R.I.P. Tony Rice

R.I.P. Tony Rice 

December 25, 2020

Long time Chris Hillman musical partner.

UPDATE Dec. 29 : everything (and more) you want to know about Tony Rice 

https://theoldgreycoat.blogspot.com/

Not your ordinary Byrds compilation

 

Update December 24, 2020: I've had several requests for making this compilation available. Watch this space.

Various Artists – Close But…No Byrds

I made myself a compilation of tracks by The Byrds and ex-members…or not.

The tracks are in chronological order of the original Byrds becoming full time members of the band.

Tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 19, 20, 21 and 22 are from actual singles.

Tracks 3 and 4: Jim McGuinn is Jim/Roger’s grandson.

Tracks 7, 8, 15 and 16 are from actual officially downloadable tracks.

Tracks 3, 4, 13, 14, 17, 18, 23 and 24 are from YouTube.

As to tracks 23 and 24… our Skip’s complete real name is Clyde Raybould Battin Jr..The closest I could get is some singing and ukulele playing weird guy named Clyde Batton.

1. The Byrds - Bright Lights Big City (3:06)
2. The Byrds - Little Lover (2:02)
3. Jim McGuinn & The Cosmic Cowboys - Underbelly Blues (3:34)
4. Jim McGuinn & The Cosmic Cowboys - Pull The Plug (2:39)
5. Gene Clark And The Playboys - Crazy Kind Of Love (2:24)
6. Gene Clark And The Playboys - Budds Bounce (1:45)
7. Dave Crosby - Me Without You (3:58)
8. Dave Crosby - Forever (4:14)
9. Michael Clark - Sweet Louise (3:26)
10. Michael Clark - Busted Down In Houston (3:00)
11. Chris Hillman - My Little Nightingale (2:17)
12. Chris Hillman - Takin' My Baby Home (1:40)
13. Kevin Kelly - That's Life (2:58)
14. Kevin Kelly - Hard Hearted Hannah (2:21)
15. Graham A. Parsons - Lately (3:30)
16. Graham A. Parsons - Naive (3:15)
17. Clarence White & The Johnny Appleseeds - Can't Expect All That (2:41)
18. Clarence White & The Johnny Appleseeds - Cry (4:52)
19. Gene Parson's Band - Toy Guitar (1:37)
20. Gene Parson's Band - Night Club Rock And Roll (1:49)
21. John York - Star Of The Bar Room (2:13)
22. John York - Another Love (3:00)
23. Clyde Batton - Ukulele Wailin' (0:48)
24. Clyde Batton - Happy Birthday (1:05)

Lockdown Byrds Finds #5

 

 

 

A promo of Gene Clark's "Echoes" on a 10.5 inches reel tape.

I don't remember ever playing it!

And I don't remember whom I bought it from!

Lockdown Byrds Finds #4

8 mm silent movie featuring the original lineup of The Byrds.

The movie is called THE BYRDS FLIP THEM IN FRESNO and was recorded at the Radcliffe Stadium, Fresno, CA on Saturday, May 22, 1965.

The Byrds opened for The Rolling Stones at this performance.

It is a black and white silent movie (approximately 6 min duration).

From Christpher Hjort's book:

"The Byrds' visit to Fresno was filmed and later sold as a low fidelity 8 mm film in black and white and without sound. It was advertised in the teen press as The Byrds Flip Them in Fresno and sold on mail order basis only."

See stills from the movie, posters and details here:

http://byrdsflyght.ucoz.com/index/byrds_in_fresno_movie/0-33

Lockdown Byrds Finds #3

 

Third find today; it's a limited edition pin (# 1793 of 10,000) for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony in 1991, when The Byrds were inducted.

Left is a scan, right is a picture.

Lockdown Byrds Finds #2

Next find is a set of 3 Byrds tapes from a US radio station, with interviews and music...probably, judging by what's written on them.

Of course, I never managed to play them as they are special cassettes needing radio station equipment to be played.

Lockdown Byrds finds #1

The lockdown has its advantages, one of them being having spare time to search our archives.

I'm currently searching in boxes that haven't been opened for decades.

Here's the first of my recent finds.

It's a postcard...or...a record...actually both!

A musical postcard that plays Mr. Tambourine Man by The Byrds. 

Well, actually, I never tried to play it on my turntable; it's just a collectible piece that I bought decades ago.

Judging by the cyrillic characters and the statue of Lenin, it's probably from the USSR.

More goodies coming soon.

 

Roger McGuinn Blog News by Camilla McGuinn (November 28)

Doing nothing is not in our psyches. We thrive on working. Now, Roger goes to the studio and records a project that has been waiting to do for over 60 years – the songs from “Gene Tryp”. It was a play that Jacques Levy asked Roger to write the music for in 1968. The play never got on Broadway but Roger got some wonderful songs to sing. “Chestnut Mare” being his favorite. 

Once recording begins, his studio door is shut from 1- 4pm, Monday-Thursday. Closets and cabinets beckon me to purge them and so does the kitchen. I have finally used the dusty KitchenAid mixer and all of its attachments. Fresh bread and fresh pasta roll out of the machine like it was made for the task. When the song tracks are ready, Roger invites me in to work on the mixing and mastering. 

There is truth to the statement “give a busy person the job that needs to be done”. Not being real busy anymore, my office has stacks of mail and papers sitting all around. I just tell myself, “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll think about that tomorrow. Time to make pasta”.

Two weeks ago, Roger took a break to think about the song for the December “Folk Den”, the online project he has recorded monthly on mcguinn.com for over 25 years. December is the month for a Christmas song. The two 4 CD sets of “The Folk Den Project” were on his desk. He picked them up and listened to all the December songs. It was the Christmas recording he always wanted to do. We tried it years ago, but didn’t feel right about it, but this time we were both amazed at the joy we felt as we were listening. 

Technology has come a long way in 25 years. Some of the songs were just two tracks recorded on DAT. Realizing that if we digitally re-mastered the recordings the quality of the mixes would improve. It took two days to master the 13 songs we picked. Then it was easy to put the art work together from photos I had been taking for years to feature on a Christmas CD. 

Our intent was to make it for our neighbors and send it to our friends as a Christmas card. I called Oasis Manufacturing to get a quote and realized if we wanted it to be professionally pressed we needed 300 copies. We were happy with the songs, maybe someone else will be also. The process of a simple Christmas card became a little more complicated. CDBABY was contacted, the final product was approved and we are waiting with Christmas anticipation for the gift we have to give. 

“Merry Christmas” has an official release date of December 1st. It will be available for download and streaming. The physical CD will be primarily listed on Amazon. CDBABY takes care of distribution to all outlets.

http://rogermcguinn.blogspot.com/2020/11/roadie-report-84-by-camilla-mcguinn-oh.html

Roger McGuinn seasonal CD just released?

Roger McGuinn has a seasonal new CD out (December 1, 2020)

“Merry Christmas”

1. Children Go Where I Send Thee (5:04)
2. What Child Is This (2:58)
3. Angels We Have Heard On High (3:25)
4. Away In A Manger (2:46)
5. I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day (2:05)
6. The First Noel (3:17)
7. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (2:57)
8. The Cherry Tree Carol (4:20)
9. The Virgin Mary (2:07)
10. I Saw Three Ships (2:02)
11. Mary Had A Baby (1:58)
12. The Twelve Days Of Christmas (3:58)
13. We Wish You A Merry Christmas (1:37)

Goldmine for Gene Clark fans? (photographs)

 

The ever-present Jean-Pierre Morisset sent us a link with tens of mostly unpublished pictures of Gene Clark (with The Byrds, solo and with group).

http://www.photos.reelinintheyears.com/search?search=Gene%20Clark

The picture above is The Gene Clark Group in 1967.

Left to right: Clarence White, Eddie Hoh, Gene Clark and John York.

Other pictures of Gene alone are labelled "Notorious Byrd Brothers Sessions 1967" (which proves that Gene was present at the recording sessions).

Thank Jean-Pierre for your continuous involvment.

NOTE: we just found this on some website:

In 1967, Gene Clark revamped his Gene Clark Group, this time with Clarence White (guitar), John York (bass) and Eddie Hoh (drums). They performed only once in front of an audience. They recorded “The French Girl” and “Only Colombe” to be released as a single, but it was shelved. Both songs later appeared on the “Echoes” compilation in 1991.

Missing / Wanted Chris Hillman Track

I’m missing one track by Chris Hillman

If any good soul could send a link to get it, I would be eternally grateful.

The source and the link won’t be published.

Thanks in advance.

“Old Rockin’ Chair” (download only bonus track from “The Other Side” - 2005)