''Farther Along'' is the eleventh
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by the American
rock band
the Byrds
The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole con ...
and was released in November 1971 on
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
.
For the most part, the album was recorded and
produced
Producer or producers may refer to:
Occupations
*Producer (agriculture), a farm operator
*A stakeholder of economic production
*Film producer, supervises the making of films
**Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
by the Byrds themselves in London, England, over the course of five work-intensive days in July 1971.
It was quickly released as a reaction to the commercial failure of the Byrds' previous album, ''
Byrdmaniax'', and as an attempt to stem the criticism that album was receiving in the
music press.
''Byrdmaniax'' had featured a large amount of
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
tion, which
producer
Producer or producers may refer to:
Occupations
*Producer (agriculture), a farm operator
*A stakeholder of economic production
*Film producer, supervises the making of films
**Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
Terry Melcher
Terrence Paul Melcher (born Terrence Paul Jorden; February 8, 1942 – November 19, 2004) was an American record producer, singer, and songwriter who was instrumental in shaping the mid-to-late 1960s California Sound and folk rock movements. His ...
had applied to the album, allegedly without the band's consent.
The band were unhappy with this and ''Farther Along'' was intended as their answer to what they perceived as Melcher's over-production, as well as an attempt to prove that they could produce an album that they regarded as superior to ''Byrdmaniax'' themselves.
Band biographer
Johnny Rogan
John Rogan (14 February 1953 – 21 January 2021) was a British author of Irish descent best known for his books about music and popular culture. He wrote influential biographies of the Byrds, Neil Young, the Smiths, Van Morrison and Ray Da ...
has suggested that the rapidity with which the Byrds planned and recorded ''Farther Along'' resulted in an
LP that the band themselves were unhappy with and that failed to undo the damage to their reputation inflicted by ''Byrdmaniax''.
Upon release, the album only managed to reach number 152 on the
''Billboard'' Top LPs chart and failed to break into the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
altogether.
A
single taken from the album, "America's Great National Pastime", was released on November 29, 1971, but failed to chart in the United States or in the United Kingdom.
''Farther Along'' has the dubious honor of tying with ''
Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde'' as the Byrds' album to have spent the least amount of time on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' album chart.
In addition, it was almost the lowest charting album of The Byrds' career in America, being beaten only by ''Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde'', which charted at number 153.
Overview
Following the release of the ''Byrdmaniax'' album, the Byrds' producer and
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities ...
, Terry Melcher, resigned amid accusations of
overdubbing
Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...
strings,
horns, and a
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...
onto that album without the band's consent. The Byrds' annoyance over Melcher's additions to ''Byrdmaniax'' prompted them to try to rectify the situation by quickly recording a new album, this time produced by themselves.
Despite a heavy touring schedule—resulting from the band being an in-demand fixture on the
live concert circuit—the Byrds were eager to release another studio album as soon as possible.
Upon arriving in England for an appearance at the Lincoln Folk Festival on July 24, 1971, the Byrds booked into a London
recording studio
A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large en ...
with
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
Mike Ross to record their next album.
The band's decision to produce the album themselves was almost certainly an attempt to show Melcher that they could do a better job than he had done on ''Byrdmaniax''.
During five days of recording between July 22 and July 28, 1971, the Byrds recorded all eleven songs that would appear on ''Farther Along'', with no other songs known to have been attempted by the band during the sessions.
The
tapes were then brought back to the U.S., where they were mixed by Eric Prestidge at Columbia Studios, Hollywood in August 1971, with the song "Bugler" receiving additional
Mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
and
lead vocal
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...
overdubs
Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...
from the band's
lead guitar
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the feature ...
ist,
Clarence White
Clarence White (born Clarence Joseph LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973) was an American bluegrass and country guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the By ...
.
Overall, ''Farther Along'' had a much less cluttered sound than its predecessor, as
guitarist
A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...
and band leader
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn (born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician. He is best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds. As ...
told journalist
David Fricke
David Fricke is an American music journalist who serves as the senior editor at '' Rolling Stone'' magazine, where he writes predominantly about rock music. One of the best known names in rock journalism, his career has spanned over 40 years. ...
in 2000: "It was as live as you can get in the studio. We didn't do a lot of overdubs, mostly just the vocals."
Nonetheless, while the album succeeded in countering the over-production present on ''Byrdmaniax'', the band themselves weren't particularly satisfied with the finished product.
In a 1997 interview,
bass player
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low b ...
Skip Battin
Clyde "Skip" Battin (February 18, 1934 – July 6, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter, bassist, performer, and recording artist. He was a member of the Byrds, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, and the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Εarly life
...
expressed his dissatisfaction with the album by saying "When we finished it, I didn't think we had anything, I thought the stuff was rotten - it didn't sound good, it was scattered and there was no unification."
Drummer
A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums.
Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer' ...
Gene Parsons concurred with Battin's assessment of the album, stating "I felt that ''Farther Along'' was a good album, but it was under produced. It was done really rapidly and it suffered in under production as a reaction to ''Byrdmaniax''."
Music
The eleven tracks on ''Farther Along'' included two written by Battin and his songwriting partner,
Kim Fowley
Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was the American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed The Runaways in the 1970s. He has been ...
.
The first of these, "America's Great National Pastime", was a
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...
-style
novelty song
A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and wi ...
that painted a whimsical picture of life in the US and drew humorous comparisons between the taste of
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atla ...
and
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...
.
The second Battin–Fowley song, "Precious Kate", was a love song based on a real life incident and was, according to Battin, written in five minutes.
Rather than being sung by Battin himself, as most of the Byrds' Battin and Fowley penned songs were, "Precious Kate" featured McGuinn on lead vocal.
McGuinn himself contributed the song "Tiffany Queen", a rousing,
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined a ...
-influenced track with amusing,
Dylanesque
lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer ...
, inspired by his third wife Linda Gilbert.
The album also included the Larry Murray song "Bugler" which was sung by Clarence White and was regarded by most critics as the album's highlight, as well as one of White's best vocal performances.
The moving tale of a boy and his dog, which turns tragic when the dog is killed in a road accident, took on a deeper meaning when White himself was killed by a drunken driver in 1973.
"Bugler" was the third in a trio of Byrds' songs about
canine
Canine may refer to:
Zoology and anatomy
* a dog-like Canid animal in the subfamily Caninae
** '' Canis'', a genus including dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals
** Dog, the domestic dog
* Canine tooth, in mammalian oral anatomy
People with the ...
companions, with the first being "Old Blue" on ''
Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde'' and the second being "Fido" on ''
Ballad of Easy Rider''.
White was also responsible for
arranging the album's title track, the
bluegrass standard "
Farther Along", a song that had crossed-over to a
rock audience in 1970 when it had appeared on
The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers are an American country rock band, best known for their influential 1969 debut album, '' The Gilded Palace of Sin''. Although the group is perhaps best known for its connection to band founders Gram Parsons and Chr ...
' second album, ''
Burrito Deluxe''.
The Byrds' recording of the song became more poignant in the years following its release, after "Farther Along" was sung by ex-Byrd
Gram Parsons
Ingram Cecil Connor III (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973) who was known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist who recorded as a solo artist and with the International Submarine Band, ...
and then-current member of the
Eagles
Eagle is the common name for many large Bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Ou ...
,
Bernie Leadon
Bernie Leadon (pronounced ''led-un''; born July 19, 1947) is an American singer, musician, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member ...
, at White's funeral in 1973.
The Byrds' drummer, Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram), contributed two songs to the album: "Get Down Your Line", a reflection on the need for self-improvement, and "B.B. Class Road", a lighthearted song about a
road manager
In the music industry, a road manager is a person who works with small to mid-size tours (in terms of personnel involved, based on the size of the production). Job responsibilities include (but are not limited to):
*advancing show dates
*making t ...
's life on tour with a rock band, co-written by the Byrds'
roadie
The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This ca ...
, Stuart "Dinky" Dawson.
For many years it was assumed that the lead vocal on "B.B. Class Road" was sung by Dawson himself, but Parsons eventually revealed in the early 1990s that it was actually him singing on the track.
Parsons went on to elucidate by stating "I wanted Dinky to sing this song but Dinky insisted that I do it. Until now, everyone thought he did. I tried to sing it with an excess of testosterone in the true spirit of rock 'n roll."
Parsons further explained to the Byrds' biographer
Johnny Rogan
John Rogan (14 February 1953 – 21 January 2021) was a British author of Irish descent best known for his books about music and popular culture. He wrote influential biographies of the Byrds, Neil Young, the Smiths, Van Morrison and Ray Da ...
in 1997 "I was imitating and taking on a different persona. Stuart and I collaborated and it's me growling and howling out the vocal."
"Antique Sandy" was the result of a songwriting experiment between all four members of the Byrds and their
percussionist
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excl ...
/road manager
Jimmi Seiter
Jimmi Seiter (born ''James Duke Seiter''; May 2, 1945 in St. Louis, Missouri) has worked as a musician, tour manager, artist manager, music producer, sound designer, stage producer and architect.
Seiter is probably best known for his work ...
.
The song's inspiration was Seiter's then girlfriend, who did indeed live in the woods in a house full of
antique
An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...
s, as the song's lyrics indicate.
The
Bob Rafkin-penned "Lazy Waters" featured a melodramatic lead vocal from Battin, which was enhanced during the song's
refrain
A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the v ...
by the Byrds' trademark crystal clear
harmonies
In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howeve ...
.
Despite being a cover, the song's wistful yearning for the simpler days of a bucolic childhood had personal significance for Battin, as he explained during a 1979 interview: "'Lazy Waters' was a serious song. I was living in the
Mendocino woods and working on the road. I'd known the song a long time. It expressed my feelings about life in the country and life on the road."
The band also elected to
cover The Fiestas' 1959
hit single
A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...
"So Fine" on the album, at the suggestion of Clarence White.
The addition of "So Fine", along with other
rock 'n' roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
-influenced songs, such as "Tiffany Queen", "Get Down Your Line", and "B.B. Class Road", provided the album with a 1950s-flavored thematic unity.
The final track on ''Farther Along'' was a Gene Parsons and Clarence White-penned bluegrass
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instr ...
titled "Bristol Steam Convention Blues".
The song had been inspired by Parsons' frustration and disappointment at having narrowly missed the Bristol Steam Convention during both of the Byrds' last two visits to England.
Release and reception
''Farther Along'' was released on November 17, 1971 in the United States (catalogue item KC 30150) and January 21, 1972 in the United Kingdom (catalogue item S 64676), less than five months after ''Byrdmaniax''.
Although the album was issued in
stereo
Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...
commercially, there is some evidence to suggest that
mono copies of the album (possibly
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...
promos) were distributed in the UK.
The album peaked at number 152 on the
''Billboard'' Top LPs chart, during a chart stay of seven weeks, but failed to break into the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
.
In the U.S., the album was almost the lowest charting of the Byrds' career, being beaten only by ''Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde'', which had charted at number 153 during 1969.
A single taken from the album, "America's Great National Pastime" b/w "Farther Along", was released on November 29, 1971 but failed to chart in the United States or in the United Kingdom.
The single's failure in the UK was due to its being withdrawn by
CBS Records shortly after its release in January 1972.
Reaction to the album in the U.S. was more enthusiastic than it had been for ''Byrdmaniax'' but still wasn't wholly positive. Andy Mellen, reviewing the album in the ''
Winnipeg Free Press
The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well ...
'' in February 1972, wrote, "
hilenot being anywhere the equal of ''
Younger Than Yesterday'' or even ''Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde'', it is an encouraging LP, offering some assurance that Roger McGuinn and friends still have their fingers on the pulse of what's happening musically in 1972."
Ben Gerson commented on both the band and the album in the March 1972 issue of ''Rolling Stone'' magazine: "There is a programmatic certainty to their music at this point which at first glance happily signifies that a first-generation band has successfully remade itself, but, after repeated exposure disappoints one with its inflexibility."
Gerson concluded his review of ''Farther Along'' by commenting "This is not an outstanding album, either by Byrds or contemporary standards, though, for at least a Byrds fan, it contains several seductive tunes and some exemplary musicianship. But beneath the old Byrds sound, and this new, quartered approach, there is a more fundamental commitment, and that is to survival."
The question of the Byrds' continued existence was also echoed in a contemporary review by Bud Scoppa in the March 1972 edition of ''Rock'' magazine, in which he remarked: "The Byrds recognized their failure on ''Byrdmaniax'', but placed the blame on the lavish production job rather than their own disunity. So what we have with ''Farther Along'', evidently rushed out to rectify the problems caused by the last LP, is more disunity, but this time in a basic unadorned state."
In the UK, ''Farther Along'' received reasonable reviews in the music press, with many commentators expressing pleasure that the band had reverted to a simpler style of production.
The January 29, 1972 edition of ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'' commented that it was "Good to hear the Byrds stretching their wings again" before concluding that "''Byrdmaniax'' was the bad news - now for the good news."
Caroline Boucher, writing in ''
Disc'' magazine, awarded the album three stars out of four, while Lon Goddard's review in ''
Record Mirror
''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the '' NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in '' ...
'' stated that the album showed the Byrds "slowly drifting away from the more apparent country influences that came to the fore with ''
Sweetheart of the Rodeo'' and combining into a hybrid that features more of the approach utilised on their earlier albums."
In more recent years, Mark Deming of the
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...
website has described the album's contents as a "well-crafted set" and compared it to ''Byrdmaniax'' by stating "It's certainly a significant improvement, but something short of a triumphant return; the band sounds a bit tired in spots, as if they were starting to run out of gas."
In his 2000 review for ''
The Austin Chronicle
''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...
'', Raoul Hernandez gave the album a rating of three and a half stars out of five, commenting "its authentic Dylan and the Band feel solidifies its status as further blueprint of today's roots-rock revival." ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
'' senior editor David Fricke described the album favorably in 2000 as "a warm, fine record: a rustic, intimate surprise still rarely appreciated for its quiet nobility and winning performances."
Post-release
Following the release of the album, the Byrds continued to tour the U.S. and Europe throughout 1972, but no new LP or single release was forthcoming and ultimately, ''Farther Along'' would turn out to be the last studio album by the McGuinn, White, Parsons, and Battin line-up of the band.
The Byrds did, however, record a handful of new songs during 1972 but these remained unreleased at the time.
Included among these new songs were versions of
David Wiffen's "Lost My Drivin' Wheel" and McGuinn's own "Born to Rock and Roll", recorded on January 12 and April 18, 1972 respectively.
"Born to Rock and Roll" was intended for a proposed single release, most likely with "Lost My Drivin' Wheel" as the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...
, but ultimately the single failed to materialize.
According to McGuinn, the January 12, 1972 session that produced "Lost My Drivin' Wheel" saw the guitarist being backed, not by the Byrds, but by hired
studio musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
s.
However, since McGuinn was contracted to Columbia Records as a member of the band and not as a solo artist, the studio documentation for this session lists "Lost My Drivin' Wheel" as a Byrds' recording.
In July 1972, Gene Parsons was fired from the group and replaced by session drummer
John Guerin
John Payne Guerin (October 31, 1939 – January 5, 2004) was an American percussionist. He was a proponent of the jazz-rock style.
Biography
Guerin was born in Hawaii and raised in San Diego. As a young drummer he began performing with Buddy D ...
, although Guerin was never officially a fully fledged member of the Byrds and instead worked for a standard
session musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
's rate. Following Parsons' dismissal, a further three songs ("Draggin'", "I'm So Restless", and "Bag Full of Money") were taped by the band at
Wally Heider's Studio 3 in Hollywood during July 1972.
Ultimately, the five songs recorded by the Byrds throughout 1972 would all be re-recorded for McGuinn's debut solo album, ''
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn (born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician. He is best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds. As ...
'', with the exception of "Born to Rock and Roll", which was re-recorded for the Byrds' 1973 reunion album, ''
Byrds''.
McGuinn did, however, re-record the song for his 1975 solo album, ''
Roger McGuinn & Band''.
In January 1973, the band taped a
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...
of "
Roll Over Beethoven
"Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 hit song written by Chuck Berry, originally released on Chess Records single, with "Drifting Heart" as the B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to replace class ...
" and a re-recording of their signature song,
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
's "
Mr. Tambourine Man", for the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
to ''Banjoman'', an
Earl Scruggs
Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) was an American musician noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, now called " Scruggs style", which is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music. His three-fing ...
tribute film in which they also starred.
Bass player Skip Battin was fired soon after and in late February 1973, McGuinn finally disbanded the latter-day line-up of the Byrds in order to facilitate a reunion of the five original members of the group.
The Byrds' reunion was centered around the release of a comeback album in March 1973 and featured McGuinn, along with original band members
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby (born August 14, 1941) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Crosby joined the Byrds in 1964. They got ...
,
Gene Clark
Harold Eugene Clark (November 17, 1944 – May 24, 1991) was an American singer-songwriter and founding member of the folk rock band the Byrds. He was the Byrds' principal songwriter between 1964 and early 1966, writing most of the band's best ...
,
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman (born December 4, 1944) is an American musician. He was the original bassist of and one of the original members of the Byrds, which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby and Michael Clarke.
With frequent ...
, and
Michael Clarke.
''Farther Along'' was remastered at 20-
bit
The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communications. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represented a ...
resolution as part of the
Columbia/Legacy Byrds series. It was reissued in an expanded form on February 22, 2000 with the addition of three
bonus tracks
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records col ...
. These bonus tracks were all taken from the Byrds' early to mid-1972 studio sessions and included "Lost My Drivin' Wheel", "Born to Rock and Roll" and "Bag Full of Money".
The remastered reissue also includes, as a
hidden track
In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as to ...
, an alternate version of "Bristol Steam Convention Blues".
Track listing
Side 1
#"Tiffany Queen" (
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn (born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician. He is best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds. As ...
) – 2:40
#"Get Down Your Line" (
Gene Parsons) – 3:26
#"
Farther Along" (
Traditional
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...
; arranged by
Clarence White
Clarence White (born Clarence Joseph LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973) was an American bluegrass and country guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the By ...
) – 2:57
#"B.B. Class Road" (Gene Parsons, Stuart Dawson) – 2:16
#"Bugler" (Larry Murray) – 3:06
Side 2
#"America's Great National Pastime" (
Skip Battin
Clyde "Skip" Battin (February 18, 1934 – July 6, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter, bassist, performer, and recording artist. He was a member of the Byrds, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, and the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Εarly life
...
,
Kim Fowley
Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was the American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed The Runaways in the 1970s. He has been ...
) – 2:57
#"Antique Sandy" (Roger McGuinn, Skip Battin, Gene Parsons, Clarence White,
Jimmi Seiter
Jimmi Seiter (born ''James Duke Seiter''; May 2, 1945 in St. Louis, Missouri) has worked as a musician, tour manager, artist manager, music producer, sound designer, stage producer and architect.
Seiter is probably best known for his work ...
) – 2:13
#"Precious Kate" (Skip Battin, Kim Fowley) – 2:59
#"So Fine" (
Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis (born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes; December 28, 1921 – January 17, 2012) was an American singer, musician, composer, bandleader, record producer, and talent scout. He was a seminal influence on American R&B and rock and roll. He ...
) – 2:36
#"Lazy Waters" (
Bob Rafkin) – 3:32
#"Bristol Steam Convention Blues" (Gene Parsons, Clarence White) – 2:39
2000 CD reissue bonus tracks
Personnel
Sources for this section are as follows:
The Byrds
*
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn (born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician. He is best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds. As ...
–
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
,
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...
*
Clarence White
Clarence White (born Clarence Joseph LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973) was an American bluegrass and country guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the By ...
– guitar,
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
, vocals
*
Skip Battin
Clyde "Skip" Battin (February 18, 1934 – July 6, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter, bassist, performer, and recording artist. He was a member of the Byrds, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, and the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Εarly life
...
–
electric bass
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...
, vocals
*
Gene Parsons –
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...
, guitar,
harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...
,
pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...
,
banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
, vocals
Note: Bonus track 12 is a recording not by the Byrds, but by Roger McGuinn and a group of unknown
studio musicians. Bonus track 13 features the regular band line-up plus
Charles Lloyd (
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
), an unknown musician (
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...
), and a number of unnamed female
backing singers. Bonus track 14 features McGuinn, White and Battin, along with
John Guerin
John Payne Guerin (October 31, 1939 – January 5, 2004) was an American percussionist. He was a proponent of the jazz-rock style.
Biography
Guerin was born in Hawaii and raised in San Diego. As a young drummer he began performing with Buddy D ...
(drums),
Buddy Emmons
Buddy Gene Emmons (January 27, 1937 – July 21, 2015) was an American musician who is widely regarded as the world's foremost pedal steel guitarist of his day. He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1981.
Affectionately known by ...
(pedal steel guitar), and an unknown musician (piano).
Release history
Single release
#"America's Great National Pastime" b/w "Farther Along" (Columbia 45514) November 29, 1971
References
Bibliography
*Rogan, Johnny, ''The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited'', Rogan House, 1998,
*Hjort, Christopher, ''So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star: The Byrds Day-By-Day (1965–1973)'', Jawbone Press, 2008, .
{{Authority control
1971 albums
The Byrds albums
Columbia Records albums
Legacy Recordings albums
Albums produced by Roger McGuinn
Albums produced by Clarence White
Albums produced by Gene Parsons
Albums produced by Skip Battin