Search - Byrds :: Preflyte

BABY PICTURES

PHILIP S WOLF | SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CA. USA | 12/01/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Way back in 1969, a little-known Record Company called Together Records released a Little gem of Album called PREFLYTE by the Best Sixties Rock N' Roll Band, America's Own, The Byrds.



Most Records back then were sold in Drug Stores and that's where I found this neat Little Curio. I hadn't Listened to a Byrd's LP since "Younger Than Yesterday", But this sure looked interesting...so for $3.99 I was on my way home to give this a spin on the Record Player.



It begins with "You Showed Me" already a hit for the Turtles, but this was a McQuinn-Clark tune, and it was much better than the Over-Produced Version by those Hard-Shelled Byrd's Wannabe's, I could tell this Wierd little Record was Something Special Right away. Firstly Gene Clark's Vocals are more Up-Front along side Jim ( Later Known as Roger) McQuinn. This is very close in sound to the Folk Records of 1958-1962, but it's a BEAUTIFUL SOUND, yes, these are Baby Steps for this about to be BIG Band, but, they were ALREADY Producing Great Music, Thank's to the Writtings of a Certain Gene Clark ( Who composed 9 of the 11 Tracks Featured here on PREFLYTE ). This Music has a Heavy Beatle's Influnence to it, But, for all it's Merseybeat Edge, it is still Rooted in American folk. This was only 1964, the only Music from America that got played on the Radio besides The Beatles, The Animals or the Really Cool Zombies was from Surf Groups as Jan & Dean or The Beach Boys. But of course it would be Five Years before PREFLYTE was released, we would all soon Know how Great The Byrd's were. But In fact this was a Group of Guy's Just LEARNING their craft, learning how to play these New Electric Insruments, Learning How, to find their way through a Proper Recording Session. Even how to Look Cool enough to make the Little Girls Scream. This was indeed Quite a beginning.



All the things that make the Byrd's great can be heard right here. Compared to the Versions you already know these are Softer than what they became a year or two later down the road, but the Talent is Right Here for all to hear. "She Has A Way', "The Reason Why", "For Me Again", "I Knew I'd Want You" all sound fresh & brand new in their early versions. "Mr. Tambourine Man" comes close to what it would later be and Michael Clark's Military Beat used here ain't half- bad, ( before this he was using Cardboard Boxes, to keep the Beat).



Even David Crosby get's a Chance with "The Airport Song", with it's Haunting Vocal and Great use of Minor Chords it's another Highlight on a Record full of em'.

Thing's would change Big Time for The Byrd's when "Mr. Tambourine Man" was re-done with a BIG Rickenbacker Electric 12 String Sound by Mr. McQuinn and lot's of Backing Studio Guys. But when I Hear this Music all these Years later I still smile and I still Believe we were SO LUCKY to have these guys, The Best American Band of the Sixties, THE BYRD"S."

FINALLY! Just the original LP on CD.

Suspicion | Providence, RI USA | 08/20/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is the first time that the Preflyte album has been released on CD. Before this, you either had to buy "In the Beginning" which didn't contain the same versions of the songs, or the "Preflyte Sessions" which contained the songs from Preflyte, plus a whole lot more at a bigger price. Finally, for those of us who have the original LP, we have a high-quality digital master of the material at a reasonable price. Winner!



In terms of the material, this is a collection of demos recorded in 1964 before the band was signed to Columbia Records. It contains early versions of some songs that ended up on the Byrds' debut album, "Mr. Tambourine Man", as well as some other songs that have never been released elsewhere. This is essential for fans."

Not a great reissue...

David Goodwin | Westchester, NY United States | 12/26/2001

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The original Preflyte album, issued on Gary Usher/Curt Boettcher's short lived TOGETHER label, was one of the first glimpses into the Byrds' vaults; specifically, the World Pacific Studio recordings, done before even the Mr. Tambourine Man album. Those tracks gave a glimpse into what the Byrds were before they were the polished entities that we heard during the Columbia years...an absolutely delightful collection. Yet when Rhino issued their version of the World Pacific Recordings (In the Beginning), they used many alternate takes of the familiar Preflyte recordings, meaning that the original album's tracks would be showing up on bootlegs for years to come.Poptones' "Preflyte" is, theoretically, supposed to rectify this, issuing the original album with the original takes. However, it fails in many respects. Firstly, it's been post-produced to no end; it's apparently been remixed, which isn't necessarily bad, but there's so much obvious digital reverb layered over the entire thing that the original stuff is rendered almost unrecognizable. At least these are (I'm pretty sure) the original takes, but you wouldn't know it.Avoid this...Sundazed recently-released 2-CD Preflyte Sessions does the same job, and much better!"