Strictly for The Byrds

June 26^th – Raymond Froggatt anyone?

One of the bands of the 60’s and on thro’ that I was never sure I really got, and that confused and annoyed me, was The Byrds.

It was their pre 1968 hit/miss folk-rock style that confused me a little, I think ‘cos I was into a harder edge than they put out and so, although I recognised their relevance to the 60’s scene, their cuddly bunny philosophy and their sometime syrupy production values bordering on everything I find irksome about flower-power music, and that was a turn off not a turn on; that was until they released Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Maybe it was Gram Parsons’ influence on the band that makes this album sit so well with me and mine. I know The Byrds stuff often came up for chat in the dressing room when we were gigging in the late 60’s and, I think, we were all of the same mind; Mr. Tambourine Man was a top-drawer work but Turn, Turn, Turn! (T-T-T!) and the album of the same name was a lost soul of a recording IMHO. The problem for me was that the title track, the one that set the timbre for the whole album, seemed a bit of a ‘meek shall inherit the earth’ bleat, far outside the seething demands for social change that we were all a part of, or liked to think we were; the last thing, in our vision, was a season for all things and you had to hang around and wait for it: fuck the seasons, change it now!

Mr. Tambourine Man, which went to No. 1 in the States on this day in 1965 and was originally written and recorded by Bob Dylan (The Byrds seemed to specialise in Dylan stuff recording ‘Lay Down our Weary Tune’ and ‘The Times They are A-Changin’ on the T-T-T! album) and The Byrds cover was, imo, a far, far better version than that original…and anything that anyone else has done too. See, even now I’m confused about them, The Byrds… Bloody annoying. What I can say, though, is that I have no compunction in how I view Sweetheart… which also contains two Dylan compositions; it’s just a standout album and the first glimpse of what folk-rock would become.

There was a pub in Brum that I’m desperately trying to recall but I know that, as I write this, at 00.24 on the 26^th and into my second drop of malt, I’m not going to do it. We used to gig there regularly…bugger…what was it called? The ‘something’ arms, I think…never mind, another day. Anyway, we used to gig there and on a couple of occasions we supported Raymond Froggatt (come on, keep up!) when he/it was The Raymond Froggatt Band (RFB). I remember Louis Clarke was with him at that time, him who went on to achieve great success with ELO (he also made a mint with The Pops go Classic but, draw a veil) and between Messer’s Froggatt, Clarke and the other band members they made a fair fist of covering Byrds stuff.

Talent was well on display and I think it’s the only time I’ve ever watched a band we were supporting from the front and thought;

“Not bad that.”

grudging, curmudgeonly bugger that I was even back then; I also think now;

“If the RFB could do a cover of The Byrds catalogue and I’d get it, then how come, when I hear the original band do the same stuff, the majority of the pre Sweetheart… releases, I don’t? Musical philistine, I guess, and an outcome that blows my verdicts on cover bands right out the water…sorry you’ve wasted all this precious time. Past now; gone forget it, but I did too so…it was good to have your company.