Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971

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Customer reviews

review by: davido date: 2008-10-12 rating:
Byrds tour 1971
Whilst not a huge Byrds fan at the time I like the other reviewer saw the 1971 tour. Quite simply the concert was one of the best concerts I have ever been to.

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review by: date: 2008-09-04 rating:
A day in the life of a working band
I saw The Byrds at Birmingham Town Hall on this tour. The sound quality was probably no better live than what we hear on this release but, then, weren't we there for the music?
To have the privilege of seeing Clarence White play both acoustic and electric (his telecaster having the string-bender that he and Gene Parsons devised) has proven, all these years later to have been an unforgetable experience.
Don't let any sound-quality issues put you off listening to this gem. Anyhow, if like me you are old enough to have caught this tour be grateful you can still hear any of it!

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review by: date: 2008-08-28 rating:
A Great find
This concert, which came out of Roger McGuinn's personal archives, demonstrates what a great band the Byrds were 'live' in 1971, and is far superior to any of the studio recordings made by the McGuinn, White, Battin and Parsons version of the band.

As a previous reviewer implied, the sound isn't perfect and the vocals are a bit up front, but the sheer quality of the content far outweighs any minor production/mastering flaws.

I am very happy that this has finally seen the light of day and it once again shows just how great Clarence White's guitar playing was before his sad passing.

The album features 18 great tracks from all periods of the Byrds and is a great investment for any Byrds fan. Whilst to some it may sound a bit like a top quality bootleg,I'm sure to many others it will simply be a fond reminder of a great band at their live peak.

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review by: Martin Russell date: 2008-07-25 rating:
Essential for Byrdmaniax!
Where did this come from? The answer appears to be Roger McGuinn's garage. The May 1971 gig at London's Royal Albert Hall is referred to in Johnny Rogan's 'Timeless Flight' Byrds biog as 'a glorious night' of 'rapturous encores'. And now you can hear them all. McGuinn himself says, 'It was. a great night, so I'm happy there's a record of it.'

There's lots of stuff on this CD you can't legitimately obtain anywhere else. The acoustic section of Black Mountain Rag/ Soldier's Joy/Mr Tambourine Man/Pretty Boy Floyd/Take a Whiff, is sharp, clear and rather good. Unfortunatley the mix on the electric tracks leaves a lot to be desired. While the vocals are well out front, everything else is buried in the musical mud. This is a mono mix, despite what it says on the box. With no stereo separation the guitars lack presence, and the bass and drums fare little better. This is a pity as the interplay between guitarists White and McGuinn was a highlight of the Byrds live act.

So if you expect the crystal clear clarity if the 'Untitled/Unissued' live tracks, you may be disappointed. However, there are good things here - a live 'Chestnut Mare' and a splendid 'I Trust', as well as some great singing by McGuinn and, surprisingly, Clarence White. Also, you are hearing, as far as I can tell, a complete Byrds concert.

The 18 minute version of 'Eight Miles High' is a bit of a let down. It trundles along in 'White's Lightening' boogie mode somewhat interminably, before the 'cigarette break' bass and drum solos. The guitars seem stuck in the mud, and like many other tracks, it lacks tonal depth. I do wonder, if in 2008, something could not have been done to counteract the very 'middley' sound? Is this why the CD is a Sundazed issue, rather than a Columbia Legacy one?

So, what we have here is a curate's egg, rather than a Phoenix from the Byrds. Still, essential for Byrdmaniax!




review by: date: 2008-06-26 rating:
I think I'm going back to the things that I learned so well in my youth
This is one of those innocent pleasures that one can afford to consume in one's later years without any guilt whatsoever while ruing the years that the subject has been under wraps in Roger McGuinn's archives.

I will leave others to discuss individual tracks while I make the claim to how like the Grateful Dead the Byrds really were on this showing. The differences are clear, whilst the Dead gre from their blues based background the Byrds arose from the folk tradition but here, in this fines concert marred only by a minor sound glitch in the first track, the similarities are there for all to see and hear.

Marvel how America has produced two bands who outgrew their simple origins to become the greatest evangelists for the broad spectrum of music that has emerged from the United States in it's brief history. Marvel at their adaptions and restorations of folk and country and bluegrass while having the talent and capability to perform outside of the boundaries of the simple folk song.

Of course both bands look to Bob Dylan at various times in their careers to provide the vivid lyrics which capture so much and evoke much more but which they in turn reflect and refract back out to the broader audiences.

This album spans many decades in it's short span and presents them afresh. Whilst I mourn the space between the recording and it's eventual release it reminds me of much that has been lost in the intervening years and how we will probably never see the likes of the Byrds and the Dead again in their ability to transcend styles and forms and bring into the fold many from differing subclasses of the popular idiom together.

I commend this album to the pantheon of excellent albums.

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