Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde
Encyclopedia
Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde is the seventh album
by the American rock
band
The Byrds
and was released in March 1969 on Columbia Records
(see 1969 in music
). The album saw the band juxtaposing simple country rock
material with harder-edged psychedelia
, giving the album a stylistic split-personality that was alluded to in its title. The album was the first to feature the new band line-up of Clarence White
(guitar
), Gene Parsons
(drums
), John York
(bass
), and founding member Roger McGuinn
(guitar
). Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde is unique within the band's discography for being the only album on which McGuinn sings the lead vocal
on every track.
The album peaked at #153 on the Billboard Top LPs
album chart and reached #15 on the UK Albums Chart
. A preceding single
, "Bad Night at the Whiskey" (b/w "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man"), was released on January 7, 1969 but it failed to chart in the United States or in the United Kingdom. However, a non-album single recorded shortly after the release of Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, a cover of Bob Dylan
's "Lay Lady Lay
", peaked at #132 on the Billboard
singles chart. Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was the lowest charting album of the band's career in the United States, edging out the later Farther Along by one place.
from the band, lead guitar
ist Roger McGuinn and bass player
Chris Hillman
decided that they needed to find a replacement member in order to meet their forthcoming concert
obligations. With an appearance at the Newport Pop Festival
looming, McGuinn and Hillman moved quickly to recruit noted session guitarist
and longtime Byrd-in-waiting, Clarence White. White, who had played as a session musician on The Byrds' previous three albums, was invited to join the band as a full-time member in July 1968. After the Newport Pop Festival appearance, White began to express dissatisfaction with the band's drummer, Kevin Kelley
, and soon persuaded McGuinn and Hillman to replace Kelley with Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram), a friend of White's from their days together in the band Nashville West
.
The new McGuinn, Hillman, White and Parsons line-up of the band was together for less than a month before Hillman departed to form The Flying Burrito Brothers
with Gram Parsons. John York, a session musician who had toured with Johnny Rivers
and The Mamas & the Papas
, was quickly hired as his replacement on bass. The new band line-up, featuring McGuinn and White's dual guitar work, was regarded by critics and audiences as much more accomplished in concert than any previous configuration of The Byrds had been. Amidst so many changes in band personnel, McGuinn decided that he alone would sing lead vocals on the band's new album, in order to give it a sense of sonic unity. McGuinn felt that it would be too confusing for fans of The Byrds to have the unfamiliar voices of the new members coming forward at this stage and so White, Parsons and York were relegated to backing vocal
duties during the recording of the album. Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde is therefore the only album in The Byrds' catalogue to feature Roger McGuinn singing lead on every track.
Prior to the recording of the album, The Byrds' record producer
, Gary Usher
, who had worked on the band's three previous albums, had been fired by Columbia Records for spending too much money on the recording of the Chad & Jeremy album, Of Cabbages and Kings. Faced with the need to find a replacement producer, The Byrds elected to bring in Bob Johnston
, who had been Bob Dylan
's producer since 1965. Ultimately, the band were unhappy with Johnston's production work on Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde and as a result, it was the only Byrds' album to be produced by him. However, Johnston was employed once more as the band's producer on their May 1969 non-album single, "Lay Lady Lady". He incurred the band's wrath, however, by overdubbing
a female choir
on to that recording, allegedly without The Byrds' consent. When the single then stalled at #132 on the Billboard charts the band decided that they would not work with Johnston again.
for the album began on October 7, 1968, with nine songs intended for Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde being recorded during that month. Among these songs were "Nashville West", an instrumental
written by Gene Parsons and Clarence White during their tenure with the country rock group of the same name, and "Your Gentle Way of Loving Me", a song that Parsons and Gib Guilbeau
had previously released as a single in 1967. Another song recorded during these sessions was McGuinn's "King Apathy III", a comment on political apathy and a championing of the rural idyll as an antidote to the excesses of the L.A. rock scene. The October recording sessions also saw the band attempting the traditional
song "Old Blue
", which McGuinn had originally learned from watching Bob Gibson
and Bob Camp
at Chicago's Gate of Horn
club back in April 1961. "Old Blue" is the first of three dog-related songs to be recorded by The Byrds: the second and third being "Fido" from the Ballad of Easy Rider album and "Bugler" from Farther Along. "Old Blue" features the first appearance on a Byrds' recording of the Parsons and White designed StringBender
, an invention that allowed White to duplicate the sound of a pedal steel guitar
on his Fender Telecaster
.
The October recording sessions also yielded "Bad Night at the Whiskey", a song that would go on to be issued as the A-side
of a single two months before the release of the album. Named after a disappointing gig
at the Whisky a Go Go
and co-written by Joey Richards, a friend of McGuinn's, "Bad Night at the Whiskey" featured allusive lyrics that bore little or no relationship to the song's title. The Byrds also recorded a version of Bob Dylan and Rick Danko
's "This Wheel's on Fire
" during the October 1968 sessions but this version was not included on the final album. "Stanley's Song", a rather lackluster country shuffle, written by McGuinn and his friend Robert J. Hippard also dates from these sessions but it was eventually discarded and did not appear in the final track listing for Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde.
Another composition recorded during the October 1968 sessions was the McGuinn and Gram Parsons penned "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man". The song had been written by the pair in London in May 1968 before Parsons' departure from the band and was inspired by the hostility shown towards The Byrds by legendary Nashville
DJ
Ralph Emery
when they appeared on his WSM
radio program. The song's barbed lyric contains a volley of Redneck
stereotypes, set to a classic country
3/4 time signature
and begins with the couplet "He's a drug store truck drivin' man/He's the head of the Ku Klux Klan
." It should be noted, however, that Emery was not, in fact, a Klansman. The song was subsequently performed by Joan Baez
at the Woodstock Festival
in 1969 and dedicated to the then governor
of California, Ronald Reagan
. Baez's performance of the song also appeared on the Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More
album.
An acetate
version of Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, dated October 16, 1968 and containing a seven-track programme for the album is known to exist. At this point the album consisted of the songs "Old Blue", "King Apathy III", "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man" and "This Wheel's on Fire" on side one, with "Your Gentle Way of Loving Me", "Nashville West" and "Bad Night at the Whiskey" on side two.
The Byrds returned to the studio on December 4, 1968 to re-record "This Wheel's on Fire", which had initially been attempted by the band in October. During this same December session, The Byrds also revisited two songs that had been written for the 1968 film Candy
. Of these two songs, "Child of the Universe", written by McGuinn and soundtrack composer Dave Grusin
, was used in the film, while the McGuinn—York penned title track was not. A medley
featuring the Dylan-authored Byrds' hit "My Back Pages
", along with an instrumental named "B.J. Blues" and a jam
version of the blues
standard
"Baby What You Want Me to Do
" was also recorded during this December recording session.
, S 63545 in stereo
). Like The Byrds' previous LP
, Sweetheart of the Rodeo
, the album was issued exclusively in stereo in America but appeared in both mono and stereo variations in the UK. Sales of Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde were poor in the U.S., causing it to stall at #153 on the Billboard Top LPs
chart and giving the album the dubious honor of being the lowest charting album of the band's career, edging out the later Farther Along by just one place. The album fared better in the United Kingdom, however, where it reached #15 on the UK Albums Chart
. The "Bad Night at the Whiskey" single was released ahead of the album on January 7, 1969 but it failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100
or the UK Singles Chart
.
The album's title, along with the back cover photo sequence, which featured the band changing from astronaut
flight suits into cowboy
garb, illustrated the schizophrenic
nature of the album's material. The psychedelic rock
of "Bad Night at the Whiskey" and "This Wheel's on Fire" sat alongside the Bakersfield
-style country rock of "Nashville West" and "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man". Despite containing only ten tracks, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde is The Byrds' longest single album, clocking in at approximately thirty-five minutes in length. Only the double album
(Untitled) is longer.
The album was released to generally positive reviews, with famed rock critic Robert Christgau
declaring the album "first-rate Byrds, a high recommendation." Johanna Schrier, writing in The Village Voice
, described the album as "smooth and strong like a blended whiskey", before suggesting that it was "Part kin to Sweetheart of the Rodeo, part the acid offspring of Notorious Byrd Brothers." In the UK, Record Mirror
awarded the album four stars out of five, commenting "British devotes will dig this more than Sweetheart." Disc
magazine were particularly enthusiastic in their praise of the album, stating "[This is] their best album since perhaps Younger Than Yesterday, perfectly illustrating the two completely disparate sides of the group: far-out electronic rock and hick, twangy country." In more recent times, critic Mark Deming has noted in his review for the Allmusic website that the album "proved there was still life left in the Byrds, but also suggested that they hadn't gotten back to full speed yet." Senior editor of Rolling Stone
, David Fricke
, has described the album as "the Great Forgotten Byrds Album", while also noting that it "seemed tame in its reliance on the familiar."
Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was remastered at 20-bit
resolution as part of the Columbia/Legacy
Byrds series. It was reissued in an expanded form on March 25, 1997 with five bonus tracks, including the outtake
"Stanley's Song". Also included among the bonus tracks were alternate versions of "This Wheel's on Fire" and "Nashville West", as well as the band's cover of "Lay Lady Lay", which was issued as a single some months after the release of the album. However, in the version included here, "Lay Lady Lay" is lacking the female backing chorus that had originally appeared on the single release.
There has been some discussion amongst fans of The Byrds as to whether or not Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was remix
ed for its expanded reissue in 1997. Although the producer of the Columbia/Legacy Byrds' series, Bob Irwin, has stated that only the first four Byrds' albums underwent any remixing, some fans of the band maintain that Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was also remixed, citing distinct differences between the 1997 reissue and the original album. Among the differences found on the reissue are a lessening of reverb
on many songs, the appearance of the spoken word "three" over the opening seconds of "This Wheel's on Fire", and a longer, unedited version of "Candy" appearing on the album for the first time.
The Byrds
Additional Personnel
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by the American rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
and was released in March 1969 on Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
(see 1969 in music
1969 in music
-Events:Perhaps the two most famous musical events of 1969 were concerts. At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event...
). The album saw the band juxtaposing simple country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
material with harder-edged psychedelia
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
, giving the album a stylistic split-personality that was alluded to in its title. The album was the first to feature the new band line-up of Clarence White
Clarence White
Clarence White was a guitar player for Nashville West, The Byrds, Muleskinner, and the Kentucky Colonels. His parents were Acadians from New Brunswick, Canada...
(guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
), Gene Parsons
Gene Parsons
Gene Victor Parsons is an American drummer, banjo player, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and innovative engineer, best known for his work with The Byrds from 1968 to 1972. Parsons has also released solo albums and played in bands including Nashville West, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Parsons Green...
(drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
), John York
John York (musician)
John Foley York is an American bassist and guitarist, born in White Plains, New York on August 3, 1946. He is best known for his work with The Byrds, who he joined in September 1968 as a replacement for the band's original bass player Chris Hillman. He remained with the group until September...
(bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
), and founding member Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
(guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
). Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde is unique within the band's discography for being the only album on which McGuinn sings the lead vocal
Lead vocalist
The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
on every track.
The album peaked at #153 on the Billboard Top LPs
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
album chart and reached #15 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
. A preceding single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Bad Night at the Whiskey" (b/w "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man"), was released on January 7, 1969 but it failed to chart in the United States or in the United Kingdom. However, a non-album single recorded shortly after the release of Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, a cover of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "Lay Lady Lay
Lay Lady Lay
"Lay Lady Lay" is a song written by Bob Dylan and originally released in 1969 on his Nashville Skyline album. Like many of the tracks on the album, Dylan sings the song in a low croon, rather than in the high nasal singing style associated with his earlier recordings...
", peaked at #132 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
singles chart. Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was the lowest charting album of the band's career in the United States, edging out the later Farther Along by one place.
Background
Following the departure of country rock pioneer Gram ParsonsGram Parsons
Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...
from the band, lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
ist Roger McGuinn and bass player
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....
decided that they needed to find a replacement member in order to meet their forthcoming concert
Rock concert
The term rock concert refers to a musical performance in the style of any one of many genres inspired by "rock and roll" music. While a variety of vocal and instrumental styles can constitute a rock concert, this phenomenon is typically characterized by bands playing at least one electric guitar,...
obligations. With an appearance at the Newport Pop Festival
Newport Pop Festival
The Newport Pop Festival, held in Costa Mesa, California, August 3–4, 1968, was the first music concert ever to have more than 100,000 paid attendees....
looming, McGuinn and Hillman moved quickly to recruit noted session guitarist
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
and longtime Byrd-in-waiting, Clarence White. White, who had played as a session musician on The Byrds' previous three albums, was invited to join the band as a full-time member in July 1968. After the Newport Pop Festival appearance, White began to express dissatisfaction with the band's drummer, Kevin Kelley
Kevin Kelley (musician)
Kevin Daniel Kelley was an American drummer, best known for his work with the rock bands The Byrds and the Rising Sons. Kelley also played drums for Fever Tree, although it is unknown whether he was an official member of the group or not...
, and soon persuaded McGuinn and Hillman to replace Kelley with Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram), a friend of White's from their days together in the band Nashville West
Nashville West
As a session band, Nashville West recorded prolifically, though never under the Nashville West name, backing other artists on Gary S. Paxton's record label. However, in 1976, an album under the name Nashville West was eventually released on the Sierra Records label...
.
The new McGuinn, Hillman, White and Parsons line-up of the band was together for less than a month before Hillman departed to form The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers was an early country rock band, best known for its influential debut album,The Gilded Palace of Sin . Although the group is most often mentioned in connection with country rock legends Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, the group underwent many personnel changes.-Original...
with Gram Parsons. John York, a session musician who had toured with Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. His styles include folk songs, blues, and revivals of old-time rock 'n' roll songs and some original material...
and The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...
, was quickly hired as his replacement on bass. The new band line-up, featuring McGuinn and White's dual guitar work, was regarded by critics and audiences as much more accomplished in concert than any previous configuration of The Byrds had been. Amidst so many changes in band personnel, McGuinn decided that he alone would sing lead vocals on the band's new album, in order to give it a sense of sonic unity. McGuinn felt that it would be too confusing for fans of The Byrds to have the unfamiliar voices of the new members coming forward at this stage and so White, Parsons and York were relegated to backing vocal
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
duties during the recording of the album. Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde is therefore the only album in The Byrds' catalogue to feature Roger McGuinn singing lead on every track.
Prior to the recording of the album, The Byrds' record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, Gary Usher
Gary Usher
Gary Usher was an American surf rock musician, songwriter, and record producer.-Biography:Usher's early life was spent in Grafton, Massachusetts. He attended Norcross Grammar School with his sister, Sandra, who was in the same class and was likely his twin. Gary was kiddingly called "Chicken Feed"...
, who had worked on the band's three previous albums, had been fired by Columbia Records for spending too much money on the recording of the Chad & Jeremy album, Of Cabbages and Kings. Faced with the need to find a replacement producer, The Byrds elected to bring in Bob Johnston
Bob Johnston
Donald William Robert 'Bob' Johnston is a noted American record producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Willie Nelson and many Nashville recording artists, as well as Simon and Garfunkel.-Early days:Johnston was born into a professional musical family...
, who had been Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's producer since 1965. Ultimately, the band were unhappy with Johnston's production work on Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde and as a result, it was the only Byrds' album to be produced by him. However, Johnston was employed once more as the band's producer on their May 1969 non-album single, "Lay Lady Lady". He incurred the band's wrath, however, by overdubbing
Overdubbing
Overdubbing is a technique used by recording studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to a previously recorded performance....
a female choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
on to that recording, allegedly without The Byrds' consent. When the single then stalled at #132 on the Billboard charts the band decided that they would not work with Johnston again.
Recording
Recording sessionsStudio recording
The term studio recording means any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance.-Studio cast recordings:...
for the album began on October 7, 1968, with nine songs intended for Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde being recorded during that month. Among these songs were "Nashville West", an instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
written by Gene Parsons and Clarence White during their tenure with the country rock group of the same name, and "Your Gentle Way of Loving Me", a song that Parsons and Gib Guilbeau
Gib Guilbeau
Floyd August "Gib" Guilbeau is an American country-rock musician and songwriter. As a member of Nashville West, Swampwater, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, Guilbeau helped pioneer the fusion of rock and country music in the 1960s....
had previously released as a single in 1967. Another song recorded during these sessions was McGuinn's "King Apathy III", a comment on political apathy and a championing of the rural idyll as an antidote to the excesses of the L.A. rock scene. The October recording sessions also saw the band attempting the traditional
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
song "Old Blue
Old Blue (song)
"Old Blue" is an old folk song, believed to have originated from the minstrel shows of the late 19th century. A 1928 version by Jim Jackson, entitled "Old Dog Blue", appears on the Anthology of American Folk Music album...
", which McGuinn had originally learned from watching Bob Gibson
Bob Gibson (musician)
Samuel Robert Gibson was a folk singer who led a folk music revival in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was known for playing both the banjo and the 12-string guitar. He introduced a then largely unknown Joan Baez at the Newport Folk Festival of 1959. He produced a number of LPs in the decade...
and Bob Camp
Hamilton Camp
Hamilton Camp was an English-American singer, songwriter, actor and voice actor.-Early life:Camp was born in London, England, and was evacuated during World War II to the United States as a child with his mother and sister. He became a child actor in films and onstage...
at Chicago's Gate of Horn
Gate of Horn
For writings, including the Greek myth involving a "Gate of horn", see Gates of horn and ivory.The Gate of Horn was a 100-seatfolk music club, located in the basement of the Rice Hotel on the southeast corner of Chicago Avenue and Dearborn Street, on the near north side of Chicago, Illinois, in the...
club back in April 1961. "Old Blue" is the first of three dog-related songs to be recorded by The Byrds: the second and third being "Fido" from the Ballad of Easy Rider album and "Bugler" from Farther Along. "Old Blue" features the first appearance on a Byrds' recording of the Parsons and White designed StringBender
B-Bender
B-Bender is a guitar accessory that enables a player to mechanically bend the B-string up a whole tone to C-sharp. There are several different designs, but all use levers or pulleys inside or outside the guitar body that are activated by a pull or push of the guitar neck, body, or bridge...
, an invention that allowed White to duplicate the sound of a pedal steel guitar
Pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
on his Fender Telecaster
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender.Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...
.
The October recording sessions also yielded "Bad Night at the Whiskey", a song that would go on to be issued as the A-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of a single two months before the release of the album. Named after a disappointing gig
Gig (musical performance)
Gig is slang for a musical engagement in which musicians are hired. Originally coined in the 1920s by jazz musicians, the term, short for the word "engagement", now refers to any aspect of performing such as assisting with performance and attending musical performance...
at the Whisky a Go Go
Whisky a Go Go
The Whisky a Go Go is a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard, on the Sunset Strip.-History:...
and co-written by Joey Richards, a friend of McGuinn's, "Bad Night at the Whiskey" featured allusive lyrics that bore little or no relationship to the song's title. The Byrds also recorded a version of Bob Dylan and Rick Danko
Rick Danko
Richard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
's "This Wheel's on Fire
This Wheel's on Fire (song)
"This Wheel's on Fire" is a song written by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko. It was originally recorded by Dylan and The Band during their legendary 1967 sessions, portions of which comprised the 1975 album, The Basement Tapes...
" during the October 1968 sessions but this version was not included on the final album. "Stanley's Song", a rather lackluster country shuffle, written by McGuinn and his friend Robert J. Hippard also dates from these sessions but it was eventually discarded and did not appear in the final track listing for Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde.
Another composition recorded during the October 1968 sessions was the McGuinn and Gram Parsons penned "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man". The song had been written by the pair in London in May 1968 before Parsons' departure from the band and was inspired by the hostility shown towards The Byrds by legendary Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
Ralph Emery
Ralph Emery
Walter Ralph Emery is a country music disc jockey and television host from Nashville, Tennessee. He gained national fame hosting the syndicated television music series, Pop! Goes the Country, from 1974 to 1980 and the nightly Nashville Network television program, Nashville Now, from 1983 to 1993...
when they appeared on his WSM
WSM (AM)
WSM is the callsign of a 50,000 watt AM radio station located in Nashville, Tennessee. Operating at 650 kHz, its clear channel signal can reach much of North America and various countries, especially late at night...
radio program. The song's barbed lyric contains a volley of Redneck
Redneck
Redneck is a historically derogatory slang term used in reference to poor, uneducated white farmers, especially from the southern United States...
stereotypes, set to a classic country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
3/4 time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
and begins with the couplet "He's a drug store truck drivin' man/He's the head of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
." It should be noted, however, that Emery was not, in fact, a Klansman. The song was subsequently performed by Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
at the Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
in 1969 and dedicated to the then governor
Governor (United States)
In the United States, the title governor refers to the chief executive of each state or insular territory, not directly subordinate to the federal authorities, but the political and ceremonial head of the state.-Role and powers:...
of California, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Baez's performance of the song also appeared on the Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More
Woodstock: Music From the Original Soundtrack and More
Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More is the live album of the 1969 Woodstock concert. Originally released on Atlantic Records' Cotillion label as a set of 3 LPs in 1970 , it was re-released as a double CD in 1994. Veteran producer Eddie Kramer was the sound engineer during the...
album.
An acetate
Acetate disc
An acetate disc, also known as a test acetate, dubplate , lacquer , transcription disc or instantaneous disc...
version of Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, dated October 16, 1968 and containing a seven-track programme for the album is known to exist. At this point the album consisted of the songs "Old Blue", "King Apathy III", "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man" and "This Wheel's on Fire" on side one, with "Your Gentle Way of Loving Me", "Nashville West" and "Bad Night at the Whiskey" on side two.
The Byrds returned to the studio on December 4, 1968 to re-record "This Wheel's on Fire", which had initially been attempted by the band in October. During this same December session, The Byrds also revisited two songs that had been written for the 1968 film Candy
Candy (1968 film)
Candy is a 1968 sex farce film directed by Christian Marquand based on the 1958 novel by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, from a screenplay by Buck Henry. The film satirizes pornographic stories through the adventures of its naive heroine, Candy, played by Ewa Aulin...
. Of these two songs, "Child of the Universe", written by McGuinn and soundtrack composer Dave Grusin
Dave Grusin
David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys...
, was used in the film, while the McGuinn—York penned title track was not. A medley
Medley (music)
In music, a medley is a piece composed from parts of existing pieces, usually three, played one after another, sometimes overlapping. They are common in popular music, and most medleys are songs rather than instrumental. A medley which is a remixed series is called a megamix, often done with tracks...
featuring the Dylan-authored Byrds' hit "My Back Pages
My Back Pages
"My Back Pages" is a song written by Bob Dylan and included on his 1964 album, Another Side of Bob Dylan. It is stylistically similar to his earlier folk protest songs and features Dylan's voice with an acoustic guitar accompaniment...
", along with an instrumental named "B.J. Blues" and a jam
Jam session
Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...
version of the blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
standard
Standard (music)
In music, a standard is a tune or song of established popularity.-See also:* Blues standard* Jazz standard* Pop standard* Great American Songbook-Further reading:* Greatest Rock Standards, published by Hal Leonard ISBN 0793588391...
"Baby What You Want Me to Do
Baby What You Want Me to Do
"Baby What You Want Me to Do" is a blues song that was written and recorded by Jimmy Reed in 1959...
" was also recorded during this December recording session.
Release and reception
Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was released on March 5, 1969 in the United States (catalogue item CS 9755) and April 25, 1969 in the United Kingdom (catalogue item 63545 in monoMonaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
, S 63545 in stereo
Stereophonic sound
The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...
). Like The Byrds' previous LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
, Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo is the sixth album by American rock band The Byrds and was released on August 30, 1968 on Columbia Records...
, the album was issued exclusively in stereo in America but appeared in both mono and stereo variations in the UK. Sales of Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde were poor in the U.S., causing it to stall at #153 on the Billboard Top LPs
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart and giving the album the dubious honor of being the lowest charting album of the band's career, edging out the later Farther Along by just one place. The album fared better in the United Kingdom, however, where it reached #15 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
. The "Bad Night at the Whiskey" single was released ahead of the album on January 7, 1969 but it failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
or the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
The album's title, along with the back cover photo sequence, which featured the band changing from astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
flight suits into cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
garb, illustrated the schizophrenic
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
nature of the album's material. The psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
of "Bad Night at the Whiskey" and "This Wheel's on Fire" sat alongside the Bakersfield
Bakersfield sound
The Bakersfield sound was a genre of country music developed in the mid- to late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. The many hit singles were largely produced by Capitol Records country music head, Ken Nelson. Bakersfield country was a reaction against the slickly produced, string...
-style country rock of "Nashville West" and "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man". Despite containing only ten tracks, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde is The Byrds' longest single album, clocking in at approximately thirty-five minutes in length. Only the double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
(Untitled) is longer.
The album was released to generally positive reviews, with famed rock critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
declaring the album "first-rate Byrds, a high recommendation." Johanna Schrier, writing in The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, described the album as "smooth and strong like a blended whiskey", before suggesting that it was "Part kin to Sweetheart of the Rodeo, part the acid offspring of Notorious Byrd Brothers." In the UK, Record Mirror
Record Mirror
Record Mirror was a British weekly pop music newspaper, founded by Isadore Green and featured, news articles, interviews, record charts, record reviews, concert reviews, letters from readers and photographs. The paper became respected by both mainstream pop music fans and serious record collectors...
awarded the album four stars out of five, commenting "British devotes will dig this more than Sweetheart." Disc
Disc (magazine)
Disc was a weekly British popular music magazine, published between 1958 and 1975, when it was incorporated into Record Mirror. It was also known for periods as Disc Weekly and Disc and Music Echo ....
magazine were particularly enthusiastic in their praise of the album, stating "[This is] their best album since perhaps Younger Than Yesterday, perfectly illustrating the two completely disparate sides of the group: far-out electronic rock and hick, twangy country." In more recent times, critic Mark Deming has noted in his review for the Allmusic website that the album "proved there was still life left in the Byrds, but also suggested that they hadn't gotten back to full speed yet." Senior editor of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, David Fricke
David Fricke
David Fricke is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he writes predominantly on rock music. In the 1990s, he was managing editor before stepping down.-Background:David Fricke is a graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania...
, has described the album as "the Great Forgotten Byrds Album", while also noting that it "seemed tame in its reliance on the familiar."
Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was remastered at 20-bit
Bit
A bit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states...
resolution as part of the Columbia/Legacy
Legacy Recordings
Legacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated...
Byrds series. It was reissued in an expanded form on March 25, 1997 with five bonus tracks, including the outtake
Outtake
An outtake is a portion of a work that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and DVD reissues of many albums and films as bonus tracks or features, in film often, but not...
"Stanley's Song". Also included among the bonus tracks were alternate versions of "This Wheel's on Fire" and "Nashville West", as well as the band's cover of "Lay Lady Lay", which was issued as a single some months after the release of the album. However, in the version included here, "Lay Lady Lay" is lacking the female backing chorus that had originally appeared on the single release.
There has been some discussion amongst fans of The Byrds as to whether or not Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
ed for its expanded reissue in 1997. Although the producer of the Columbia/Legacy Byrds' series, Bob Irwin, has stated that only the first four Byrds' albums underwent any remixing, some fans of the band maintain that Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was also remixed, citing distinct differences between the 1997 reissue and the original album. Among the differences found on the reissue are a lessening of reverb
Reverberation
Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air...
on many songs, the appearance of the spoken word "three" over the opening seconds of "This Wheel's on Fire", and a longer, unedited version of "Candy" appearing on the album for the first time.
Side 1
- "This Wheel's on FireThis Wheel's on Fire (song)"This Wheel's on Fire" is a song written by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko. It was originally recorded by Dylan and The Band during their legendary 1967 sessions, portions of which comprised the 1975 album, The Basement Tapes...
" (Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Rick DankoRick DankoRichard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
) – 4:44 - "Old BlueOld Blue (song)"Old Blue" is an old folk song, believed to have originated from the minstrel shows of the late 19th century. A 1928 version by Jim Jackson, entitled "Old Dog Blue", appears on the Anthology of American Folk Music album...
" (traditionalTraditional musicTraditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
, arranged Roger McGuinnRoger McGuinnJames Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
) – 3:21 - "Your Gentle Way of Loving Me" (Gib GuilbeauGib GuilbeauFloyd August "Gib" Guilbeau is an American country-rock musician and songwriter. As a member of Nashville West, Swampwater, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, Guilbeau helped pioneer the fusion of rock and country music in the 1960s....
, Gary PaxtonGary S. PaxtonGary S. Paxton, sometimes Pax , is an American record producer, and a Grammy Award and Dove Award winning songwriter and recording artist.-Biography:...
) – 2:35 - "Child of the Universe" (Dave GrusinDave GrusinDavid Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys...
, Roger McGuinn) – 3:15 - "Nashville West" (Gene ParsonsGene ParsonsGene Victor Parsons is an American drummer, banjo player, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and innovative engineer, best known for his work with The Byrds from 1968 to 1972. Parsons has also released solo albums and played in bands including Nashville West, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Parsons Green...
, Clarence WhiteClarence WhiteClarence White was a guitar player for Nashville West, The Byrds, Muleskinner, and the Kentucky Colonels. His parents were Acadians from New Brunswick, Canada...
) – 2:29
Side 2
- "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man" (Roger McGuinn, Gram ParsonsGram ParsonsGram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...
) – 3:53 - "King Apathy III" (Roger McGuinn) – 3:00
- "Candy" (Roger McGuinn, John YorkJohn York (musician)John Foley York is an American bassist and guitarist, born in White Plains, New York on August 3, 1946. He is best known for his work with The Byrds, who he joined in September 1968 as a replacement for the band's original bass player Chris Hillman. He remained with the group until September...
) – 3:01 - "Bad Night at the Whiskey" (Roger McGuinn, Joseph Richards) – 3:23
- "Medley: My Back PagesMy Back Pages"My Back Pages" is a song written by Bob Dylan and included on his 1964 album, Another Side of Bob Dylan. It is stylistically similar to his earlier folk protest songs and features Dylan's voice with an acoustic guitar accompaniment...
/B.J. Blues/Baby What You Want Me to DoBaby What You Want Me to Do"Baby What You Want Me to Do" is a blues song that was written and recorded by Jimmy Reed in 1959...
" (Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn, John York, Gene Parsons, Clarence White, Jimmy ReedJimmy ReedMathis James "Jimmy" Reed was an American blues musician and songwriter, notable for bringing his distinctive style of blues to mainstream audiences. Reed was a major player in the field of electric blues, as opposed to the more acoustic-based sound of many of his contemporaries...
) – 4:08
1997 CD reissue bonus tracks
- "Stanley’s Song" (Roger McGuinn, Robert J. Hippard) – 3:12
- "Lay Lady LayLay Lady Lay"Lay Lady Lay" is a song written by Bob Dylan and originally released in 1969 on his Nashville Skyline album. Like many of the tracks on the album, Dylan sings the song in a low croon, rather than in the high nasal singing style associated with his earlier recordings...
" [Alternate Version] (Bob Dylan) – 3:18 - "This Wheel's on Fire" [Version One] (Bob Dylan, Rick Danko) – 3:53
- "Medley: My Back Pages/B.J. Blues/Baby What You Want Me To Do" [Alternate Version — Take 1] (Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn, John York, Gene Parsons, Clarence White, Jimmy Reed) – 4:18
- "Nashville West" [Alternate Version — Nashville Recording] (Gene Parsons, Clarence White) – 2:04
Personnel
NOTE: Sources for this section are as follows:The Byrds
- Roger McGuinnRoger McGuinnJames Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
- guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, lead vocalsLead vocalistThe lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the... - Clarence WhiteClarence WhiteClarence White was a guitar player for Nashville West, The Byrds, Muleskinner, and the Kentucky Colonels. His parents were Acadians from New Brunswick, Canada...
- guitar, backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists... - John YorkJohn York (musician)John Foley York is an American bassist and guitarist, born in White Plains, New York on August 3, 1946. He is best known for his work with The Byrds, who he joined in September 1968 as a replacement for the band's original bass player Chris Hillman. He remained with the group until September...
- electric bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, backing vocals - Gene ParsonsGene ParsonsGene Victor Parsons is an American drummer, banjo player, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and innovative engineer, best known for his work with The Byrds from 1968 to 1972. Parsons has also released solo albums and played in bands including Nashville West, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Parsons Green...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, banjoBanjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, backing vocals
Additional Personnel
- Lloyd GreenLloyd GreenLloyd Green is an American steel guitarist. Green is most notable for his session work, having played on records with artists such as Johnny Cash, Alan Jackson, Lynn Anderson, Don Williams, Paul McCartney, Charley Pride and many others.-Early life:Lloyd Green was born on October 4, 1937 in Leaf,...
- pedal steel guitarPedal steel guitarThe pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
on "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man"
Release history
| Date | Label | Format | Country | Catalog | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 5, 1969 | Columbia Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company... |
LP LP album The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... |
US | CS 9755 | Original stereo Stereophonic sound The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective... release. |
| April 25, 1969 | CBS Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company... |
LP | UK | 63545 | Original mono Monaural Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path... release. |
| S 63545 | Original stereo release. | ||||
| 1991 | Columbia | CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
US | CK 9755 | Original CD release. |
| 1993 | BGO | LP | UK | BGOLP 107 | |
| 1993 | BGO | CD | UK | BGOCD 107 | |
| March 25, 1997 | Columbia/Legacy Legacy Recordings Legacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated... |
CD | US | CK 65113 | Reissue containing five bonus tracks and the remastered stereo album. |
| UK | COL 486753 | ||||
| 1999 | Simply Vinyl | LP | UK | SVLP 070 | Reissue of the remastered stereo album. |
| 2003 | Sony Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation.... |
CD | Japan | MHCP-101 | Reissue containing five bonus tracks and the remastered album in a replica LP sleeve. |
| 2008 | Sundazed Sundazed Records Sundazed Records is a record label based in Coxsackie, in the Catskills of New York. It specializes in obscure and rare recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s.Label founders Bob Irwin and his wife Mary started the label in 1989... |
LP | US | LP 5072 | |
Single release
- "Bad Night at the Whiskey" b/w "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man" (Columbia 44746) January 7, 1969