| Preflyte | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | July 29, 1969 | |||
| Recorded | c. September 1964 – January 1965[1] | |||
| Studio | World Pacific, Los Angeles | |||
| Genre | Folk rock[2] | |||
| Length | 25:38 | |||
| Label | Together | |||
| Producer | Jim Dickson | |||
| The Byrds chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Alternative cover | ||||
 Cover of the 1973 Columbia Records reissue. Art by Barry Windsor-Smith | ||||
Preflyte is acompilation album by the Americanfolk rockbandthe Byrds and was released in July 1969 on Together Records.[3] The album is a collection ofdemos recorded by the Byrds (then named the Jet Set) atWorld Pacific Studios in Los Angeles during late 1964, before the band had signed toColumbia Records and become famous.[4] It includes early demo versions of the songs "Here Without You", "You Won't Have to Cry", "I Knew I'd Want You", and "Mr. Tambourine Man", all of which appeared in re-recorded form on the band's 1965 debut album.[5]
The album peaked at number 84 on theBillboard Top LPs chart upon its initial release, but failed to chart in the UK when it was issued there in 1973.[6][3][7] The album's title is a deliberate misspelling of "pre-flight", meant to emulate the misspelling of "birds" that the band had used for their name.
Initially inspired by the success ofthe Beatles,folk singersJim McGuinn andGene Clark began playing as a duo in Los Angelesfolk clubs in early 1964 and were soon joined by fellow folkie,David Crosby.[8] The trio named themselves the Jet Set, a name chosen by McGuinn and inspired by his love of aeronautics.[9] Crosby introduced McGuinn and Clark to his associate Jim Dickson who had access to World Pacific Studios, where he had been recording demos of Crosby.[9] Dickson was impressed enough by the trio to take on management duties for the group and to utilize World Pacific as a rehearsal studio, where he recorded the band as they honed their craft and perfected their blend of Beatlespop andBob Dylan-style folk.[4][10]
Dickson arranged a one-off deal withElektra Records' founder,Jac Holzman, for two songs from the World Pacificsessions, "Please Let Me Love You" and "Don't Be Long", to be released as asingle on Elektra in October 1964.[11] In an attempt to cash in on theBritish Invasion that was then dominating the U.S. music scene, the single was issued under the suitably British sounding pseudonym of the Beefeaters, but it failed to chart.[12] Both songs on the Beefeaters' single featured McGuinn, Clark and Crosby, along with "Wrecking Crew"session musicians Ray Pohlman onbass andEarl Palmer ondrums.[12]
Soon after, the Jet Set expanded their ranks to includedrummerMichael Clarke andbass playerChris Hillman.[12] The rehearsal and recording sessions at World Pacific studios came to a close when the Jet Set (soon to be renamed the Byrds) signed a recording contract with Columbia Records on November 10, 1964.[4]
In 1969, the manager ofrock music forRCA Records on theWest Coast, Dick Moreland, heard about the existence of these early Byrds' demo recordings from Jim Dickson and immediately toldproducerGary Usher about them.[13] Usher, who had produced the Byrds'Younger Than Yesterday,The Notorious Byrd Brothers andSweetheart of the Rodeo albums, had recently formed Together Records with colleaguesCurt Boettcher andKeith Olsen.[14][15] Prior to the formation of Together, Usher had been involved with the Columbia Records' release ofConspicuous Only in its Absence, a collection of previously unheard live recordings by thepsychedelic bandthe Great Society (featuringGrace Slick ofJefferson Airplane).[13] The album had enjoyed moderate success and Usher was keen to continue issuing previously unreleased, historically significant material on his new record label.[13] Usher met with Dickson and was able to acquire all of the Byrds' World Pacific tapes that still existed for a reasonable sum.[13] The tapes were then edited and compiled into an eleven track running order, before beingremixed andmastered by Keith Olsen.[13]
Dickson approached the five original members of the Byrds in order to have them sign a letter of permission to authorize the release of these early recordings.[16][17] Crosby was initially reluctant to sanction the release, but he was eventually persuaded by his friend and singing partner,Graham Nash, who convinced Crosby of the musical worth and historical value of the recordings.[17] Dickson later recalled Nash's involvement during a 1977 interview: "Graham Nash said that the songs were charming baby pictures. You have to get a little older before you can tolerate seeing your baby pictures out there. We were all babies once! Graham just charmed David's socks off."[17] With the permission of all five original members of the band secured, Together Records released the album in July 1969 with a great deal of publicity.[13] As a collection of previously unreleased demo recordings,Preflyte can be seen as one of the earliest examples of issuingouttakes by popular artists, a practice that is now commonplace in thereissue market.[13]
All of the music onPreflyte predates the release of the Byrds' debutsingle for Columbia, acover version ofBob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man", which topped the charts in America and the United Kingdom during 1965.[4] Of the album's eleven songs, seven had never before been released by the Byrds. These previously unreleased songs included five written solely by Gene Clark: "The Reason Why", "She Has a Way", "For Me Again", "Boston", and "You Movin'". Of these, "She Has a Way" had been re-recorded by the Byrds during sessions for their debut album,Mr. Tambourine Man.[18] However, this Columbia recording of the song was discarded at the eleventh hour and remained unreleased until its appearance on the Byrds' archival album,Never Before, in 1987.[18][19]
"The Reason Why", a brooding, Beatles andEverly Brothers influenced ballad, and the melancholy "For Me Again", would both be jettisoned from the band's repertoire by early 1965 to make way for higher quality material.[18] Theuptempo "Boston" and "You Movin'" were never seriously intended for release by the band and had been written purely to give fans something to dance to during the Byrds' earlyconcert performances.[18]
A further two Clark compositions included onPreflyte, "Here Without You" and "I Knew I'd Want You", had appeared in re-recorded versions on the band's debut album, with the latter also appearing on theB-side of the "Mr. Tambourine Man" single.[20] In total, there were nine songs included onPreflyte that were either written or co-written by Clark, highlighting his early songwriting dominance over the group.[5]
The album also featured the Crosby and McGuinn penned "The Airport Song", a hauntingly romantic composition with subtlejazz overtones, highlighted by Crosby's clearlead vocal and Clark's wistfulharmonica playing.[18] The song was inspired by the time that Crosby and McGuinn had spent hanging out atLos Angeles International Airport, watching planes come in to land.[18]
The album also included two McGuinn and Clark compositions, "You Showed Me" and "You Won't Have to Cry", the latter of which had already appeared in a different version on the band's debut album.[5][20] "You Showed Me" had not been released by the Byrds, but acover of it had been ahit single forthe Turtles in early 1969 and had peaked at number 6 on theBillboard Hot 100.[18][21]
The embryonic version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" included onPreflyte illustrated how the song sounded prior to its recording as the band's debut single for Columbia Records.[18] The Byrds' biographerJohnny Rogan has stated that McGuinn's distinctiveBach-inspired guitarintro is already present in this early version, but Crosby'sharmony singing displays signs of uncertainty.[18] Rogan has also remarked that perhaps the most striking difference between the version of the song found onPreflyte and the more famous Columbia recording is Michael Clarke's use of a militaristic drumming style.[18] Thismilitary band style of drumming was abandoned when the song was recorded for the Columbia single on January 20, 1965, with session drummerHal Blaine adopting a standard rock beat instead.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| Classic Rock |   [22] |
| entertainment.ie | [23] |
| Rolling Stone | (favorable)[24] |
Preflyte was released on July 29, 1969 in the United States on Together Records (catalogue item ST-T-1001), but it was not issued in the United Kingdom until January 1973, when it was released byKim Fowley's Bumble record label (catalogue item GEXP 8001).[3] It was then reissued in the U.S. in April 1973 by Columbia Records (catalogue item C 32183),[3][25] with alternative cover artwork by Britishcomic book artistBarry Windsor-Smith, depicting the five original members of the Byrds as futuristicastronauts.[26]
Upon initial release, sales ofPreflyte were fairly good in the U.S., resulting in the album outperforming the Byrds' most recent studio offering,Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde.[16] The album managed to climb to number 84 on theBillboard Top LPs chart in 1969, and again charted in America at number 183 when it was reissued by Columbia in 1973.[6] It was less successful in the United Kingdom, however, where it failed to enter theUK Albums Chart when it was issued there in 1973.[3][7]
The album was met with mixed reviews, withLester Bangs inRolling Stone magazine criticizing the sub-standard sound quality of the recordings, but also noting that the songs on the album "still overflow with that unique unschmaltzy beauty and lyricism that has been the Byrds' trademark."[16]Lenny Kaye, writing inJazz & Pop magazine, praised the album, noting that "One of the more interesting things aboutPreflyte is the consistency of the Byrds sound, especially when compared with their later post-Tambourine Man days."[16]
In more recent years,Classic Rock reviewer Rob Hughes praised "the purring harmonies, the extraordinary songcraft of frontman Gene Clark and the smooth exhalations of what became the California folk-rock sound", despite the fact that the Byrds had "yet to become competent musicians".[22] Andrew Lynch, writing for theentertainment.ie website, described the album as "a fascinating slice of pop history and a pretty good album in its own right too."[23]
In 1988Rhino Records released another compilation of recordings from the Byrds' 1964 World Pacific sessions, entitledIn the Beginning, which consisted largely of previously unreleased recordings.[3][27] The firstCD release ofPreflyte came in 2001 fromAlan McGee'sPoptones record label.[5] Later that yearSundazed Music released a2 CD compilation of tracks from the World Pacific era titledThe Preflyte Sessions.[28] This double CD compilation included all of the tracks originally released onPreflyte, along with other tracks that had first appeared onIn the Beginning and fourteen previously unreleased recordings.[28]The Preflyte Sessions also included four recordings made by David Crosby at World Pacific studios in 1963 and 1964, before the formation of the Jet Set.[28] In tandem with the release ofThe Preflyte Sessions, Sundazed also issued a7" single featuring previously unreleased 1964 recordings of "You Movin'" and "Boston", neither of which were included onThe Preflyte Sessions album.[29] As of 2010, the two World Pacific recordings of "You Movin'" and "Boston" found on this single have not been released on CD.
In 2006, Sundazed Music reissued the originalPreflyte album in aremastered edition.[30]
In 2012, Floating World Records issued another compilation of the Byrds' World Pacific recordings titledPreflyte Plus.[31] This compilation was essentially a re-release of the earlier Sundazed 2 CD compilation, but with an additional eight previously unreleased tracks.
All tracks written byGene Clark except noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "You Showed Me" | Jim McGuinn,Gene Clark | 2:05 |
| 2. | "Here Without You" | 2:30 | |
| 3. | "She Has a Way" | 2:34 | |
| 4. | "The Reason Why" | 2:34 | |
| 5. | "For Me Again" | 2:32 | |
| 6. | "Boston" | 2:07 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "You Movin'" | 2:10 | |
| 2. | "The Airport Song" | Jim McGuinn,David Crosby | 2:03 |
| 3. | "You Won't Have to Cry" | Jim McGuinn, Gene Clark | 2:17 |
| 4. | "I Knew I'd Want You" | 2:19 | |
| 5. | "Mr. Tambourine Man" | Bob Dylan | 2:20 |
The 2012 CD reissue titledPreflyte Plus is essentially the same compilation asThe Preflyte Session 2-disc set, with the following songs added to the end of disc 2:
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21. | "Tomorrow Is a Long Ways Away" | Gene Clark | 2:02 |
| 22. | "You Won't Have to Cry" | Jim McGuinn, Gene Clark | 2:22 |
| 23. | "You Showed Me" | Jim McGuinn, Gene Clark | 2:06 |
| 24. | "I Knew I'd Want You" (Acoustic) | Gene Clark | 2:19 |
| 25. | "Mr. Tambourine Man" | Bob Dylan | 2:15 |
| 26. | "She's the Kind of Girl" | Gene Clark | 3:06 |
| 27. | "I'm Just a Young Man" | David Crosby | 2:08 |
| 28. | "Everybody's Been Burned" | David Crosby | 3:05 |
Sources for this section are as follows:[12][18]
| Date | Label | Format | Country | Catalog # | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 29, 1969 | Together | LP | US | ST-1-1001 | original release. |
| January 1973 | Bumble | LP | UK | GEXP 8001 | |
| April 27, 1973 | Columbia | LP | US | C 32183 | |
| 1973 | Ariola | LP | Holland | 86 468 IT | |
| July 9, 2001 | Poptones | CD | UK | MC5044CD | |
| December 3, 2001 | Poptones | LP | UK | MC33150441LP | |
| December 17, 2001 | Sundazed | CD | US | SC 11116 | The Preflyte Sessions expanded release. |
| December 18, 2001 | Sundazed | LP | US | LP 5114 | The Preflyte Sessions expanded release. |
| February 21, 2006 | Sundazed | CD | US | SC 6234 | |
| February 27, 2012 | Floating World | CD | UK | FLOATD6122 | Preflyte Plus: reissue of the earlier Sundazed compilation with extra tracks. |
| June 14, 2012 | Air Mail Archive | CD | JPN | AIRAC 1659/61 | Preflyte – Complete Edition:Blu-spec CD reissue of the Together, Bumble and Columbia releases ofPreflyte in miniature replica LP sleeves. |
