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The Byrds Play the Songs of Bob Dylan [Columbia 5019462000](Import)

The Byrds Play Dylan is a compilation album by American rock band The Byrds, and was first released in November 1979 by Columbia Records. The album features thirteen interpretations of Bob Dylan songs from their entire career, regardless of line-up. The recordings contained within range from 1965 with "Mr. Tambourine Man" to 1970's "Positively 4th Street". The Byrds Play Dylan never charted in either the U.S. or the UK. In 2001, the album was remastered and expanded to twenty tracks. All of the material on both releases of The Byrds Play Dylan was previously released, either on The Byrds' regular albums, as bonus tracks on their remastered CDs, or on The Byrds, the 1990 boxed set.

Liner Notes

By 1964 Bob Dylan was enshrined as the king of protest. But "the poet laureate of young America" was restless. Excited by the rock'n'roll spin that English groups like The Animals were applying to folk standards, Bob's boot-heels were itching to reconnect with the rock music which had fired him as a teenager. The Byrds were a wannabe rock'n'roll group formed in the wake of The Beatles, but they were also eager to make music that said something. And then, late in 1964, the demo of an unreleased Dylan song - written in New Orleans and inspired by a Fellini film and a huge tambourine - came their way...

On The Byrds' version of 'Mr Tambourine Man', Dylan's high-flying lyrics were given a commercial sheen by Roger McGuinn's vocal, and the production polished by electric guitars, bass and drums. It became the hallmark sound of 1965 - and in that instant, folk-rock was born. Critics thrilled to the group's "jingle-jangle" guitars; 'Mr Tambourine Man' became a worldwide No.l; and Dylan was delighted... It was, as Humphrey Bogart remarked at the end of Casablanca, "the beginning of a beautiful friendship".

The fruits of that friendship are collected together on this album - 20 tracks by the greatest songwriter in rock'n'roll, performed by one of America's most durable bands. They are, inevitably, most strongly identified with their magical, swirling 'Mr Tambourine Man', but over the years The Byrds have tackled songs from every period of Dylan's extraordinary career - and in the process inspired generations of bands, from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, through The Smiths and Stone Roses, to REM.

Reworking 'Mr Tambourine Man' guaranteed The Byrds their place in the rock Pantheon. But in the immediate aftermath of that immortal debut single they went on to offer their take on more Dylan songs: 'Chimes Of Freedom', 'All I Really Want To Do' and 'Spanish Harlem Incident' all appeared on their 1965 debut album. Even as they developed their own songwriting talents The Byrds continued in tandem with Dylan, recording songs he would not release himself for many years, such as the hymnal 'Lay Down Your Weary Tune': written in 1964, recorded by The Byrds in 1965, and not released by the composer for another 20 years.

As if forging the folk-rock fusion wasn't enough, by 1968 The Byrds had also copyrighted country-rock with their 'Sweetheart Of The Rodeo' album. Buoyed by the enthusiasm of Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, The Byrds were the first rock band to mine seriously the rich seam of country music; but even on this pioneering project, Dylan wasn't overlooked - his 'You Ain't Going Nowhere' and 'Nothing Was Delivered' bookended the landmark album.

The rest of this definitive collection is made up of live performances and alternate takes, all of which bear witness to that unforgettable fusion between two American originals. Together they remain an unbeatable combination: Bob Dylan and The Byrds - words you can dance to!

AMG Review

This 20-song European import should be rated a lot higher than this, but there are some good reasons why it's not. It's essentially an updated version of the late-'70s Byrds Play Dylan LP, expanded to 61 minutes to encompass the huge number of outtakes and live tracks that weren't available, or even known to exist, when the original album was assembled. The idea is still a good one, though the execution — at least in terms of the packaging — leaves a lot to be desired. The CD uses the latest masterings of each song, as they stood circa the middle of 2001, and so the sound quality is not a problem; indeed, hearing all of the early-, mid-, and late-era Dylan-authored cuts by the Byrds juxtaposed in high resolution reveals the band's development and evolution (as well as several colossal wrong turns, such as the chorus-laden version of "Lay Lady Lay") in sharp detail. The problem lies with the fact that the material is assembled in a strangely haphazard order — it starts off with the original lineup's recording of "Mr. Tambourine Man," but then jumps between years and different lineups of the group, forward a few years, then back, then to outtakes and live tracks. Coupled with the sketchy notes, the result is an entertaining CD that could have been a lot more than that. Ironically, the notes themselves allude to the special relationship between the Byrds and Bob Dylan without ever taking a closer look at it over time, and the bizarre nature of the programming results in a broad but very shallow and frustrating look at its subject, compelling though that subject remains, even when presented in this manner.

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