The Byrds - The Best Of The Byrds: Greatest Hits, Volume II - 1985 OOP Columbia CD (FLAC)
The Best Of The Byrds: Greatest Hits, Volume II
The Byrds
CK 31795, 1985.
Originally issued in 1972.
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The one original Columbia LP that didn't see a re-release in the Legacy series, this 1972 album is a strange mish-mash of seemingly randomly selected cuts primarily from the last three albums, and one from the second album. The Gram Parsons era is represented with one cut (a McGuinn-sung number, mind you) and Skip Battin is represented by two.
This disc quietly drifted out of print, I guess, in the '90s. There's nothing here as epochal as the contents of the earlier Greatest Hits LP, and calling it "The Best of The Byrds" is deserving of a raspberry, but to the completist or someone wondering what this band did after "Turn Turn Turn" or "Tambourine Man", it's a nice, brief summary.
Robert Christgau review, 1972:
If their first greatest hits was (in Paul Williams's deathless phrase) "an essay into rediscovery," this one's a product into recouping. Thing is, a good statement could have been constructed. Let Notorious and Sweetheart stand on their own (though one song apiece is acceptable anyway), leave the anachronistic "He Was a Friend of Mine" in the dustbin of history, and tell Skip Battin to make his own album. Then pick a few more cuts--"Deportee," "Old Blue," "Child of the Universe"--from Easy Rider and Dr. Byrds. Presto: Roger McGuinn's Greatest Quirks. The original space cowboy deserves a testament, not an olio. B
Track listing:
1. Ballad Of Easy Rider (2:06)
2. Wasn't Born To Follow (2:03)
3. Jesus Is Just Alright (2:12)
4. He Was A Friend Of Mine (2:34)
5. Chestnut Mare (5:11)
6. Tiffany Queen (2:45)
7. Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man (3:55)
8. You Ain't Going Nowhere (2:38)
9. Citzen Kane (2:36)
10. I Wanna Grow Up To Be A Politician (2:06)
11. America's Great National Pastime (2:58)