Byrds (album)

For similarly titled albums, see The Byrds (disambiguation).
Byrds
Studio album by
the Byrds
ReleasedMarch 7, 1973 (1973-03-07)
RecordedOctober 16 – November 15, 1972
StudioWally Heider's Studio 3, Hollywood
Genre
Length34:54
LabelAsylum
ProducerDavid Crosby
The Byrds chronology
The Best of The Byrds: Greatest Hits, Volume II
(1972) 		Byrds
(1973) 		History of The Byrds
(1973)
Singles from Byrds
  1. "Full Circle"
    Released: April 11, 1973
  2. "Things Will Be Better"
    Released: April 24, 1973
  3. "Cowgirl in the Sand"
    Released: June 1973
  4. "Full Circle"
    Released: August 8, 1975

Byrds is the twelfth and final studio album by the American rock band the Byrds and was released in March 1973 on Asylum Records.[1] It was recorded as the centerpiece of a reunion among the five original band members: Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke.[2] The last time that all five members had worked together as the Byrds was in 1966, prior to Clark's departure from the band.[3] During the reunion, the current, latter-day lineup of the band continued to make live appearances until February 1973, with McGuinn being the only member common to both versions of the group.[4][5]

Upon its release, Byrds received generally poor reviews, with many critics bemoaning a lack of sonic unity and the absence of the Byrds' signature jangly guitar sound among the album's shortcomings.[2][6] Nonetheless, the album reached number 20 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart and was also moderately successful in the United Kingdom, where it reached number 31.[7][8] In the U.S., Byrds was the band's highest charting album of new material since 1965's Turn! Turn! Turn!, which had also been the last Byrds' album to feature Clark as a full member.[9] Three of the album's songs, "Full Circle", "Things Will Be Better", and "Cowgirl in the Sand", were released as singles during 1973, but none of these releases became hits.[1][10]

  1. ^ a b Rogan, Johnny. (1998). The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited (2nd ed.). Rogan House. pp. 542–547. ISBN 0-9529540-1-X.
  2. ^ a b "Byrds album review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
  3. ^ Sippel, John. (July 29, 1972), "Byrds To Cut An Album For Asylum", Billboard, Los Angeles
  4. ^ Fricke, David (2000). Farther Along (CD booklet). The Byrds. Columbia/Legacy.
  5. ^ Hjort, Christopher. (2008). So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star: The Byrds Day-By-Day (1965–1973). Jawbone Press. p. 293. ISBN 978-1-906002-15-2.
  6. ^ Rogan, Johnny. (1998). The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited (2nd ed.). Rogan House. pp. 349–353. ISBN 0-9529540-1-X.
  7. ^ Whitburn, Joel. (2002). Top Pop Albums 1955–2001. Record Research Inc. p. 122. ISBN 0-89820-147-0.
  8. ^ Brown, Tony. (2000). The Complete Book of the British Charts. Omnibus Press. p. 130. ISBN 0-7119-7670-8.
  9. ^ "Byrds". ByrdWatcher: A Field Guide to the Byrds of Los Angeles. Archived from the original on 2009-05-25. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
  10. ^ Hjort, Christopher. (2008). So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star: The Byrds Day-By-Day (1965–1973). Jawbone Press. pp. 316–321. ISBN 978-1-906002-15-2.