A$# 043 Byrds | (Untitled) / (Unissued)

The Byrds’ 1970 double LP was called (Untitled). The 2000 CD remaster adds a whole disc of bonus material, previously unissued. Hence the odd title, (Untitled) / (Unissued).

The liner notes of the new version tell about the origin of the original appellation:

There is a simple explanation for the name …. According to singer-guitarist Roger McGuinn, the Byrds’ producer wrote “untitled” – as in “to be named” – on Columbia’s studio tracking sheets as the was album was being made. “Somehow,” McGuinn says, “that’s the way it went to the printer.”

The additional parentheses on the final cover and the pint-sized typefaces were nice wry touches, a backhanded way of undercutting the pomposity associated with the double album in the progressive-rock era. (Untitled) was also a quick, clean clue to the record’s contents: great songs and sparkling performances, the current Byrds at their best. No more. And no less.

The Byrds had undergone a lot of change since the heydays at the dawn of folk rock just a little more than four years earlier. Roger McGuinn was the only original member left; the newer members were guitarist Clarence White, drummer Gene Parsons and bass player Skip Battin. Since the trend-setting Sweetheart Of The Rodeo in 1968, the group had cultivated a more roots-oriented sound.

The progression of that sound continued with the double LP, where they presented one disc of new studio material and one of live tracks. The live album comes first, starting with a new song by Roger and his then-writing partner, Jacques Levy, a swampy ode to all things southern, Lover Of The Bayou. A spirited rendition of Dylan’s Positively 4th Street comes next, followed by a Parsons / White original, Nashville West. Then the group revisits the early days with So You Want To Be A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star, Mr. Tambourine Man and Mr. Spacemen. The performances are very energetic; they showcase a maturity, and perhaps world-weariness, that the original studio tracks did not. Side 2 of the LP is the centre and soul of this set, though: a side-long, sixteen-minute jam of Eight Miles High.

From the liner notes again:

But what most impressed was the radical revamping of Eight Miles High. Extended to an album-side in length, the song became a tour de force at Byrds concerts, highlighted by the dramatic interplay between bass and drums, and some startling Rickenbacker work from McGuinn. It represented nothing less than the ultimate fusion between the old Byrds and the new, and showed this autumnal line-up at the peak of its powers.

I’m not sure if the studio album holds up as well, though I was particularly struck, more than 25 years ago when I bought the LP, by the opener, Chestnut Mare. It’s another McGuinn / Levy composition, a song they’d intended for a proposed musical, Gene Tryp, based on Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. While the song is clearly about a magnificent horse, it’s also about the struggle to accomplish what we long for (“I’m going to catch that horse if I can,” Roger sings wistfully.

There are two other Gene Tryp songs, the haunting All The Things and Just A Season. I also quite like Clarence’s lead vocal on Truck Stop Girl. The interesting guitar work on Hungry Planet stands out too.

The bonus disc includes some alt versions, a studio version of Lover On The Bayou, studio outtakes and eight live tracks, including two of my fave Byrds songs – their reading of Dylan’s My Back Pages and the gorgeous The Ballad Of Easy Rider.

Together, the two CDs make a really comprehensive portrait of the latter-day Byrds.

Track listing:

Disc 1:
1. Lover Of The Bayou (Live)
2. Positively 4th Street (Live)
3. Nashville West (Live)
4. So You Want To Be A Rock 'N' Roll Star (Live)
5. Mr. Tambourine Man (Live)
6. Mr. Spaceman (Live)
7. Eight Miles High (Live)
8. Chestnut Mare
9. Truck Stop Girl
10. All The Things
11. Yesterday's Train
12. Hungry Planet
13. Just A Season
14. Take A Whiff On Me
15. You All Look Alike
16. Well Come Back Home

Disc 2:
1. All The Things (Alternate Version)
2. Yesterday's Train (Alternate Version)
3. Lover Of The Bayou (Studio Version)
4. Kathleen's Song (Alternate Version)
5. White's Lightning Pt. 2
6. Willin'
7. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Live)
8. Old Blue (Live)
9. It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (Live)
10. Ballad Of Easy Rider (Live)
11. My Back Pages (Live)
12. Take A Whiff On Me (Live)
13. Jesus Is Just Alright (Live)
14. This Wheel's On Fire (Live)