The Byrds-Live At The Fillmore-February 1969 (2000)

 

Artist: The Byrds

Title: Live At The Fillmore February 1969

Label: Columbia/Legacy

Format: CD

Cat #: CK 65910

Year of Release: 2000

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 2000

Listed Condition VG+/VG+: hole punch in UPC

Sell Date: 5/6/24

Sell Price:$3.75

Discogs Last Sold: 4/25/24 $7.87 VG/VG

Low: $1.75

Median: $4.24

Average: $4.28

High: $7.87

Current low price: $2.50

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 30

Have/Want: 524/45

Where Sold:Charlotte, NC

Time it took to sell: 12 years

Where and When Bought: early aughts not sure where in NYC

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A-

Sad To See It Go: No

One of those releases that looks great on a shelf, but it took me 24 years after buying it to get around to paying any attention to this excellent live recording.  I guess that means I should force myself to read David Fricke's liner notes as well.  Sweetheart Of The Rodeo came out August 30, 1968 only 8 months after The Notorious Byrd Brothers and Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde came out a week before these shows.  They cranked 'em out in those days.  Gram Parsons was in and out of the band by the time Sweetheart came out although McGuinn sung songs from that album remained in the set including "The Christian Life" and "Pretty Boy Floyd."  

For Bob Dylan songs they left out "Nothing Was Delivered" on this disc even though McGuinn sang it on Sweetheart.  Instead, "Chimes of Freedom" closes it out. "This Wheels On Fire" also made the cut which was appropriate since it opened Dr. Byrds.   The Byrds put the old history of "Mr. Tambourine Man" into a medley of sorts sandwiched by "Turn! Turn Turn" and "Eight Miles High."  I say of sorts because when you actually listen to it, nothing sounds particularly truncated.  It just wasn't a side long "Eight Miles High" found later on the (Untitled) double released in 1970, if you get my drift.

The hype sticker still on the CD case calls Fricke's notes authoritative.  As far as RS goes, I guess he's the one I want to do it.  I just read them and what stood out was his hyping of Parsons replacement Clarence White, who came in  out of session work on Sweetheart/Notorious.  White added Gene Parsons from their country-rock combo Nashville West. Bass player John York was added when Chris Hillman left to found the Flying Burrito Brothers.  John shows up on Dr. Byrds and the Ballad of Easy Rider from late 1969 before he departed.  He still lives today as does Gene Parsons and of course McGuinn.  White was in the Byrds for 6 years before getting killed by a drunk driver in 1973 while loading out equipment.  

With critics hyperbole, Fricke ties these February 1969 performances to RFK, MLK and the landing on the moon.  Funny, considering Fricke's pedigree, how the Rolling Stone Record Guide always favored the early years and Sweetheart and gave the later stuff the short shrift.  They are good recordings and we learn from Fricke's notes that this is the first standalone Byrds live release since (Untitled) had an album of studio tracks paired with live ones.  I never really thought of it that way and will always consider (Untitled) to be the singular Byrds live record.  I tend to divide releases into active period and archival period no matter what anyone says.  If McGuinn kept the name the Byrds going on the road, maybe I'd think of it differently.  We also learned that this release was essentially a soundcheck for a live album of an Electric Flag/Butterfield Blues Mike Bloomfield led hybrid that Columbia released in 1969 as Super Jam Live At Bill Graham's Fillmore West while the lowly Byrds recordings gathered dust for 30 years.  

Revisionist history is a funny thing.