Monday, September 24, 2018

The Byrds featuring Michael Clarke - Sunderland, England 1990





The Byrds featuring Michael Clarke – Sunderland, England 1990

Empire Theater, Sunderland, England, U.K. – October 7, 1990

Michael Clarke (drums)
Skip Battin (bass, piano, vocals)
Terry Jones Rogers (guitar, vocals)
Jerry Sorn (guitar, vocals)

At the time this was recorded, original Byrds drummer Michael Clarke owned the “Byrds” trademark so he could hire whoever he wanted and call the band “The Byrds”. That’s what he did when he / they toured Europe in 1989 and 1990. So what you have here is the original Byrds drummer Michael Clarke, later days Byrds bass player / vocalist Skip Battin and a couple of semi-unknown hired guns playing songs made famous by the original group. In other words, a rather poor quality cover group.

Not available in stores.

1. Introduction (0:51)
2. I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better (4:04)
3. All I Really Want To Do (2:57)
4. My Back Pages (4:08)
5. Sail On Sailor (5:05)
6. Band Intros (1:58)
7. Mr Tambourine Man (5:36)
8. Pirates (6:40)
9. Intro to Chimes Of Freedom (1:19)
10. Chimes Of Freedom (4:09)
11. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (4:29)
12. All I Need To Survive (4:53)
13. Tricou House (4:37)
14. Mr. Spaceman (3:24)
15. Turn! Turn! Turn! (3:55)
16. So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star (3:34)
17. Eight Miles High (9:25)
18. Pretty Woman (4:01)
19. Will The Circle Be Unbroken (4:57)

Artwork Included (front, back)

9 comments:

Rocking--Byrd said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
david said...

thanks, RB. I love Michael's playing, so I'll get it to listen to him. But you're right, a very poor quality group other than him.

JohnF said...

I don't honestly hope for much from this but I have found some odd gems in Skip's later work, both with the Flying Burrito Brothers and in his Italian adventures (with and without John York), so I'll give it a try, with thanks to you, RB, and all good wishes.

Steve said...

If they'd called this group a Byrds Tribute Band, there wouldn't have been much problem. But since Michael Clarke needed the money, and somehow ended up as owner of the Byrds name, he decided to milk it for all it was worth. And Skip Battin must have needed the money too, since he hooked up on this project even after being criticized for joining a bogus Burritos band. At least he sings better than he did with the latter Clarence White lineup of the Byrds. As for the other two, they aren't bad musicians, and Rogers' songs are OK (didn't Battin have any new material?), so as a Byrds Tribute, the group does a decent job. But whereas Roger McGuinn was the heart of the Byrds, Michael Clarke didn't even do all the drumming with the original group, so his use of the Byrds name is a little pretentious at best, if not downright dishonest. They keep talking about the new album coming out, but I guess Clarke died before it could be finished. Just as well. Thanks for this footnote in the Byrds' history.

david said...

Michael did all the drumming with the original Byrds, with the exception of the first 45 , and some cuts on Notorious, which is also missing Crosby on a good part of it. Your comments on the tribute are spot on .

dino said...

Apart from the presence of Michael Clarke (and Skip Battin), I do agree with you: they were not even worth to be called "The Byrds"...
Thanks a lot RB, just the same!

barclay said...

I actually spoke to Michael at another gig on this tour with the (forlorn)hope of arranging an interview whilst they were still in town next day. Fairly predictably it fell through, though during the conversation after the gig Michael was amused by my describing the rolls on tracks like 'I See You' as 'machine -gun' rolls.

paolo said...

Hi, I'm new to this site. I'm not sure how to do to download these shows.
I'm copying and pasting the link (https://www91.zippyshare.com/v/fV2PfvRn/file.html) but it opens a site with russian girls. Not so bad, but that's not what I'm after.
Can anybody help me?
Paolo

Doug said...

Thank you--I'll give it a listen!