Live At The Boarding House

What a GREAT CD! Oh my God! This blows the Byrds reunion LP pn the Asylum label right out out of the water. Everybody is right on the mark; everybody gives it their all. Also of interest, there is no drummer, yet you don't miss the drumming. Despite the tiny type on the cover, David Crosby appears on quite a few of the cuts.If you are a Byrds fan, you truly need this CD. McGuinn, Hillmann, Crosby and especially Gene Clark get their moments in the limelight. I cannot recommend this CD enough. An excellent release. The only drawback is that Gene Clark's vocals are mixed way down on the first few cuts, almost as if his microphone was off and his vocals were being picked up by the other mics.Outside of that, I repeat, this a great CD. If you have the black box collection of The Byrds from around 1990, you are familiar with the three new cuts by McGuinn, Crosby and Hillmann. This CD is similar in feel, but has the blessed addition of Gene Clark.

This is a historic recording of a reunion of all four of the original singer-songwriters of the Byrds. Once they really get going, they are very, very good. The vocal harmonies are great, especially Clark's backing vocal on "Chestnut Mare". Gene Clark's acoustic rhythm playing is highly personable, Chris Hillman is a virtuoso mandolin player, and Roger McGuinn's 12-string electric playing is unmistakable. Clark's beautiful "Crazy Ladies" was previously unavailable, and this group's version of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a rarity. The bad news is that the cameo by David Crosby adds more confusion than value, the three solo sets are slightly underwhelming, most of the songs aren't well suited for mandolin, and the recording gets off to a bad start due to very bad sound quality. Musically, McGuinn & Clark were better as a duo, while MCH sounded much better as a full five piece rock band. Still, the sound problem is fixed midway through the first song and the recording is a very enjoyable listen, which shows the original Byrds as very good live performers.

The four Byrds are splendid in this 1978 reunion concert aired by KSAN in San Francisco, but the CD is far too bright sounding and carries a lot of hiss. The label apparently used something like a third-generation copy of the radio broadcast and spared every expense in cleaning up the output. I have a 30-year-old vinyl bootleg of this performance, called "Doin' Alright for Old People," that sounds better than this CD. Still, the performance should be heard. And it would be nice if the three living participants and Gene Clark's estate saw some money for it.

So glad we can legally listen to and buy old radio concerts that were well recorded. Re-uniting the (fairly) original Byrds is a time consuming sport. It got even more complicated when Crosby started with Stills & Young.....and then without Young.....and then with Young.....and off and on with Nash. Sadly Stephen Stills and Neil Young are nowhere to be found (can you imagine McGuinn, Clark, Hillman, Stills & Young?). Before you shoot me down, realize Stills & Hillman made up the powerhouse and masterpiece first album that was Manasass. And Stills-Young have had a longer dance card than most professional hoofers. Just let me say if you are a fan of ANY of this "family" of music, you will LOVE this CD. It is fresh, almost unrehearsed sounding and very spontaneous. David Crosby is accused of being "fried" on something....he probably was....so what......ROCK ON.

This is surely an essential record to have for BYRD maniacs. Four of the five original Byrds reunite for one last time. I believe they did reunite when they were inducted in the R & R hall of Fame, but this is the last time they played both solo and Byrd music. Essentially, this might have been the formation of McGuinn, Clark, and Hillman. It comes via a radio broadcast from 1979. M,C, &H released their first Capital record in 1980, so this may have been a prelude.Clark,Hillman and McGuinn each perform solo pieces then start doing Byrds tunes. A lot of the Byrd tunes like Chestnut Mare did not have any original Byrds but McGuinn on them. But the X Byrds rise to the occasion and help Roger through these songs.David Crosby joins them on most of the songs they sing together, but does not sing any lead vocals. Missing is Drummer Michael Clarke. Still four out of five ain't bad. Another oddity is that McGuinn,Clark, and Hillman rotate on lead vocal for the full Dylan version of Mr. Tambourine man. This is odd in that only McGuinn and Crosby sang on the original recording. So this the only way you will hear all the Byrd vocalists do Mr, Tambourine Man. With the two Clarks gone, you realize, this music will never get this treatment again. So go for it. Gene Clark's two solo songs suffer from a quiet vocal over his guitar. Otherwise, quality is good in the recording.

En 1977, les carrières de Roger McGuinn, de Gene Clark et de Chris Hillman, contrairement à celle de leur ex-partenaire David Crosby, stagnent malgré plusieurs albums incontestablement réussis. En avril, un promoteur anglais les met à la même affiche à Londres: chaque artiste se produit en solo avec ses propres musiciens, puis le concert se termine par un mini-répertoire Byrds rassemblant les trois fondateurs du mythique groupe californien. C'est le déclic, et les bases d'une réunion permanente sont posées. Au cours de l'automne 1977, McGuinn & Clark commencent à tourner en duo, et début 1978 ils sont rejoints par Hillman. Un des premiers concerts de McGuinn Clark & Hillman, car ils ont décidé de ne pas réutiliser le nom de Byrds, est donné dans un petit club de San Francisco, la Boarding House, le 9 février: il est retransmis par la station KSAN-FM. Chaque musicien commence par deux chansons en solo: Clark ouvre la soirée avec le sublime "Silver Raven", Hillman le suit avec "It Doesn't Matter" et McGuinn avec "Ballad Of Easy Rider". Ni basse ni batterie lorsque les trois compères prennent position sur la petite scène, juste une Rickenbacker 12 cordes, une guitare acoustique amplifiée et une mandoline. A peine terminés "Chestnut Mare", l'inédit "Crazy Ladies" et "Train Leaves Here This Morning" (de Dillard & Clark, popularisé par les Eagles), un invité surprise rejoint le trio dans une ovation! Pour les huit titres suivants, David Crosby chante avec ses anciens frères d'armes qui puisent dans le répertoire de Bob Dylan ("Mr Tambourine Man", "You Ain't Going Nowhere " et "Knocking On Heaven's Door") mais n'oublient pas les hits qui ont forgé la notoriété du groupe, "Turn Turn Turn", "So You Want To Be A Rock'n'Roll Star" , "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" et "Eight Miles High". Quelques mois plus tard, McGuinn Clark & Hillman, sans Crosby, signent chez Capitol pour une aventure qui ne durera malheureusement que trois ans.

I got this CD a few days ago and I am very happy with it. I've been a fan of all the original Byrds since the sixties. I was surprised to find that the recording is very good considering it was done a long time ago. All the tracks are crystal clear. It's a goldmine for folk like me that love analysing all those harmonies. The only thing missing is the DVD! The best track is 'Mr Tambourine Man,' which is a work of art like the Mona Lisa or the Sistine Chapel. Everyone on this earth should hear that track because it would lift the heart of anyone hearing it. I heard that Mr Hillman has a collection of archive recordings of McGuinn, Hillman and Clarke (The Byrd Who Flew Alone-BBC4.) I hope someone with influence might persuade him to release some of them, and hopefully some video material as well.

GUT

Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark und Chris Hillman waren damals auf ihrer Tournee auch in Deutschland, leider konnte ich an dem Abend aus dienstlichen Gründen nicht zum Konzert gehen. Als dann die Konzert-Besprechung in unserer Tageszeitung erschien war ich entsprechend sauer weil mir erst so richtig bewusst wurde was ich versäumt hatte, wenn auch David Crosby nicht dabei war. Beim Hören des Albums wird mir klar wie toll eine Byrds-Reunion in diesem Jahr sein könnte, Gene Clark kann ja leider nicht mehr dabei sein. Dieses Live-Album zeigt noch einmal was für ein toller Sänger er war. Roger McGuinn geht im Herbst 2014 auf Solo-Deutschland-Tour, er ist gegen die Byrds-Reunion und hat dies auch damit begründet, dass er keinen Wert auf einen Ferrari legt. Nun zu dieser Live-CD, die wohl schon früher als Bootleg-Album erhältlich war. Ich habe fast allen Titeln 4 oder 5 Sterne gegeben, Ausnahme ist das zweite Stück (Release Me). Hier ist die Aufnahme-Qualität so bescheiden, dass Gene Clarks Gesang fast gar nicht hörbar ist. Die musikalischen Höhepunkte sind für mich : Chestnut Mare, Turn! Turn! Turn!, Mr. Tambourine Man, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, So You Want To Be A Rock'n'Roll Star und Eight Miles High. Byrds Fans können diese CD blind kaufen, eine Top-Empfehlung !

In alcuni pezzi la qualità dell' audio è molto bassa. La classe èvtanta, i pezzi proposti sono immortali. Questo è sufficiente a renderlo u bel disco.