| Byrdmaniax | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 23, 1971 (1971-06-23) | |||
| Recorded |
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| Studio | Columbia, Hollywood | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 34:06 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Terry Melcher, Chris Hinshaw | |||
| The Byrds chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Byrdmaniax | ||||
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Byrdmaniax is the tenthalbum by the Americanrock bandthe Byrds. It was released in June 1971 onColumbia Records[1] at a time of renewed commercial and critical success for the band, due to the positive reception that their two previous albums,Ballad of Easy Rider and(Untitled), had received.[2][3] The album was the second by the Byrds to feature theRoger McGuinn,Clarence White,Gene Parsons, andSkip Battin line-up of the band and was mostly recorded in early 1971, while the band were in the midst of an exhaustingtour schedule.[2][4] As a result, the band had little time to hone their new songs before recording commenced and thus, much of the material on the album is underdeveloped.[2]Byrdmaniax was poorly received upon release, particularly in the United States, and did much to undermine the Byrds' new-found popularity.[2]
The album peaked at number 46 on theBillboard Top LPs chart but failed to reach theUK Albums Chart.[5][6] The song "I Trust (Everything Is Gonna Work Out Alright)" was released as a precedingsingle on May 7, 1971 in the United Kingdom but it did not chart.[1][6] A second single taken from the album, "Glory, Glory", was released on August 20, 1971 and reached number 110 on theBillboard chart, but again, the single failed to reach the UK chart.[7]Byrdmaniax remains one of the Byrds' most poorly received album releases, largely due to the incongruous addition ofstrings,horns, and agospelchoir which wereoverdubbed onto the songs byproducerTerry Melcher andarranger Paul Polena, reportedly without the band's consent.[2][8]
After the release of the Byrds'(Untitled) album, the band continued to tour extensively throughout late 1970 and early 1971 in support of therecord.[9] With the band's career experiencing a revival of commercial fortunes, the Byrds elected to continue working with Terry Melcher, who had produced the band's two previous albums.[10][11] Unfortunately, the grueling pace of the band's touring schedule meant that they were under-prepared for the recording of their next album, with little or no time to develop the material that they intended to include.[2]Sessions forByrdmaniax commenced on October 6, 1970, just three weeks after the release of(Untitled), and continued throughout January and March 1971, with the band recording twelve new songs as well as revisiting anouttake from the(Untitled) sessions, "Kathleen's Song".[12][13] The album's pre-releaseworking title wasExpensive, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the bloated costs incurred during the recording of the album, but ultimately this was dropped in favor of the less opulent soundingByrdmaniax.[14]
Amongguitarist Roger McGuinn's songwriting contributions to the album was themodalacousticballad "Pale Blue" (co-written withdrummer Gene Parsons).[13] The song's title can be seen as a metaphor for a mood, while its romanticlyrics deal with the conflicting themes of freedom and security.[15][16] With its melancholy sense of longing,folksy instrumentation, and sensitive lead vocal performance, "Pale Blue" is often regarded by critics as being one of the most successful musical statements on the album as well as something of a lost classic among the Byrds' oeuvre.[15][16] Another McGuinn-penned song included onByrdmaniax was the commercially unsuccessful, quasi-gospel single "I Trust" (re-titled as "I Trust (Everything Is Gonna Work Out Alright)" for the single release).[1] The song's title and lyricalrefrain was inspired by McGuinn's personalcatchphrase, "I trust everything will turn out alright", which itself had been borrowed by the guitarist during the mid-1960s from the best-selling bookThe Power of Positive Thinking byNorman Vincent Peale.[13]
McGuinn's other compositional contributions toByrdmaniax were two songs that he had written with lyricistJacques Levy for the pair's abortedBroadwaymusical,Gene Tryp.[2] Of these, "Kathleen's Song" had originally been intended for a scene in which the song's eponymous heroine patiently waits for Gene Tryp, her lover, to return home from his travels.[17] "Kathleen's Song" had, in fact, been recorded in June 1970 during the recording sessions for(Untitled) but had been omitted from that album at the eleventh hour, due to a lack of space.[18][19] As a result, there arepromo copies of(Untitled) known to exist that list the song (under the abbreviated title "Kathleen") on the album sleeve.[13][20] The Byrds returned to "Kathleen's Song" in January and March 1971, undertaking additional recording work in order to ready the track for release onByrdmaniax.[13][18] The secondGene Tryp song included on the album was "I Wanna Grow Up to Be a Politician", a whimsicalragtime pastiche that had been written for a scene in the musical in which the hero, Gene Tryp, runs as a presidential candidate.[11][21][22] The song found a second lease of life away from the confines ofGene Tryp, however, when its satirical lyrics found favor with America's radical youth, who were rebelling against theNixon administration during the early 1970s.[13]
Byrdmaniax also included a pair ofnovelty songs penned by the band'sbass player, Skip Battin, and his songwriting partnerKim Fowley.[2] The first of these, "Tunnel of Love", was an organ drivenFats Domino pastiche, while the second, "Citizen Kane", served as a wry comment onHollywood life and its celebrity legacy during the 1940s and 1950s.[11][16][23] Unfortunately, the inclusion of these two songs, along with McGuinn and Levy's jaunty "I Wanna Grow Up to Be a Politician", caused the album to suffer from an overabundance of pastiche and whimsy.[2] A third Battin–Fowley song, "Absolute Happiness", was more serious, with its dramatic lyrics providing aBuddhism-inspired meditation on positive values and the power of nature.[16][24]
The album's opening track, "Glory, Glory", was borrowed by drummer Gene Parsons from the repertoire of The Art Reynolds Singers, just as "Jesus Is Just Alright" onBallad of Easy Rider had been.[16][25] Despite featuring a strikingpiano part and strong gospelbacking vocals, the song lacked the immediacy of "Jesus Is Just Alright", as producer Terry Melcher admitted in a 1977 interview: "We were aiming to cut another 'Jesus Is Just Alright', but we didn't make it.Larry Knechtel played piano on this cut but it was too fast. The whole thing was a mess."[16][17] The album also included abluegrassinstrumental named "Green Apple Quick Step", written by Parsons andlead guitarist Clarence White, which featured guest musicians Eric White, Sr. (Clarence's father) onharmonica andByron Berline onfiddle.[16] White also brought theHelen Carter song "My Destiny" to the recording sessions, having first learned it during his days as a bluegrass musician.[13][17] White elected to sing lead vocal on the track but unfortunately his nasal voice and the band's lackluster musical backing gave the recording a fatalistic and dirge-like quality.[13] The final track onByrdmaniax was a rendition of "Jamaica Say You Will", written by the then unknownJackson Browne and featuring a Clarence White vocal performance that is widely regarded as one of his best on a Byrds' album.[11][26]
In addition to the eleven songs included on the original LP, at least two outtakes from the album sessions are known to exist: a recording ofBob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman"—which had also been attempted during the(Untitled) recording sessions—and a cover of ex-ByrdGene Clark's "Think I'm Gonna Feel Better".[13] Both songs remained in the Columbia vaults for almost 29 years, before finally being released in 2000 asbonus tracks on theColumbia/Legacy reissue ofByrdmaniax.[13] The version of "Just Like a Woman" recorded for the album in 1971 represented the last Dylan song that the Byrds would record until "Paths of Victory", during the 1990 reunion sessions that were included onThe Byrdsbox set. A third outtake from the album sessions that is rumored to exist is the Parsons–White composition "Blue Grease".[14] This song was included in a pre-release track listing for the album that was published in the Byrds' fanclub newsletter,The Byrds Bulletin, in early 1971.[14] However, the track failed to appear on the album and may not have even been recorded by the band, since there is no mention of it in the Columbia files or in contemporarystudio documentation.[14] In an 8/29/2024 radio interview with Daniel Jones (guitarist with7th Order) on his "The Volcano Chronicles" radio show (KNKR 96.1FM on theBig Island of Hawaii) - Gene Parsons recalled that the band did actually record "Blue Grease" (an instrumental that featured Byron Berline on fiddle), and believed that he may even have it in his archive of tapes.[27]
Following the completion of recording sessions for the album in early March 1971, the Byrds headed out on tour again, leaving Terry Melcher andengineer Chris Hinshaw to finishmixing the album.[8][14] In the Byrds' absence, Melcher and Hinshaw brought in arranger Paul Polena to assist with theoverdubbing of strings, horns, and a gospel choir onto many of the songs, at a reported cost of $100,000 and allegedly without the band's consent.[8][11][14] When the band heard the extent of Melcher's additions they protested to Columbia Records, campaigning to have the albumremixed and the orchestration removed but the record company held firm, citing budget restrictions, and the record was dulypressed up and released.[9]
For his part, Melcher defended his actions by explaining that the band's performances in the studio were lackluster and that the orchestration was needed to cover up the album's musical shortcomings.[11] In a 1977 interview with the Byrds' biographerJohnny Rogan, Melcher attempted to illustrate the situation in the recording studio during the making of the album and also explain his rationale for the orchestral additions: "Several members of the group were involved in divorces and they were hiding from their wives. It was complete bedlam in the studio. Everyone had too many problems. There was a lack of interest on everybody's part. I was trying to save the album, but it was a mistake. I should have called a halt."[9] Melcher also succinctly highlighted his lack of confidence in the quality of the material that the band had recorded: "I think the orchestration was a big mistake, but the songs were weak."[9] As for not obtaining the band's consent for the overdubs, Melcher explained "I admit that I wasn't in consultation with them a lot and I didn't really deal with Clarence, Battin or Parsons on these matters. But I'm sure it was inconceivable that McGuinn did not know about the orchestration."[9]
The band themselves were far from happy with the album and upon its release, were vocal inpress interviews about their dissatisfaction.[9] Even two years later, Clarence White complained tojournalistPete Frame that "Terry Melcher put strings on while we were on the road, we came back and we didn't even recognize it as our own album."[9] Gene Parsons disowned the album completely, describing it as "Melcher's folly" and commenting in interviews that the band were all appalled by what they heard when they returned from touring.[9] McGuinn actually defended Melcher somewhat by indicating in an interview with the English journalist Keith Altham that the album had been taken away from the producer at the last minute and given to an engineer in San Francisco to remix.[9][14] However, the production credits on the original LP sleeve do not support McGuinn's claim and Melcher later stated that he had no recollection of the album being mixed by anyone other than himself.[9] In more recent years, McGuinn has conceded to journalistDavid Fricke that the album's shortcomings were not down to Melcher's over-production alone: "We were just idling artistically, the album sounds like we really weren't concentrating on doing good work, good art."[2]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B−[28] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [29] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[30] |
Byrdmaniax was released on June 23, 1971 in the United States (catalogue number KC 30640) and August 6, 1971 in the United Kingdom (catalogue number S 64389).[1] As well as being issued in the standard stereo format,Byrdmaniax was also released in 1971 as aQuadraphonic LP in Japan on the CBS Sony label (catalogue number SOPL-34001).[20][31] The quadraphonic version of the album features a noticeably differentmix to the standard stereo version.
The album peaked at number 46 on theBillboard Top LPs chart, during a chart stay of ten weeks, but failed to chart in the UK.[6][32] A single, "I Trust (Everything Is Gonna Work Out Alright)" b/w "(Is This) My Destiny", was released ahead of the album on May 7, 1971 in the UK, to coincide with a European tour, but it did not chart.[6][9] A second single taken from the album, "Glory, Glory" (b/w "Citizen Kane"), was released on August 20, 1971 and reached number 110 on theBillboard chart but again failed to chart in the UK.[7] The album cover artwork, featuring a set of silver "death masks"—one for each member of the band—was designed by Virginia Team andGrammy Award-winning Columbia Records' art director, John Berg.[2][33][34] These forebodingplaster facemasks, which were created by artist Mary Leonard and photographed by Don Jim, have been regarded by some critics as an accurate visual representation of the lifeless music on the album and the declining state of the band in 1971.[2][14][35][33]
Upon its release,Byrdmaniax was greeted positively by the UKmusic press but received scathing reviews in the U.S.[9]Richard Meltzer's review in the August 1971 edition ofRolling Stone magazine was particularly vicious, with Meltzer describing the album as "increments of pus". The same review also described the McGuinn–Levy composition "I Wanna Grow Up to Be a Politician" as a song that was "degenerating into namby pamby innocuous mickey mouse with latent-blatant political content".[36] Meltzer concluded his withering attack by deriding the Byrds themselves as "a boring dead group."[36] In the UK, Roy Hollingworth's review in the August 14, 1971 edition ofMelody Maker was more positive and described the album as "one sweet length of bursting Byrds sunshine, so perfect in quality and quantity you'd feel an absolute heel to ask for more."[7]Record Mirror was also enthusiastic in its praise of the album, describing it as "another fine album by the Byrds."[7] However, not all British reviews ofByrdmaniax were positive, with Richard Green of theNME noting that "When the true history of rock comes to be written, the Byrds will get a deserved place of honour on the strength of tunes like 'Mr. Tambourine Man', 'Eight Miles High', and 'So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star'. Hopefully the writer will not have listened toByrdmaniax or he may drastically alter his opinion."[7] Green was also critical of Terry Melcher's use of strings and horns on many of the tracks, concluding that "Orchestration is all very well for some bands, but not, on this showing, for the Byrds."[7]
Today,Byrdmaniax is generally regarded as the Byrds' weakest album, as well as the least popular of any of the band's releases amongst their fanbase.[7] Mark Deming, writing for theAllMusic website, has summed up the album by concluding "Not an awful album, but Byrdmaniax is hardly the pleasure it could have been in the hands of a more tasteful production team."[8] In his 2000 review forThe Austin Chronicle, Raoul Hernandez gave the album a rating of three stars out of five, commenting "Byrdmaniax may be as disjointed as reviews claimed at the time, but most of these same critics didn't likeSweetheart of the Rodeo either, and if theGram Parsons-blessed classic is ground zero for 'country rock' thenManiax is full-blown 'gospel rock'."[37]Rolling Stone senior editorDavid Fricke remarked in 2000 thatByrdmaniax suffered not just from Melcher's inappropriate orchestration, but also from being a Byrds' album that is almost totally bereft of the Byrds' signature sound.[2] According to Fricke, the familiar chime of McGuinn's12-stringRickenbacker guitar is lost beneath the overbearing strings and the band's trademarkharmonies are also largely absent from the album.[2]
Byrdmaniax was remastered at 20-bit resolution as part of theColumbia/Legacy Byrds series. It was reissued in an expanded form on February 22, 2000 with three bonus tracks. These bonus tracks included an outtake version of Gene Clark's "Think I'm Gonna Feel Better", sung by Clarence White (who had also played guitar on Clark's original 1967 solo recording of the song); a stripped-down alternate version of "Pale Blue"; and a rendition of Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman".[13] The remastered reissue also includes, as ahidden track, an alternate version of "Green Apple Quick Step", which is sometimes known by the alternate title "Byrdgrass".[38]Byrdmaniax was again reissued inJapan in theBlu-Spec High Definition audio format on February 14, 2014. Bonus tracks Include the Mono promotional single version of 'Glory, Glory', a live version of 'I Trust', the previously released bonus tracks of 'Think I'm Gonna Feel better' and 'Just Like A Woman', and a newly uncovered studio song 'Nothin' To it'. The disc comes in a cd-sized gatefold paper sleeve album replica (Mini LP) with obi strip and booklet insert of notes (mostly in Japanese). Actual track durations are given in the booklet insert.
NOTES:
|
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| Date | Label | Format | Country | Catalog | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 23, 1971 | Columbia | LP | US | KC 30640 | Original release. |
| August 6, 1971 | CBS | LP | UK | S 64389 | Original release. |
| 1971 | CBS Sony | LP | Japan | SOPL-34001 | Quadraphonic LP release. |
| 1992 | Line | CD | Germany | 900930 | Original CD release. |
| 1993 | Columbia | CD | US | CK 30640 | |
| 1993 | Columbia | CD | UK | COL 468429 | |
| February 22, 2000 | Columbia/Legacy | CD | US | CK 65848 | Reissue containing three bonus tracks and the remastered album. |
| UK | COL 495079 | ||||
| 2003 | Sony | CD | Japan | MHCP-105 | Reissue containing three bonus tracks and the remastered album in a replica gatefold LP sleeve. |
