B
y 1971 The Byrds were on a depressing
downwards spiral. Their jingle-jangle
cavalcade of hits was by now a distant
memory and their Sweethearts Of The Rodeo
album a couple of years earlier had still to be
recognised as a genre-defining country rock
classic. They still had a reputation on the live
circuit but by now Roger McGuinn was being
haunted every step of the way by the spectre
of his former bandmate and nemesis David
Crosby and the incandescent rise of Crosby
Stills & Nash.
So the cover of Byrdmaniax (4/10) with
silver-painted death masks of the four band
members seemed like a macabre joke, even
at the time. Inside was a disjointed collection
of songs assembled without any sense of
purpose. The only chart the album came
near was at the local Record & Tape
Exchange where it clogged up the back of
the ‘B’ rack, courtesy of disgruntled Byrds
fans whose disappointment was exacerbated
by the encouraging signs on the previous
(Untitled) album.There are a couple of
McGuinn songs (Pale Blue and
Kathleen’s Song) that deserved
better and a fine cover of
Jamaica Say You Will by the
then largely
unknown Jackson Browne.
But the real problem was
that the band was buried in
the mix by a clearly
unimpressed Terry Melcher,
their long-time producer. As
if to prove the point he also
added several inappropriate string overdubs.
The bonus tracks, which include Dylan’s Just
Like A Woman, offer precious little recompense.
One album later the Byrds disbanded, only
to be to be revived with the original jingle-
jangle line up in 1973. Not surprisingly Byrds
(5/10) was never going to match the hype
that preceded it. For a start, it was unrealistic
to expect the line-up that had started to
splinter seven years earlier to reproduce their
halcyon style on demand, especially given thenature of some of the departures.
Plus, it’s worth bearing in mind that they
had all moved on by this point. In truth Byrds
is the sound of a band feeling its way back
together again, being careful not to tread on
each others’ toes. The result is a timid album
that only rarely sparks into life on Gene Clark’s
Full Circle, McGuinn’s Sweet Mary and Crosby’s
cover of Joni Mitchell’s For Free, although in
retrospect it sounds better without the weight
of expectation.
Hugh Fielderone, though it now has artwork
(nixed on its original release)
that looks like it was created by a
myopic child with a crayon.
Philip Wilding
Pretty Maids
A Blast From the Past
FRONTIERS
Mega boxset from Danish
melodic metallers.
Many rock
bands have
lamented about
the lean years in
the 90s when
the world tipped their ears
towards Seattle and left formerly
stadium-filling hard rock bands
to wither away at state fairs and
bowling alleys, but Danish
melodic metal champs Pretty
Maids stuck to their guns and
continued to deliver solid, never-
wavering dragon rock album
after album. They were
rewarded with a fierce cult
following, but scant coverage
outside of it. Many of those
grunge-era albums have gone
out of print, so this entirely
overwhelming 12-CD box should
fill any gaps in your collection,
including 1995’s positively lethal
Screamin’ Live and 1999’s gonzo
Anything Worth Doing Is Worth
Overdoing. It also offers up plenty
of bonus tracks and remixes
along the way. Aside from the
nearly faultless Future World in
1987, Pretty Maids made a lot of
their best music when nobody
was watching, so this is a great
way to dip in.
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Sleazegrinder999
The Albums 1987-2007
CAPTAIN OI!
Punk first responders’ second
wind.
999 may not
enjoy the
plaudits
afforded their
more notorious
punk peers, but their melodious
take on the genre’s musical
minimalism, and sterling live
reputation have kept fans onside
since 1977. 1987’s Lust Power And
Money, a tight set from London’s
Klub Foot, is titled after one of
three strong new songs excusive
to this record, the infectious pop
punk of On The Line sitting well
alongside favourites like
Emergency and Homicide. You Us
It! (1993), finds the band
sounding enthused through
plentiful fresh spins on their
trademark sound (All The Days,
It’s Over Now), and R&B-infusednumbers hinting at vocalist Nick
Cash’s pub rock past with
Kilburn & The High Roads.
Ta k e o v e r (1998) largely
maintains the standard,
highlights including Fit Up and
Salvage Mission. Death In Soho
(2007), closes this set on a high,
their most accomplished long-
player since 1980’s The Biggest
Prize In Sport.
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Rich DavenportMegadeth
Reissues BMG
Turn-of-the-century reissues
for a reinvigorated Megadeth.
Bringing new
meaning to the
phrase ‘own
worst enemy,
Dave Mustaine
has ridden Megadeth almost off
the road more than once. When
he’s moved to call their 1999
Risk album a ‘nadir’, you know
something is truly up in the
House Of Dave. Thankfully, by
2001’s The World Needs A Hero
(6/10), Megadeth were
beginning to right themselves.
A superior (read: heavier)
record than its predecessor and
full of the bite and snap that
made us all love Megadeth in
the first place, not least in thebile-fuelled 1000 Times
Goodbye, written when things
were clearly not going well at
home for Dave. The cursory
reissue extra here is a rattling,
live Coming Home.
By the time of 2004’s The
System Has Failed (7/10), Dave
had broken up the band, fallen
off the wagon and lost the use of
his arm, naturally. Even more
surprising then is how punchy
this album is. Political,
murderous and full of intent, it’s
a metaphorical flurry of punches
to the kidneys.
Especially good in the
venomous Kick The Chair and the
rumbling, Blackmail The Universe,
while live extras come in the
shape of Time/Use The Man and
The Conjuring.
Philip WildingTaking Back
Sunday
Twenty CRAFT RECORDINGS
Two decades of drama from
Long Island emo stars.
Taking Back
Sunday
deciding to
mark their 20th
anniversary
with this career-spanning
compilation is sure to set a few
fans spinning into a midlife crisis.That’s mainly down to the fact
that their early work – starting
here with the irrepressibly
catchy Cute Without The ‘E’ (Cut
From The Team), with its
venomous vocals contrasted by
Boys Of Summer guitars – so
perfectly summed up the small-
scale, big-deal dramas of youth.
Fuelled by inter-band and inter-
friendship-group tensions
(usually over girls), their lyrics
seethed with pettiness, grudges
and point-scoring, frontman
Adam Lazzara and original (and
now returned) guitarist John
Nolan trading barbs with
unadulterated glee. Maturing
over the course of Twenty’s
tracklist, they never lost their
sharp lyrical tongue, or their
ability to knock out high-octane
post-hardcore melodies fizzing
with nervous energy. New song
All Ready To Go slots in with its
older siblings, while piano ballad
A Song For Dan is closer in tone
to more contemplative later
tracks like You Can’t Look Back.
They’re wrong though; you can,
and should, look back, because
these songs are well worth
revisiting for turn-of-the-century
emo kids reminiscing on their
misspent youth.
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Emma JohnstonThe Byrds
Byrdmaniax FLOATING WORLD
Byrds ESOTERIC
Low-flying Byrds on two early-70s reissues.
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