Byrd Parts: Oddities, Curios & Essentials By Members Of The Byrds, Alone And Together: 1964-1980 CD - Import

Digitally remastered reissue of the Guess Who vocalist's 1976 solo debut with two bonus tracks added, demo versions of 'Blossom' & 'I'm Scared'. 12 tracks total, also including a big band version of his predecessors' smash 'You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet' and the singles 'Stand Tall' & 'I'm Scared'. 1999 release.

Some of those involved with Columbia's Byrds box urged the producers to use tracks by the Jet Set, the Beefeaters, the pre-Byrds David Crosby, and the Hillmen; instead, they chose to weigh it down with a lot of later, Skip Battin-era tracks. So Raven Records has done the job instead, gathering together the major pre-Byrds and early Byrds-related tracks in one place: David Crosby's bluesy "Willie Gene" and "Come Back Baby"; the pre-Byrds Jet Set trio's Beatles-esque "The Only Girl I Adore" (complete with "yeah-yeah"'s) from the Early L.A. album; the Hillmen's bluegrass version of Dylan's "When the Ship Comes In"; and the Byrds/Beefeaters' "It Won't Be Wrong" from Elektra. But the producers haven't stopped with obvious stuff like that. They've also included David Hemmings' rendition of Gene Clark's "Backstreet Mirror" from the all-but-forgotten Jim Dickson-produced, Byrds-backed David Hemmings Happens; Jackie DeShannon's previously unissued demo recording of "Splendor in the Grass," backed by the Byrds; the Fred Neil-Gram Parsons "Ya Don't Miss Your Water" off of Neil's 1971 Other Side of This Life album; the International Submarine Band's lost Columbia single; rare single cuts by Dillard & Clark; and tracks by Clarence White, Skip Battin, Gene Parsons, and McGuinn, Clark & Hillman. Hemmings' "Anathea," even with his non-singing out in front, manages to achieve a trippy decadence through the Byrds playing and Dickson's production. Most of the rest gets far afield of the original Byrds, although "Ya Don't Miss Your Water" has a dark, brooding, ominous feel that makes it well worth owning, the Doug Dillard-Gene Clark stuff is always welcome, and the early International Submarine Band songs sound a lot more Beatles-esque (and punkier) than anything on their subsequent Safe at Home album. ~ Bruce Eder

Personnel includes: Jim (Roger) McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, Michael Clarke, Gram Parsons, Clarence White, Gene Parsons, Skip Battin, Doug Dillard.