Quad LP/Tape Poll Byrds, The: Byrdmaniax [SQ]

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Rate "Byrdmaniax"

  • 10: Great sound, mix, content

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 9

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 8

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 7

    Votes: 2 40.0%
  • 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5: Mediocrity Central

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1: Sux

    Votes: 1 20.0%

  • Total voters
    5

EMB

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Feb 8, 2004
Messages
4,101
Location
The Top 40 Radio of My Mind
CBS Sony SOPL-34001, Japan. Album originally released 1971 as Columbia KC 30640 (stereo).


Side 1:

Glory, Glory
Pale Blue
I Trust
Tunnel of Love
Citizen Kane

Side 2:

I Wanna Grow Up to Be a Politician
Absolute Happiness
Green Apple Quick Step
My Destiny
Kathleen's Song
Jamaica Say You Will


ED :)
 
2 (n) for the music, 8 for the mix. That averages out to a 5, which is extremely generous.

Mix is generally good, HOWEVER, I'm a Byrds fanatic and this is their least interesting album, IMHO. Of several hundred box sets I own, the first Byrds (black) box is my favorite box set by ANYONE. Yet, disc four, which includes tracks from this album is disposable.

After their initial, classic period of '65 - '67, and Sweetheart of the Rodeo (w/Gram Parsons) in '68, the Byrds' fortunes were fading. The Ballad of Easy Rider and Untitled albums did much to revive their fortunes, only to be knocked back down by this overblown turkey. It was the death blow to a once mighty band. Strings, horns and a gospel choir, all dubbed by producer Terry Melcher, simply added to the misery of this project. It's working title was "Expensive," due to all the studio costs this turkey chewed up.

I've owned a 2ch LP, CD, expanded CD and SQ of this. All total, I've played it ten times at most. So, if you're a hard-core Byrds completist, you MUST own this. If not, pick up a used copy of that first (black) box set and/or expanded versions of those first six albums in stereo. And don't forget Greatest Hits on 2 ch SACD (y) You'll listen to those discs much more often than this overblown thing. It should be obvious why this album never got released in Quad in the US.

The-Byrds-Byrdmaniax---Quad-389189.jpg
 
I once came across a book (title and author I can't remember) in some Brattleboro Vt. store (long, long gone, alas, used to be a great place to hang) that had a fairly eclectic selection, and among them was a photo volume based on L.A. police crime/accident scene photos (or something). It was culled from those archives, most B&W, very vivid, morbid and disturbing. Everything from a guy whose upper body was blown to hash when a bomb he was making detonated (um) prematurely; a guy who crashed his convertible over a Pacific Coast Highway guard rail, with the car sticking out of the beach sand, his head perfectly in repose a few dozen feet in front; and a variety of post-mortem photos of various faces. I remember the damn thing so well I should have bought it, but it was pricey; that, and the fact that (and rare for me) felt a bit superstitious, as if owning a slab of paper like that might bring some serious nasty karma down upon me. So I left it on the shelf. Still wish I'd had the gumption to buy it and keep it in a corner, hidden somewhere (it remains for me the most perversely fascinating photo collection I've ever seen, and the pics went beyond that, into the sinister noir of downtown L.A. and those who paid the ultimate price for hanging around one night too many, or those who dug the strange city vibe, drove to the outskirts and went way out of control, sometimes to an early doom).

I mention the above because this album cover reminds me of how riveted I was by the stark, dark, morbid nature of it all, as if what I was seeing was from a familiar yet alien culture beyond my understanding. And those metallic life masks of the Byrds? They had the look not of death about them but, like some of those photos of people in the L.A. county morgue, looked like they were asleep (or catatonic), awaiting some call to awaken, suddenly rise from the lava and play some good music. Unfortunately, as Linda points out, there isn't anything on this album worthy of anybody's time...good playing from pros, and the quad mix is indeed very good. But this has to be the dullest load of anything Roger McGuinn was ever involved with in any way--and the most ridiculously and inappropriately arranged and conceived project with his name in the credits. Given the many albums more worthy of 4-channel treatment at this time, incredible that BYRDMANIAX was released--or unleashed--anywhere, let alone Japan. THERE'S A RIOT GOIN' ON woulda made so much more sense. Now that was an addled, druggy mess worthy of quad....

My rating: 4

ED :)
 
It was the death blow to a once mighty band.

View attachment 13345

yes it was a death knell but it didn't stop them from continuing, releasing "Farther Along" and then starting tracks for yet another lp, only to be stopped by the original lineup reforming and putting out a rather dissapointing reunion lp...although in comparison to Byrdmaniax it's miles better..

although I think I was a bit mean with my voting I was thinking 1 as the music sucks as distinct from the mix and recording quality..But I really meant mediocrity central ...I save 1 for abominations in fake quad.
 
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