for a long time. Whenever he's interviewed the sun seems to shine & so does his yacht. It's difficult to bond with his problems in that context. Still it doesn't mean a lot. Gram Parsons comes from a privileged background too. The biggest difference between the two is Gram didn't get the chance to reflect on his mistakes or foibles & therefore isn't in the same 'asshole' league. The same could be said of Gene Clark. My Byrds collection & knowledge is based purely on the collective sound. So I've not delved too far into who wrote/sang/played, what/where/when? I don't even know what a lot of the songs are called. My age & location has stopped me hearing any CSNY material too. Which helps. As far as I'm concerned Crosby was Lionel Hutz' sponsor & look what happened to him!?!? | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1916 Registered: 01-2005 |
Crosby's 59' 1947 Alden schooner was up for sale for 1 million dollars last year. I don't know if he sold it of not. http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/b oatFullDetails.jsp?boat_id=2007887&ybw=& units=Feet¤cy=USD&access=Public&li sting_id=76263&url | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 703 Registered: 05-2005 |
Cosmo, "If I could only remember my name" is one of my favourite albums (rereleased) of the last 10 years. Very post surf chillout music. The vocal harmonies are amazing, especially that last great "sigh" with Joni and the rest of the Laurel canyon crew on "Laughing". | ||
| Shane Greentree Member Username: Realinspectorshane Post Number: 39 Registered: 03-2007 |
Cool to see that a couple of other people on here like If I Could Only Remember My Name, cause its a pretty great album. The harmonies on What Are Their Names? (its sad the lyrics to that song are still so topical) are a highlight, even though they're dominated by Grace Slick. The last track also really reminds me of Tim Buckley's 'Starsailor' from about the same time. A shame he didn't do much more in that experimental direction. I think Croz probably has a little more humor/self-awareness about himself now than he used to in his big asshole days... Hell, even the liner notes in his Voyage box-set opens by quoting a Simpsons bit about him: Barney: Wow, David Crosby! You're my hero! Crosby: [flattered] You like my music? Barney: You're a musician? | ||
| Shane Greentree Member Username: Realinspectorshane Post Number: 40 Registered: 03-2007 |
Also, its well worth checking out this 1970 Crosby/Nash performance filmed for the BBC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfycUkxbn lk [part 1 of 5] There's also a great Neil Young set from around the same time/series floating around on there... | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1917 Registered: 01-2005 |
Anybody familiar with the movie Thunderheart? An overweight David Crosby plays a racist South Dakota bartender. Val Kilmer, Grahman Greene, and Sam Shepard are wonderful in it. |