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Geoff Holmes
Member
Username: Geoff

Post Number: 91
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Saturday, April 01, 2006 - 09:10 am:   

Yet again I've just read something by someone telling the world that The Notorious Byrd Brothers is the best album again. I votes for Younger than Yesterday. What about you chaps and chapesses? Gram, Desert Rose Band, McGuinn, Crosby,Burritos and all other permutations with a Byrd can be included.
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Jerry Clark
Member
Username: Jerry

Post Number: 222
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Saturday, April 01, 2006 - 09:33 am:   

Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, by a country rock mile.
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kevin
Member
Username: Kevin

Post Number: 260
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Saturday, April 01, 2006 - 04:03 pm:   

sweethearts of the rodeo

if we're talking offshoots - gene clark, white light
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 265
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Sunday, April 02, 2006 - 06:40 am:   

It was almost going to be 5D, but then Gene Clark quit. Barring that I agree with Geoff's choice of "Younger than Yesterday."
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Erhard Grundl
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Username: Erhardgrundl

Post Number: 12
Registered: 09-2005
Posted on Sunday, April 02, 2006 - 07:13 pm:   

i think that everything the Byrds recorded at the start of their carreer with Terry Melcher producing is just magical. They weren`t bad from the third album onwards but never reached that high again.
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Mark Sweeney
Member
Username: Domestique

Post Number: 6
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Sunday, April 02, 2006 - 07:18 pm:   

I'd have to go with "Younger Than Yesterday"; I just prefer jangly Byrds to the country incarnation, and YTY was as good as the jangly stuff got.
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Jeff Whiteaker
Member
Username: Jeff_whiteaker

Post Number: 246
Registered: 10-2004
Posted on Sunday, April 02, 2006 - 07:52 pm:   

another one here for "younger than yesterday." and i, too, prefer the jangly 12-string pop to the country stuff.
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Guy Ewald
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Username: Guy_ewald

Post Number: 135
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Monday, April 03, 2006 - 03:13 am:   

Turn! Turn! Turn!
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Lawrence Mikkelsen
Member
Username: Simplythrilledhoney

Post Number: 24
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Monday, April 03, 2006 - 11:00 am:   

if "Younger than Yesterday" didn't have "Mind Gardens" on it (and maybe had "Lady Friend" instead) it'd probably be my all-time favourite album. I LOVE The Byrds, but I do think they never quite made the 5 star album they could have. "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" is a great album, although to pick one of the first six is pretty hard.

As far as solo stuff goes, Gene Clark's "No Other", no question.

And back to my rant about Mojo, Uncut et. al, it'd be great to see one of those mags do an article on some 60s bands which weren't quite as famous as The Beatles and The Stones. I'd like to see an article giving credit to bands like The Zombies, The Byrds, The Left Banke, The Loving Spoonful etc. - those bands (The Byrds and The Zombies) have had a MASSIVE effect on indie music in particular, but reading those magazines you think that The Beatles and The Stones (and maybe Hedrix and The Who) were the only acts iin town.
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kevin
Member
Username: Kevin

Post Number: 270
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, April 03, 2006 - 03:34 pm:   

Lawrence, Uncut did a massive Byrds feature a few years back, it was as you can imagine very complimentary
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Michael Bachman
Member
Username: Michael_bachman

Post Number: 58
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Monday, April 03, 2006 - 04:49 pm:   

I have all the Byrds studio albums with the exception of the 1973 reunion turd. I need to explore solo Gene Clark. However, with that said it's down to either Younger than Yesterday, The Gilded Palace of Sin or Grievous Angel. I'll take Grievous Angel.
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Peter Collins
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Username: Tyroneshoelaces

Post Number: 105
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, April 03, 2006 - 05:18 pm:   

Third Dimension for me
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Hardin Smith
Member
Username: Manosludge

Post Number: 191
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Monday, April 03, 2006 - 08:00 pm:   

Younger Than Yesterday is, to me, the classic Byrds sound, and hence, my favorite, though all the country stuff is pretty incredible, too...

My favorite single song by them, though, might be "Chestnut Mare" - it just seems to be the perfect marriage of lyrics and music and it adds up to a compelling little tale. No matter how many times I've heard it, I alway hang on every word when it comes on...
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 270
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Tuesday, April 04, 2006 - 03:35 am:   

I confess I've always found "Chestnut Mare" embarrassing. I'm not an animal rights person but the lyrics to that song really creep me out.

For a truly great horse song, I refer you to "Barney" by Ian & Sylvia about putting down an old horse. It's deeply moving. Ian & Sylvia are also seriously underrated. Their Todd Rundgren-produced "Great Speckled Bird" album is right up there with the likes of "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" and "Gilded Palace of Sin" in the country rock pantheon.

I'm so glad somebody mentioned the Lovin' Spoonful. That band has been criminally overlooked for as long as I can remember. In the 60s, the personalities of John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky tended to lead people to think they were bubblegum rather than serious but find me another string of genuinely mature rock songs from the era that can match songs like "Summer in the City," "Darlin' Be Home Soon," "Full Measure," and "Six O'Clock." I credit the Spoonful with the real invention of country rock. They were working on that mix from their very first LP.

If people don't appreciate the unbelievably beautiful Zombies at this point, they're just dead. Take a recording like "She's Coming Home" from 1965. Complex as all hell, so no prayer for commercial success back then but good art? And Colin Blunstone was (and is) as untouchable a singer as Dusty Springfield.

And I've been delighted right along at Jeff Whitaker's championing of Left Banke. They suffered from low budgets, a clueless record company and the unwise choice of a manager but they made some beautiful records even after Michael Brown was gone.
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Peter Collins
Member
Username: Tyroneshoelaces

Post Number: 107
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Tuesday, April 04, 2006 - 12:45 pm:   

I realise now that I called Fifth Dimension Third Dimension. I supposed that's because 60 per cent of the album is excellent.
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Hardin Smith
Member
Username: Manosludge

Post Number: 202
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Tuesday, April 04, 2006 - 03:58 pm:   

Er, I didn't mean to cast myself as a particular lover of "horse songs", Rand. I don't subscribe to Equine Monthly or anything, just like that song - I think it's purty....I always took it as uhhh, whatayacallit, metaphorical, one of them metaphorical thangs. You almost have to, as the lyrics are so fantastic(al), with the protagonist and the horsey falling miles down a canyon into a little pool of water, "about one foot wide and one foot deep"...But maybe I'm wrong, maybe McGuinn should be reported to PETA. :-)

Agree with you completely on Lovin' Spoonful, not so much on the Zombies, who to me, are snore inducing, though I know that's heresy, because they're supposed to be some kind of pop holy grail...
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Guy Ewald
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Username: Guy_ewald

Post Number: 136
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Tuesday, April 04, 2006 - 04:29 pm:   

The "invention" of country rock probably belongs to The Everly Brothers, but I agree with all thumbs up for the Lovin' Spoonful. It's odd that Sebastian's talents never translated into the singer-songwriter era too well... those albums on WB don't really conjure the magic.

Really, few people of any era have written songs with the tenderness of "Rain on the Roof" or as much maturity and common sense as "Bes' Friends". Good advise then, good advise now.
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Hardin Smith
Member
Username: Manosludge

Post Number: 207
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Tuesday, April 04, 2006 - 04:55 pm:   

It'll probably be lambasted as a sappy song in these parts ("these parts"? it sounds like I've been watching too many Westerns), but I really love "You didn't have to be so nice". Sheer pop nirvana.
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Guy Ewald
Member
Username: Guy_ewald

Post Number: 137
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Tuesday, April 04, 2006 - 08:15 pm:   

All the Lovin' Spoonful hits were great and most of the tracks on the first three albums too. They were very careful about making each single a different experience too. You Didn't Have To Be So Nice may have a similar toe-tapping feel to Do You Believe In Magic, but Daydream, Rain on the Roof, Nashville Cats, Summer in the City, Jugband Music, Six O'Clock... those are all uniquely classic 45's.
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 277
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Wednesday, April 05, 2006 - 12:41 am:   

Yes but (and now you know you are reading an entry from the inveterate Hollies pugilist) in the later 1960s it was not "cool" to be a "singles band" or a "hit machine." The simple fact is that singles were how you built and maintained your career unless you were lucky enough to hit the super-top commercial level like the Rutles or the Stones. Your albums were not likely to sell without one or two decent-sized radio hits on each one. So the Spoonful were looked down on by the likes of the dull San Francisco psychedelic acts and the purveyors in both the U.S. and the U.K. of endless guitar solos or (for crissake!) drum solos. And now which would you rather hear: "Darlin' Be Home Soon" or "Toad"?

Guy, your mention of the Everlys inspired me to take the Warner Bros. 2-CD antho to work with me. I love that overlooked period of theirs. It is incredible how such perfect records as "Don't Let the Whole World Know," "Gone,Gone,Gone" and "Man with Money" were not giant hits.
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Geoff Holmes
Member
Username: Geoff

Post Number: 97
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Wednesday, April 05, 2006 - 09:38 am:   

Randy, as a Hollies fan, how do you rate Graham Nash's "Songs for Beginners"? I think it's classic.
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 279
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Wednesday, April 05, 2006 - 10:25 pm:   

Hardin, it's a pretty good album. "Songs for Beginners" is the only one of his after exiting the Hollies that I want to listen to because it still carries some of the old Hollies feel to it. "I Used to be a King" is top level.

The loss of Nash was a body blow to the Hollies who leaned heavily on him for original material. Both lead vocalist Allan Clarke and lead guitarist Tony Hicks ultimately took up the slack but it took them a solid several years.

Nash could drift into occasionally embarrassing New Ageish music and the pop sensibilities of the band served as a valuable counterweight. The tension between the hip mysticism on one hand and the pop insistence on the other yielded great results at their best moments. Allied with David Crosby (responsible for the excellent "Everybody's Been Burned" and the risible "Mind Gardens"), there was nothing to restrain Nash's excesses.
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Hardin Smith
Member
Username: Manosludge

Post Number: 231
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Wednesday, April 05, 2006 - 11:04 pm:   

Er Randy, that was Geoff, not me, but thanks, good to know...

That reminds me though, one oldie Byrds related thing that doesn't hold up for me: I felt like hearing "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" so I pulled out the first C,S & N, and Lordy, what a bunch of bland nothingness. Apart from the hits, "Judy", "Marrakesh Express", it really seems now like a fairly boring and uninspired group of songs...So many people were blowing smoke up their collective ass, I guess they believed their own myth...

And, even when I thought it was a cool record, one line, from "Wooden Ships" thrilled me with its ineptitude and cheesiness: "Say can I have some of your purple berries?" Isn't that wonderful? David Crosby had to have been responsible for that one.

It really took Neil Young to get the spark going with them, imho.
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 286
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Thursday, April 06, 2006 - 02:17 am:   

I will almost restrain myself from commenting about C,S, & N. How did you enjoy "Long Time Gone" Hardin? Or is it "Long Time Coming"? I mean the dreadful Crosby song with the gawdawful vocals when he supposedly "finally found his voice." I don't have the album to check the title.

Sorry to Geoff & Hardin for the mixup but this seems to be my usual nowadays.
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Geoff Holmes
Member
Username: Geoff

Post Number: 99
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Thursday, April 06, 2006 - 08:55 am:   

Hardin, I really got into the groove of the first CSN album last year. Some is crap but what about "Guinevere"??!!! It's the son (or should that be daughter?) of songs like "Renaissaance Fair" and "Everybody'd been burned". I don't know about smoke out their arse but most probably something sweet out their mouth WAY to often!
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spence
Member
Username: Spence

Post Number: 322
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Thursday, April 06, 2006 - 10:16 am:   

I wore my fringe like Roger McGuinn's, so frightfully camp it made you laugh!
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Jerry Clark
Member
Username: Jerry

Post Number: 244
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Thursday, April 06, 2006 - 12:58 pm:   

If Turn Turn Turn era Roger McGuinn, '80'S Robert Vickers & a young Spence were stood next to each other, would they be considered a folk rock independent new wave fire risk?
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Hardin Smith
Member
Username: Manosludge

Post Number: 240
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Thursday, April 06, 2006 - 04:25 pm:   

Geoff, I possibly overstated the awfulness of CS&N for (hopefully) humourous effect...I was trying to emphasize how much I felt let down by it and how poorly it held up...it has some good songs on it, though Wooden Ships is not one of them...the worst of hippie-dippie utopianism!

It made me realize, too, that I conflate them too much with N.Young, whose aura rubs off on them a little.

And believe me, CS&N, know that! Any time Neil calls them to tour, they're off to the races!
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 292
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Thursday, April 06, 2006 - 04:27 pm:   

I didn't overstate their awfulness. Every band the members came from was seven times better.
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Michael Bachman
Member
Username: Michael_bachman

Post Number: 66
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 05:01 pm:   

Hardin, have you ever heard Jefferson Airplane's version of Wooden Ships from their last great album,"Volunteers"? It cuts CSN's version to shreads, especially Jorma Kaukonen's guitar solo.
The remastered version also has a live cut of Wooden Ships.
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Hardin Smith
Member
Username: Manosludge

Post Number: 293
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 05:04 pm:   

No, I haven't heard that - I'll have to check it out...

The evil part of me wants to joke that it would almost have to be better - even the Chipmunks performing it, backed by Grand Funk Railroad, would be better :-)
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 321
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 04:39 am:   

not sure how much of an improvement on C,S & N will be afforded by Jefferson Airplane. After "Surrealistic Pillow" it's all steeply downhill. I have been feeling an urge lately to get "Takes Off." I'd like to hear "Come Up the Years" again. Great song.
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Michael Bachman
Member
Username: Michael_bachman

Post Number: 76
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 - 04:52 pm:   

Randy, trust me. Once you here The JA version of
"Wooden Ships" the C,S & N version will fade from memory.
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andreas
Member
Username: Andreas

Post Number: 5
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Friday, April 28, 2006 - 07:08 pm:   

by the way: i like ''wooden ships'' very much. the airplane version is pretty good, but i like the c,s & n version, too. last year i saw crosby and nash live in berlin. c,s,n & y are one of my loves from the seventies. i never thought that i have the chance to see them respectively crosby and nash and/or stills live. it happens and it was wonderful.

but, to return to the topic: it is difficult to say that 'notorious', 'sweetheart', 'younger' or '5th dimension' is the best bryrds album, but maybe to me it is 'the notorious byrd brothers'.

but no discussion who is my preferred byrds musician. the answer is gene clark, gene clark and once again gene clark.
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andreas
Member
Username: Andreas

Post Number: 6
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Friday, April 28, 2006 - 07:43 pm:   

randy adams, thanks for the ian & sylvia reminder. i heard about them, but i never had the chance to listen to any of their records. i really forgot them and nobone reminded me of them. i think i could like their music.
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Erhard Grundl
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Username: Erhardgrundl

Post Number: 15
Registered: 09-2005
Posted on Saturday, April 29, 2006 - 11:40 am:   

Ian & Sylvia deserve a thread of their own.
Fantastic stuff! but music that could separate you from your wife and kids
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 392
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Sunday, April 30, 2006 - 07:17 pm:   

Erhard, what does that mean?

Over the years I have tried to turn a good friend on to the genius of "Great Speckled Bird" and so far I've gotten nowhere. He loves folks like Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons. As far as I'm concerned, a single play of "Long Long Time to Get Old/Flies in the Bottle" makes the case. The only things of theirs I can't get into are the MGM recordings. There was an obvious attempt by that company to turn them into some sort of easy listening pop-folk act but thankfully that phase was brief.

Hardin, if you haven't discovered Ian & Sylvia yet I recommend you to the "Great Speckled Bird" album. It dates from 1969 I believe and is produced by Todd Rundgren. It is their country rock offering and it has everything you could ask for: great lyrics, memorable melodies, good early country rock instrumentation and the totally unique two part male/female harmonies.

I blundered into a nice long interview with Sylvia Tyson online a few months ago. It was done by Ritchie Unterberger. She painted a very clear picture of how constant touring could put you out of touch with just about everything going on. Her take on the Dylan electric debut at Newport is interestingly different than the usual legend of revolt at the use of electric instruments. She points out that the Butterfield Blues Band had already gone down very well at the festival and that the problem for the Dylan/Butterfield coupling was that they just gave a crappy performance.
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andreas
Member
Username: Andreas

Post Number: 12
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 10:52 am:   

could it be that the 'great speckled bird' album is 'out of print'? my search for that album wasn't crowned of success.
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kevin
Member
Username: Kevin

Post Number: 430
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 11:07 am:   

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=music&field-artist=G reat%20Speckled%20Bird/203-8093594-8586308

is this the album you speak of andreas?
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kevin
Member
Username: Kevin

Post Number: 431
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 11:11 am:   

http://www.netsoundsmusic.com/nsds.html

or indeed this?
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andreas
Member
Username: Andreas

Post Number: 13
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 11:39 am:   

kevin, thanks for your help. it is the ian & sylvia album 'great speckled bird' which randy adams recommended. it really seems that you can only buy it as vinyl which i should think about as it would perfectly fit to my other longplayers. maybe randy adams knows more about the fact if the albums is available as a cd.

i wish you all a nice first of may. i now will leave the house to use the opportunity of the sunshine.
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Michael Bachman
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Username: Michael_bachman

Post Number: 91
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 04:50 pm:   

Andreas, I like the Airplane version of Wooden Ships better because of Jorma's piercing guitar solo. I picked up my first solo Gene Clark album a couple of weeks ago, No Other. It very good, and I've followed it up by purchasing White Light.

Maybe Collector's Choice will offer the ian & sylvia album 'great speckled bird' on cd sometime soon.
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Hardin Smith
Member
Username: Manosludge

Post Number: 421
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 04:57 pm:   

Thanks for the recommendation Randy - I'll check 'em out. I'm, to be honest, only familiar with them through songwriting (sexist of me, but I assume Ian writes the songs? I think I heard that...): Neil Young, as you no doubt know, covers "4 Strong Winds" on Comes A Time, and "Someday Soon" is one of his, too, nez paw?

If those two songs are any indicator, gorgeous, wonderful ditties that they are, then I&S are probably well worth checking out.

Not that I'm a Rundgren scholar, but it's news to me that he produced anything in that genre...
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Randy Adams
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Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 402
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 09:07 pm:   

Andreas and Hardin: "Great Speckled Bird" is NOT marketed as an Ian & Sylvia album. Kevin's links are to the correct album. My CD copy was released in Canada by Stony Plain records. I think it was I & S's decision not to release the album under their own name that helped it disappear commercially. They obviously meant to re-launch themselves in a different light. But it IS an Ian & Sylvia album. I think it was Rundgren's first independent producer job and, if I'm not mistaken, Nazz was still going at the time.

Yes, "Someday Soon" is also an Ian Tyson song. Everybody seems to have covered "Four Strong Winds" which Tyson claims is the first song he ever wrote. What a way to begin a writing career. Sylvia writes fewer songs than Ian but she is responsible for "You Were On My Mind" which was covered a few times. I think I've run across covers of her "Truckers' Cafe" too but no names are coming to mind.

Andreas, I absolutely love your use of English: "I now will leave the house to use the opportunity of the sunshine."
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jerry hann
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Username: Jerry_h

Post Number: 131
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 11:02 am:   

Just ordered this form Amazon-this is what's so great about this message board. Looking forward to it's arrival. They had 2 on amazon a 1999 imprint and a deleted remastered version not now available.
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andreas
Member
Username: Andreas

Post Number: 26
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 08:59 pm:   

randy and all others, thanks for your help. i bought the lp. good old vinyl. ebay made it possible.
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Hardin Smith
Member
Username: Manosludge

Post Number: 434
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 11:48 pm:   

Randy, I had another Ian and Sylvia flashback (not acid-based)...Were they in that road/concert documentary "Festival Express" that was running on cable a few months ago? You know, the one with the Grateful Dead and the Band...(if that was them, Sylvia was a hottie).

Also, another question for you, Randy, font of 60's knowledge that you are: what's your opinion of John Phillips and, specifically, his "Wolf King of L.A."? As way over the top as it is production-wise, I think it's a bleeding masterwork, just overflowing with that special brand of So Cal pop nirvana he was so great at conjuring up. I'm guessing there's no middle ground on it for you - you either love it or hate it.
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Randy Adams
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Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 406
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 01:59 am:   

You draw a blank with me on both counts, Hardin, sorry. I didn't see "Festival Express" so I can't tell you. I confess that if something is billed as having the Grateful Dead in it I head for the exit.

My John Phillips knowledge is as superficial as can be. I really only know a bit of the Mamas & Papas stuff and none of his solo work. I've tended to slough off the M's & the P's as "California pop fluff," not to be confused with such acts as the Hollies, who were "U.K. pop fluff" and therefore to be REVERED.

This built-in skepticism of the music from my own state, unless you are a bona-fide commercial Jonah like the Beau Brummels and therefore to be REVERED, has even resulted in my never--up to this time--having gotten any Love releases and the three hits they had back then ("My Little Red Book," "Seven and Seven Is," and "Alone Again Or") are all totally brilliant. I actually intend to rectify this lack of Love but, oh well, you can't have everything.
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Hardin Smith
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Username: Manosludge

Post Number: 441
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 06:18 pm:   

Even longtime Californians need Love too, Randy...
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Jerry Clark
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Username: Jerry

Post Number: 305
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 08:11 pm:   

I've heard good things about Beau Brummels, any recommendations Randy?
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Michael Bachman
Member
Username: Michael_bachman

Post Number: 99
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 09:23 pm:   

I bought the last "Great Speckled Bird" from amazon.com today. Who knows if Collectors Choice would ever reissue it.

Has anyone ever heard of The Serpent Power?They were a 60's psychedelic band, sounding somewhat like Jeffersoin Airplane vocal wise, but more folky on the instrumentation. It's pretty decent.
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Randy Adams
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Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 410
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 10:52 pm:   

Jerry, you might want to get the Rhino "Best of" as a simple introduction. It covers their whole 1960s career. If you want to try a full album, each is different. Here is the rundown:

1. Introducing . . . . From 1964, this has their two hits but it really isn't recommended as the quality is not very consistent

2. Volume Two . . . . From 1965, this is a great 12 string jangle rock record from start to finish

3. '66 . . . . Avoid at all costs. It's a cover album and only good for completists

4. Triangle . . . . From 1967, this was a stupendously expensive studio psychedelic exercise. It's a nice album but the band was disintegrating. No more of their trademark harmonies and the drummer was gone.

5. Bradley's Barn . . . . From 1968, this was recorded in the Nashville area. By this time the Brummels consisted only of vocalist Sal Valentino and guitarist/writer Ron Elliot. This is an excellent album that has aged very well but I'd still not recommend it as the starting point because of the lack of harmonies.

Weirdly enough I've never gotten their reunion album from about 1975. The few things I've heard are promising.

There are a number of box sets with great things but they tend to be for the initiated and often skip over the singles and other obvious choices in favor of unreleased and demo songs. I have them but they make no sense as a starting place.

Never heard of Serpent Power, Michael.
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Jerry Clark
Member
Username: Jerry

Post Number: 306
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 02:26 pm:   

Thanks Randy.
I recall reading about Bradley's Barn in Mojo, one of those obscure classics pieces. I was intrigued.

It's funny that you've dismissed Love, you know they aren't really known of outside the music obsessive circles like this. Speak to the average Joe in this country & they won't have heard of Forever Changes let alone Arthur Lee. It's kind of a word of mouth thing that's seems to have turned it into a big selling classic over 40 years.

What's your opinion of The Doors?
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Randy Adams
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Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 413
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 04:36 pm:   

Jerry, I don't dismiss Love. It's more a case of having not gotten around to them yet and I tend to go racing off after someone more obscure first because, well, that's the way I do it. In the larger scheme of things, Love have enjoyed a decent amount of critical acclaim and their recordings have generally been available. I promise I will get a Love CD sometime in the next six months. Any suggestions?

I can't get into the Doors at all. I acknowledge that there is merit to the first two albums but that's about it. I tell everybody "go listen to the Seeds instead." I think it's because they were too self-important sounding but whatever it is, they don't hit the right nerve.
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Hardin Smith
Member
Username: Manosludge

Post Number: 450
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 05:25 pm:   

With you on the Doors, Randy...I liked some of their more concise two-minute pop singles like "Hello I Love You", but as for those mega-pretentious epics, like "The End", fuggetaboutit...A girl I dated (who was too young to have known them firsthand) used to go on about what a great poet Morrison was, and I was like, "'I am the Lizard King/ I can do anything' - that's poetry? Give me a f-ing break"

Reminds me of Denis Leary's bit about how Oliver Stone's movie about them should've been called, "Fat Dead Guy in a Bathtub".
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kevin
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Username: Kevin

Post Number: 453
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 07:50 pm:   

Randy - Forever Changes is the recognised Love classic and you cannot go wrong with that one. However, perhaps a better into to Love might be The Best of Love

1. My Little Red Book
2. Can't Explain
3. Softly To Me
4. No Matter What You Do
5. Hey Joe
6. Signed D.C.
7. Seven & Seven Is
8. Stephanie Knows Who
9. Orange Skies
10. Que Vida!
11. She Comes In Colors
12. Alone Again Or
13. Andmoreagain
14. Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale
15. Live And Let Live
16. You Set The Scene
17. Your Mind And We Belong Together
18. Laughing Stock
19. Singing Cowboy
20. Your Friend And Mine-Neil's Song

Strangely enough I am listening to the new album by Shack, who doubled as Arthur Lees backing band in the 90s. Another great album from Shack, probably because it sounds like a 21st century version of Love :-)
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jerry hann
Member
Username: Jerry_h

Post Number: 139
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 09:46 pm:   

my 16 year old nephew is into the Doors I think there's better bands around less pretnetious.I'm with Randy and hardin on this one.It may be a bit like the book "on the road"great when your young but little relevance later
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Jerry Clark
Member
Username: Jerry

Post Number: 308
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Friday, May 05, 2006 - 07:10 pm:   

Yeah, Forever Changes is hard to beat, or start with Da Capo & do it chronologically.

Randy I must have mis-interpreted your original post. I had the impression that you'd become nonchalant regarding Love. You know local band era-defining LP's who needs it.

I'm on the lookout for the Beau Brummels Best Of...

As for The Doors I can take or leave them now, Strange Days is their best I think, Moonlight Drive, People Are Strange concise & classic.
They were a big influence on The Stooges, Iggy picked up a lot of the crowd-baiting stage presence from big Jim.
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Hugh Nimmo
Member
Username: Nemo

Post Number: 34
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Friday, May 05, 2006 - 09:51 pm:   

Randy, as regards Love, Forever Changes is a classic in my opinion but, if I was you, I would start at the beginning with their first album ( Love ) which I believe has been somewhat overlooked due to the popularity of Forever Changes. Their second album Da Capo was also on its way to being a classic until the decision was made to include the 19 minute long 'Revelation' on Side Two. What a missed opportunity.

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