![]() ![]() News of these discussions was leaked to the British music press, and in late January 1972, one week after the UK release of Farther Along, the front page of Disc and Music Echo featured the headline, "Original Byrds To Reform?" The attendant article suggested that the reunion album would be a one-off project and that the current lineup of the Byrds would continue to tour and record, with no question of disbanding. Tentative discussions between the five original members of the band, regarding a possible reunion, had taken place as early as July 1971, around the time that the then current lineup of the Byrds were recording their final album, Farther Along. Furthermore, none of the five original band members' careers-with the exception of Crosby's-had been as financially rewarding as during The Byrds' mid-1960s heyday. Ĭoncurrently, the four ex-members of the Byrds who, along with McGuinn, had comprised the original mid-1960s lineup of the band, were, to an extent, at loose ends: David Crosby had completed his recording and touring obligations for the Graham Nash/David Crosby album Chris Hillman's work with the Stephen Stills-helmed band Manassas was paused while the band were on hiatus Gene Clark's critically lauded but financially unrewarding solo career was in need of a boost and Michael Clarke had been without a band since the break up of the Flying Burrito Brothers in 1971. The Byrds continued to tour and record sporadically throughout 1972, but no new single or album was forthcoming. As a result of this, Gene Parsons (the band's drummer since 1968) was fired by McGuinn in July 1972 and replaced by session musician John Guerin. The band's membership had finally stabilized in 1970, but by early 1972 dissension was brewing due to disagreements over band members' pay. As the only member to have remained consistent since the band's inception in 1964, McGuinn had steered the Byrds through an array of lineup changes during the late 1960s. Background īy 1972, the Byrds' guitarist and leader, Roger McGuinn, had grown dissatisfied with the current version of the group. Three of the album's songs, " Full Circle", "Things Will Be Better", and " Cowgirl in the Sand", were released as singles during 1973, but none of these releases became hits. In the U.S., Byrds was the band's highest charting album of new material since 1965's Turn! Turn! Turn!, which had also been the last Byrds' album to feature Clark as a full member. Nonetheless, the album reached number 20 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart and was also moderately successful in the United Kingdom, where it reached number 31. Upon its release, Byrds received generally poor reviews, with many critics bemoaning a lack of sonic unity and the absence of the Byrds' signature jangly guitar sound among the album's shortcomings. During the reunion, the current, latter-day lineup of the band continued to make live appearances until February 1973, with McGuinn being the only member common to both versions of the group. The last time that all five members had worked together as the Byrds was in 1966, prior to Clark's departure from the band. It was recorded as the centerpiece of a reunion among the five original band members: Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke. Byrds is the twelfth and final studio album by the American rock band the Byrds and was released in March 1973 on Asylum Records. ![]()
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