One week ago (November 15), we posted an article about a promotional video clip done by French TV for a concert by The Flying Burrito Brothers in Blois, France, on October 19, 1985.
A couple of weeks ago, the ever-present Jean-Pierre Morisset sent the complete video of the concert to Thomas Aubrunner in Austria, telling him it was a very amateurish audience VHS taping ... but Thomas decided to make something of it and put the 'highlights' on YouTube. Great work!
Pictures courtesy of Jean-Pierre, taken when the interviews took place:
Chris Ethrige and his wife with Jean-Pierre and Jean Marcou (a well-known French rock journalist and rock writer – he co-wrote the first French language book on the Rolling Stones)
Gib Guilbeau and his wife.
More from the vaults of Jean-Pierre Morisset. Here comes the second part of hitherto unreleased interviews done by him when the revamped Flying Burrito Brothers toured Europe in 1975. This time, hear Chris Ethridge and Gib Guilbeau talk.
In this zip file:
Part one is the Chris Ethridge interview.
Part two is the Gib Guilbeau interview.
Once more, don’t expect high quality audio.
And don’t forget that the questions were asked by someone who isn’t Englishspeaker by birth.
These interviews are fascinating with many details unveiled about Chris Ethridge's and Gib Guilbeau’s carreers before this incarnation of the FBBs.
The revamped Flying Burrito Brothers (Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Skip Battin, Greg Harris and Jim Goodall) toured Europe again in 1985. When in France, they had a concert booked in Blois, capital of the Loir-Et-Cher department, on October 19.
The ever-present Jean-Pierre Morisset persuaded the local branch of the official French TV channel France 3 to record an exclusive performance of the instrumental “Oklahoma Stomp” by the band, to be broadcast the previous day as a promo for the concert.
Jean-Pierre just found the VHS tape of the promo clip, as the lockdown leaves him plenty of time to search his archives. He sent a DVD rip to Thomas Aubrunner in Austria, and the latter put it on his YouTube channel two days ago.
From the vaults of Jean-Pierre Morisset, France’s biggest Byrds-family freak, here comes hitherto unreleased interviews done by him with Gene Parsons and Sneaky Pete Kleinow, when the revamped Flying Burrito Brothers toured Europe in 1975.
The lineup of these FBBs also included Gib Guilbeau, Joel Scott-Hill and Chris Ethridge.
Interviews with Gib Guilbeau and Chris Ethridge done at the same place at the same time will follow.
You can watch a 7 minute video of their soundcheck here:
Part one is the Gene Parsons interview done at the Alhambra in Bordeaux, France, on May 26, 1975, before the concert.
Part two is the Sneaky Pete Kleinow interview, also done at the same place before the concert.
Part three is the Gene Parsons interview recorded after the concert, in the car that brought Gene back to his hotel.
The places where the recordings took place explain why you shouldn’t expect high quality audio.
And don’t forget that the questions were asked by someone who isn’t Englishspeaker by birth.
We at Byrds Flyght found these interviews fascinating, with many details unveiled about Gene’s and Pete’s careers before, with and after the Byrds and the first version of the FBBs.
Total length = 41:25
Many thanks to Jean-Pierre (pictured here with Gene Parsons)
The Crown Prince of the Rickenbacker 12 String strikes again!
Horst-Peter Schmidt, the unstoppable leader of Starbyrd, has just released a CD of new songs.
WHIRLWIND OF TIME
Liner notes by Eric Sorensen.
The first 6 songs are about pandemic-related issues. Horst-Peter lives in the present, illustrated by sounds of the past.
As usual, we don’t have enough kind words to say how much we appreciate Horst-Peter’s work.
We still have his early recordings, that he sent us on cassettes decades ago, and we are always positively surprised by the quality of his on-going releases.
The vocalist and co-founder of The Byrds and Crosby Stills & Nash, David Crosby has revealed if there’s a possibility that The Byrds may reunite in the future while responding to a question about his former bandmate Roger McGuinn.
During one of his famous Q&A sessions on Twitter, the iconic rock and folk vocalist, David Crosby, has talked about one of the cornerstone bands of the 20th century he was a member of The Byrds. When asked by a fan if they’d return without the frontman, Roger McGuinn, Crosby said they can’t do that.
Though he said he legally owns the name, David Crosby also mentioned that McGuinn was the main guy in The Byrds and it would not be right to do it without him. Crosby has praised his former bandmate by calling him the leader, the best musician and the lead singer.
The Byrds were formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member.
Although their time as one of the most popular bands in the world only lasted for a short period in the mid-1960s, The Byrds are today considered by critics to be among the most influential rock acts of their era.
We know of songs by 2 different artists or bands using the same instrumental backing track for different vocals (for instance, “California Dreamin’” first by Barry McGuire and later by The Mama’s And The Papa’s)…but THREE TIMES??? This must be the only time it happened.
Gene Clark wrote the song, recorded it in 1967, but it wasn’t released at the time and the backing track was first used for David Hemmings’ version on his “Happens” LP from 1967, then by Canadian Kelldecaut Réan on a single in 1967, and Gene Clark’s original version was finally released in 2018.
Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen guested with David Crosby and his band at the Lowell Summer Music Series, June 14, 2018 at the Boarding House Park, Lowell, MA
"This week, we paid special tribute to The Byrds! When we first got together, we were coming from two different musical backgrounds -- Maura from a power-pop and Americana background and Pete from the world of rock 'n roll, folk and blues. We did share some common ground in our musical tastes, including a few critical bands like The Beatles, Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, Emmylou Harris and Patsy Cline. But the band we both loved above all others was The Byrds. Imagine our joy when Roger McGuinn agreed to play his signature chiming Rickenbacker 12 on our Life Is Large album back in 1995! This week, Pete gave his own 12-string Ricky a good workout and we let those modal harmonies fly as we played our favorite songs by this influential band. Scroll down to see a list of the songs we played along with songwriter credits.
Here's a list of the songs we played during this stream:
1) Mr. Tambourine Man - (Bob Dylan)
2) Chimes of Freedom - (Bob Dylan) (Kennedys version on "Half A Million Miles" CD)
3) I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better - (Gene Clark)
4) My Back Pages - (Bob Dylan)
5) Here Without You - (Gene Clark) (Kennedys version on "Evolver" CD)
6) Turn! Turn! Turn! - (Pete Seeger)
7) It Won’t Be Wrong - (Jim McGuinn & Harvey Gerst)
8) Ballad of Easy Rider - (Roger McGuinn, assist from Bob Dylan)
9) Lay Down Your Weary Tune - (Bob Dylan)
10) You Ain’t Going Nowhere - (Bob Dylan)
11) Bells of Rhymney - (music by Pete Seeger; lyrics by Welsh poet Idris Davies)
12) Mr. Spaceman - (Roger McGuinn)
13) She Don’t Care About Time - (Gene Clark)
14) Eight Miles High - (Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby) (Kennedys version on "Songs of the Open Road" CD)"
The day The Byrds landed at Palos Verdes High School
The Byrds Palos Verdes High poster courtesy of Brian and Dale Cox.
by Toulouse Engelhardt
On the Friday before Halloween in 1965, the rumor spread quickly across the campus at Palos Verdes High School, ricocheting from locker to locker, down the halls across the senior park and off campus to the entire South Bay. Could it be true? The Byrds, the third most popular rock and roll band in the world, behind only the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, were going to perform at our high school?
Somehow, Mr. James Kinney, the iconic activities director at Palos Verdes High School since opening day back in 1961 had worked out a deal with the Byrds management’s Eddie Tickner and Jim Dickson to get the Byrds to come to Palos Verdes High School and perform a 45 minute set for the sum of just $300. Proceeds from the concert were to go to the construction of a campus.
I remember seeing small football pep rally cards pinned to the shirts and blouses of the students going down to the gym for the weekly football rally that said in the bright school colors with red, black and white lettering, ”Turn,Turn, Turn the Falcons,” referring to our football rivals from Aviation High School and the arrival of the Byrds.
The night of the gig, at around 6 p.m., a helicopter landed on the edge of the football field on the west side of the campus with all five of the original members of the group: Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke. Greeting the band was none other than, who else, activities director James Kinney. Mr. Kinney and a volunteer student staff escorted the band to the “green room,” which turned out to be the girl’s dance recital room at the rear of the gymnasium. On the large wooden wall of the gym, behind the stage where the roadies were setting up the drum kit and amplifiers, students from the school’s art department had hung large colorful murals of each of the band members.
The Byrds performing at Palos Verdes High in 1965. The Byrds. Photos courtesy of the PVHS Triton Annual Supplement
Shortly before 8 p.m., over 1,500 excited students and faculty packed into the gymnasium. It was warm and humid inside the gym simply because of the huge crowd, even though the Palos Verdes Estates Fire Department had set strict limits on the number of people allowed in the gym. The doors were shut tight when the crowd reached the allowable occupancy. Bouncers at the door had their work cut out for them too, holding back crowds of outsiders hoping to crash the concert.
When the lights suddenly went out and the Byrds entered from stage left, the crowd went wild.
The Byrds performance that evening lived up to everyone’s expectations with their newly invented “folk rock” twang, beautifully interwoven vocal harmonies and intricate interpretations of classic Dylan and Pete Seeger songs. Their set included their two number one hits; “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn, Turn, Turn,” and Gene Clark’s classic “Feel A Whole Lot Better,” .
To get the dance crowd “stomping” they surprised everyone in attendance with an extended version of Chuck Berry’s classic “Roll Over Beethoven.” “Turn, Turn, Turn” came at the end of their set. After strumming the final chords, the band unplugged their guitars and quickly left the stage. They had been on stage for just 35 minutes.
As they headed down the hall to the exit, they were intercepted by a very angry activities director. Mr. James Kinney dangled his ring of keys in their faces like they were just another bunch of high school delinquents. He pointed his finger right in Roger McGuinn’s face and ordered, “You boys turn right around and march yourselves back on stage. You owe us another couple of songs! We have a contract with you, remember?”
The band quickly turned around and went right back out to rousing applause. They ended their encore with a shimmering performance of Bob Dylan’s classic ”Chimes of Freedom.”.
Earlier that night I made it a point to work my way through the crowd all the way up to the front of the stage. I stood as close to McGuinn as I could, so close I could see the reflections coming off the Ben Franklin glasses that had become one of his trademarks. I was mesmerized by the “twang” of his Rickenbacker 12 string guitar blasting through his Black Fender Bandmaster amp. I was especially impressed with his intricate fingerstyle arrangement of the instrumental bridge in “Turn, Turn Turn,” just as I had been earlier listening to “Bells of Rhymney” from their first Columbia release.
I sensed the unlimited possibilities of the 12 string guitar and more importantly the potential for limitless lyrical expression using all of your fingers to pluck multiple melodic lines in synchronicity, not just a single line with a flat pick. It was a pivotal moment in my musical career. As I continued to watch the band perform, in a moment of serendipity, I Thought to myself, I need to explore the 12 string guitar for its expressive power, tonal range and shimmering chorus of sounds and that’s exactly what I did.
Little did I know at the time that almost eight years to that day, I would join the Byrds on their final American tour through the Rockies and across the plains of America as the band’s support act. That dream didn’t last long. Before I knew it the band was off to the East Coast and I had to pack up my Martin D-12-28 guitar and return home here to a life of normalcy in the South Bay and to ponder my next career move.
Reflecting back now, if it wasn’t for the tour exposure that I received those weeks and the encouragement I received from the band, especially from the Byrds’ brilliant guitarist Clarence White, where would I be? I had no idea then how much his words would help advance my career. The press covering the tour asked Clarence to comment about my performance and he was quoted as saying in his quiet, soft mild mannered way; “I’m becoming a big fan of this young fingerstyle guitarist”. Without that acknowledgement, I probably would have never gotten the attention of Chris Darrow of Kaleidoscope and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band fame, who went on to mentor me through my first record contract and introduce me to Denny Bruce the co-owner of Takoma Records and the personal manager of fingerstyle guitar greats John Fahey and Leo Kottke. That turned out to be my first big break in as a solo instrumental guitarist.
I still have the guitar pick Clarence White gave me when we said goodbye in 1973 I keep it as a good luck charm whenever I go. In the mid ‘90s, Hollywood Records released Roger McGuinn’s “Live from Mars,” a series of live recordings and cool folk stories from his solo performances in the post-Byrd years while, at that same time, the same record label re-released my first album, “TouIlusions,” with its iconic “Sailkat” cover design by another Palos Verdes High School alumnus the legendary artist Rick Griffin.
Looking back, 55 years later, I will always remember that concert at Palos Verdes High School with great fondness. Now I know why I keep hearing the words of James M. Barrie, who created “Peter Pan”, dancing in my head. “God gave us memory that we might have roses in Decemb
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Most Internet vinyl shops announce the release, on October 30, 2020, of an LP by The Byrds, the famous concert at the Piper Club in Rome, Italy, in May 1968 (Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Kevin Kelley, Gram Parsons and Doug Dillard).
This concert has been released many times already on various bootleg LPs and CDs, so we think this is just another unofficial release.
Hereunder, that lineup miming to the studio version of Mr. Spaceman, filmed at the Colosseum in Rome during that tour.
"Good Ol' Car" (T. Donde)
"The Wind Cries Mary" (J. Hendrix)
"Glory Glory" (Trad Gospel)
"Rainbow" (J. York / R. Swedeen)
"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" (B. Dylan)
"Chimes Of Freedom" (B. Dylan)
"Dandelion" (J. York)
"Man In The Long Black Coat" (B. Dylan)
"Here Comes The Sun" (G. Harrison)
A new Gene Clark compilation CD called "The A&M And RSO Years" has just been made available for download on various outlets.
A bit misleading as it includes tracks released as "Dillard And Clark".
Tracklist:
01. Los Angeles
02. I Pity The Poor Immigrant
03. That’s Alright By Me
04. Train Leaves Here This Morning
05. Why Not Your Baby
06. The Radio Song
07. Git It On Brother
08. Something’s Wrong
09. Wall Around Your Heart
10. Through The Morning, Through The Night
11. Kansas City Southern
12. Polly
13. Dark Hollow
14. One In A Hundred
15. She’s The Kind Of Girl
16. With Tomorrow
17. For A Spanish Guitar
18. The Virgin
19. Opening Day
20. Winter In
21. The American Dreamer
22. Full Circle Song
23. In A Misty Morning
24. I Remember The Railroad
25. Hear The Wind
26. Silent Crusade
27. Past Addresses
He released 4 LPs on the Alshire label between 1969 and 1972, which featured Clarence White and Gene Parsons.
Better late than never, I just learned that some of the tracks from these LPs were made available on CD and as downloadable files as "early" as 2009 (on Amazon and iTunes and more) as "Studio 102 Essentials", remastered from the original Alshire tapes.
Help (Lennon/McCartney)
Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat (Dylan)
Bells Of Rhymney (Seeger)
Lay Lady Lay (Dylan)
The Rain Is Perfect (York)
My Back Pages (Dylan)
Cripple Creek (Robertson)
What Does She See? (Tyson)
Spread Your Love around (York)
All written / recorded (1964-1973) by Byrds, incl. some songs members wrote / performed before joining Byrds; excl.bootlegs, MP3's, DVD's, promos (unless sold in retail outlets) & unreleased recordings.
UPDATE: Although statistics show the zip file was downloaded 10 times already, it seems some people have problems to download. If this is your case, please let me know.
We just learned of the passing on March 2, 2020 of Jon Butcher, Byrds / Gene Clark music collector from North Plainfield, NJ –USA (aged 66).
Jon did an interview with Gene Clark in 1987 (during a Firebyrds tour) which was put on the “Hidden Treasures” series of 10 volumes of rare and unreleased Gene Clark recordings.
Rick Clark (Gene Clark's brother) has just (April 2020) released his first album called "A Million Fallen Tears". It features 11 tracks, including “Del Gato”, co-written by both brothers.
The album is said to be available from Cole-Has Records, but I was unable to find them online. Help welcome.
Track listing:
1. Another Man (3:44)
2. Lonely Saturday (4:17)
3. Didn't MeanTo Be Unkind (4:29)
4. A Million Fallen Tears (4:50)
5. My Poor Heart (3:56)
6. Come Home Tonight (3:04)
7. Because You're Gone (5:21)
8. My Marie (6:46)
9. Del Gato (5:41)
10. So Cold (4:42)
11. Mother And Father (5:02)
Update: some source tells us that the album is available by writing to:
Jon Corneal - an ex-drummer for The Legends, The International Submarine Band and The Flying Burrito Brothers (all three bands featuring Gram Parsons) as well as for Dillard And Clark - has just released a new CD titled HIGH COUNTRY.
He also drummed for Hal Wallis, The Wilburn Brothers, Loretta Lynn, Kitty Wells, Connie Smith, Warren Zevon, The Glaser Brothers and more.
The new album was recorded at Tim Kelliher's (aka Buster Cousins) studio in Orlando, Fl., who recorded it, and did the guitar and bass on it as well.
Nice mix of Jon's original tunes and some classic country.
Gene Clark's son Kai Clark has just released his new CD titled SILVER RAVEN.
It's a tribute to his late father.
Guests include John York, Carla Olson and Byron Berline.
Tracks:
1. I Found You (3:13)
2. Mr. Tambourine Man (2:31)
3. Train Leaves Here This Morning (5:18)
4. Here Without You (2:42)
5. Silver Raven (4:41)
6. Kansas City Southern (5:11)
7. Gypsy Rider (4:08)
8. Turn! Turn! Turn! (3:58)
9. Polly (4:32)
10. Your Fire Burning (8:06)
11. Eight Miles Higher (Bonus Track) (5:02)
Please share this with your friends and like it if you want to.
Our thanks go out to Ellen Giurleo at Keith Putney Productions for creating the page and to William Kollar at LBN Productions for his editing skills.
The first video in our "All in it Together" concert series will be up as soon as we have some friends for this new FaceBook page.
If you don't do FaceBook, the video series will also be on youtube.com soon, and also on John's website at: johnyorkmusic.com (Thanks to Don Gillespie for that.)
Pictures taken at the Byrds show at Boise State College, Boise, Idaho 1/28/1973, when Toulouse Engelhardt was on tour with them as the band's support act.
Update 04/9: we've had some questions about who the drummer was. The drummer is Dennis Dragon , who went on to curl his hair, color it blond and be a founding member of The Surf Punks.
We just received an e-mail from Toulouse Engelhardt:
Hello!
This is Toulouse Engelhardt, finger style acoustic guitarist who recorded for John Fahey's Takoma Records back in the 1970's. I wanted to let you know that I was the support act for The Byrds on many of their final American tour dates in 1973.
Please add these additional performance dates to your list
Jan. 27th, 1973 Fine Arts Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah ( Two sold out shows in one evening)
Jan. 28th, 1973 College Gymnasium, Boise State College, Boise, Idaho
These dates are not mentioned in Christopher Hjort's book from 2008, so these additions are welcome. Thanks, Toulouse.
Toulouse's CD from 2004 titled "A Child's Guide To The Universe" features John York.
Byrds Flyght is parting with its huge collection of Byrds and Byrds-related items (records, reel-to-reel tapes, cassette tapes, CDs, CDRs, DVD, DVDrs, VHS video tapes, posters, books, magazines, etc…).
As far as records and CDs are concerned, we have a near-complete collection of every Byrds album release (official and unofficial) as well as every solo or group album release by the 11 ex-members and every participation by the 11 ex-members in other artists’ albums (except for recordings by and with David Crosby – we only have a few by him). We also have many 7’’ singles and E.P.s. Most of what we have can be viewed on Byrds Flyght’s pages.
So now is the time to get this rare item that you’ve been searching for for decades. Send an e-mail to Byrds Flyght at
byrdsflyght@skynet.be
with details of what you’re looking for, as well as the maximum price (including shipping) you’re willing to pay to get it. No funny low prices please. Serious offers only.
We will answer every e-mail, but of course we often have one copy only of each item. So don’t be disappointed if the answer is negative. If so, it’s either because the item has already been sold or because your offer doesn’t reach our own estimated value price. In the latter case, we will tell you so and give you a second chance to make a higher offer.
