171 - The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers - DJ Morty Coyle & Wayne Federman

Summary

Podcast Summary: The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers - Episode 171: The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers

Introduction

In Episode 171 of The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers, host Josh Adam Meyers delves into The Byrds' seminal 1968 album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Joined by comedian Wayne Federman and musician DJ Morty Coyle, the episode explores the album's intricate creation, the band's internal struggles, and its enduring legacy in rock history.

Background: The Byrds Before The Notorious Byrd Brothers

The episode opens with Josh reflecting on the Byrds' standing in the late 1960s. As one of the pioneering bands in folk rock, The Byrds had already made significant contributions with hits like "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" However, by the time The Notorious Byrd Brothers was in the works, the band was facing considerable internal challenges.

Recording the Album: Tensions and Changes

A pivotal point discussed is Gene Clark's escalating anxiety, particularly his fear of flying, which severely impacted the band's ability to tour and promote their music. At [21:32], Federman connects this to Josh's own apprehension about flying, highlighting the personal struggles that mirrored the band's turmoil.

David Crosby's involvement added another layer of complexity. Initially part of The Byrds, Crosby's contributions became a source of friction, especially his diverging musical ideas and outspoken nature. At [27:19], Federman explains Crosby's challenges within the group:

"He was loaded with the penny. He thought very much of himself. And if I'm not mistaken, at the Monterey Pop Festival, which is the summer of '67... he's like guys, he wasn't shot by one guy. He was shot by several people..."

These tensions culminated during the recording sessions for The Notorious Byrd Brothers, where Crosby's insistence on certain musical directions and his critical stance towards the band's drummer, Michael Clark, led to significant discord.

Production and Studio Dynamics

Producer Gary Usher played a crucial role in shaping the album's sound. Known for his work with Brian Wilson and various surf bands, Usher introduced experimental elements, including sound effects and unconventional instrumentation, which added to the album's psychedelic texture. At [22:48], Josh discusses Usher's influence:

"We start working with Gary Usher, who... was very instrumental in producing these knockoff fad pop things... but he also became very proficient in the studio."

The involvement of session drummers from the legendary Wrecking Crew, such as Hal Blaine and Jim Gordon, further highlights the album's high production values despite the band's internal struggles.

Musical Style and Themes

The Notorious Byrd Brothers is characterized by its fusion of folk, rock, and psychedelic elements. The Byrds experimented with various sounds, including the distinctive jangle of the 12-string Rickenbacker guitar, which became a hallmark of their style. The album's themes tackled contemporary issues such as the Vietnam War, ecology, and social change, reflecting the turbulent era in which it was created.

Key Tracks Discussed

Several tracks on the album receive detailed attention:

• "Artificial Energy" ([61:51]): Highlighted as a standout track, this song celebrates the vivacity of life but subtly addresses the chaos surrounding it. The energetic horns and upbeat melody juxtapose the underlying anxieties of the time.

• "Natural Harmony" ([73:14]): Written solely by bassist Chris Hillman, this track emphasizes lyrical bass lines and a harmonious blend, showcasing the band's musical sophistication.

• "Draft Morning" ([74:26]): This song poignantly captures the anxiety and uncertainty faced by young men facing the draft during the Vietnam War. The collaboration with sound effects from the Fireside Theater adds a surreal layer to the track.

• "Tribal Gathering" ([82:31]): Emphasizing Native American motifs, the song reflects the era's fascination with tribalism and cultural exploration.

• "Dolphin Smile" ([82:32]): A seven-minute epic that serves as a microcosm of the album's collaborative and contentious creation process. The extended instrumental sections and studio banter provide insight into the band's fractured dynamics.

• "Old John Robertson" ([81:54]): A nod to Clarence White's influence, this track foreshadows the Byrds' transition into country rock, a genre they would further explore in subsequent albums.

Legacy and Conclusion

Despite its lack of commercial success upon release, The Notorious Byrd Brothers has garnered critical acclaim over the decades, recognized for its ambitious production and musical experimentation. The episode emphasizes that the album's legacy lies not just in its songs but in its embodiment of a band at a crossroads, navigating personal struggles amidst a rapidly evolving music landscape.

At [90:12], Federman encapsulates the album's significance:

"Is there another record where something great came out as tumultuous as this? I don't think so. This album stands as a testament to the complexity of The Byrds and their contribution to the fabric of rock music."

Josh, Wayne, and Morty conclude by reflecting on the album's place in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, acknowledging its enduring influence despite the band's internal discord during its creation.

Notable Quotes

• Wayne Federman on Band Dynamics ([07:39]):

  "This has one of the greatest sort of band stories of how this came about."

• Josh on Production Challenges ([27:19]):

  "There’s so many moving parts and yet it’s probably one of the most cohesive records by this band."

• Federman on Musical Evolution ([54:18]):

  "Like the Byrds definitely envelop both of those genres—folk rock and country rock."

Conclusion

Episode 171 of The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers offers a deep dive into The Notorious Byrd Brothers, unraveling the intricate tapestry of artistic ambition, personal turmoil, and groundbreaking music that defines this classic album. For listeners who haven't explored this pivotal work, the episode serves as both an introduction and a compelling narrative of The Byrds' enduring legacy in the annals of rock history.

Transcript

[Josh Adam Myers]

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[Wayne Fetterman]

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[Josh Adam Myers]

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[DJ Morty Coyle]

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[Wayne Fetterman]

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[Josh Adam Myers]

And it does without me lifting a finger so I can get in more.

[Wayne Fetterman]

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[Josh Adam Myers]

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[DJ Morty Coyle]

That does the heavy lifting so you can do. You get [e-mail] compatible with select apps.

[Josh Adam Myers]

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[Emily]

This show is brought to you by Distrokid. Bring your music to the masses.

[Unknown]

The 500 the 500 JM been walking us down through that 2012 edition so it ain't nothing to you hundreds want.

[Josh Adam Myers]

To go in need of a friend.

[Unknown]

The king of peaceful angelo Talking the 500 until the end Talking the 500 until the end with my man JM on the 500 Talking the 500 until the end now there are no games to only pass the time no more electric trains no more trees to climb but thinking young and growing older is no sin and I can play the.

[Emily]

Game of life to win the song is going back. It's by the Byrds from their 1968 record the Notorious Bird Brothers. It's also 171 out of 500 on the 500 with Josh Adam Myers. What is up Fleece Army? Attention. Welcome to the only podcast where comedians going through Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums. And we are chipping away. So big news on the 500 front and I bet you guys are wondering, God, Wayne Fetterman's on again. Yes, he is, because we wanted to give you guys an intro into our new Patreon show. Me DJ Morty Coyle, the main writer for the show and Fetty Wap Fetterman have started a new Patreon podcast where each week we tackle a topic to discuss about music. What our favorite song is for this, what's a that to this episode that we did on the pilot episode we are talking about what album do we feel should be on the 500 Greatest album list that has been left off. It is phenomenal. I had a blast doing it. I love these two guys so much and you can only get it on the Patreon. So subscribe to the Patreon. We really need your support. Guys, we are still doing this. There is not much money. So if you listen to the show we now have something to give you each week. It's going to be a brand new hour every week to the Patreon and we don't know, we might do more putting it out into the public but for right now it's on the Patreon. We don't have a name for it yet so if you have any ideas, send it to us. So $5 gets you the patreon. Patreon.com backslash the 500 podcast and if you pay 25 you get cool merch. Patreon.com backSlash the 500 podcast. Join the Fleece Army. Support the cause. We need. We need your help. I do for sure because my money is running out on this show. But you can come see me on tour this weekend. I'll be at the Dallas Comedy Club in Dallas, Texas. February 28th through March 1st. March 14th and 15th, I'll be at the Laughing Tap in Milwaukee. March 16th and 17th, I'll be at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. Then I will be at Jimmy Kimmel's Comedy club in Vegas. April 11th and the 12th you can see me at the Hollywood Comedy Store again doing the Jam. I think I'm doing it. The 1314. I think so. And then May. Oh, then I'm doing Moon Tower. April 17th through the 19th and then in May, House of Comedy. I've got more and more dates showing up as we speak. Go to Josh Adam.com for tickets or punchup Live Backslash. Josh Adam Myers. Support me. I'm a really fun show. I'm getting incredible reviews. I got a lot of cool going on. So come support at Josh Adam Myers on all social media subscribe to the Patreon. Guys, it really does help the show. And yeah, man, the Birds and my two guests, we've already been talking about him. The one and only Wayne Fetterman and DJ Morty Coyle. This is a Fun one man. Really have a good time. I love having both these guys on really close friends of mine and they know their rate. Review and most importantly, subscribe to the 500 listen free on all platforms or anywhere you get your podcast. Please leave us a five star rating and review on Apple to get rid of the negative ones of the people that hate me. Follow me at Josh Adam Myers on all social media. Follow the podcast at the 500 podcast. Email the [e-mail]. Follow the Facebook group run by Crazy Evan. And for all things 500, go to the website the500podcast.com. All right, y'all, not left to say, but here we go with number 171 out of 500 with the birds, the notorious Bird brothers. Dude, I, I don't know about you guys, but since, like, everything has been. Been like crazy with the FAA and stuff, every time I fly now, I get nervous.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Point. Were you good with that?

[Emily]

Well, I never thought about it. And then like, literally in the last, like two months, like a plane flipped over and then the helicopter hit the thing and. And I was flying out of Reno this past week. Well, I literally like yesterday and the plane's taken off and it was just one of those, like. And you, like, felt it. And I mean, oh, my goodness. It's like I was. The first time I've had that kind of anxiety. And it, I think probably since the first time I ever flew.

[Josh Adam Myers]

By the way that. In a way that ties into today's episode.

[Emily]

Really?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[F]

Do it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Okay, well, this is. We're all.

[Emily]

Hold on. We're all here. We're doing it. The episode's recording now. You know, it's. I don't know where to start with this because, like, Wayne was a please.

[F]

No, it wasn't a please. No, it was. If you can get Roger McGuin to do this.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes, we had. We had this close.

[Emily]

No, we had. We had Rory Scoville for this, and then in the last second. Yeah, but he dropped out. And then. And this is one of those records that's like, you know, it's hard sometimes. It's, you know, and, and big ups to Emily for. For trying her butt off to. To always get a good guest, you know, me.

[Josh Adam Myers]

If.

[Emily]

If it could be me and Fetty Wap every episode.

[Josh Adam Myers]

If. Listen, if I had known like a few days earlier, there are a million people I know who are huge Birds fans that, you know, and then as we get into, you guys will end up. I mean, I'm sure you've listened to it a bunch of times. But you guys will also sort of find out. I don't know if it's still on the list, but you'll find out why it was on the list to begin with. Because this has one of the. One of the greatest sort of band stories of how this came about. And I'll start that when you guys are ready. But, yeah, I think it's actually. It's like the. When we did the. When we did the Quicksilver Messenger Service, it was one of those ones that, on its surface, we probably went, oh, God, yeah. But then after listening to it, it was like, oh, no. I kind of see where their place is in the grand scheme of things.

[F]

But this is a much bigger band than the Quick Server Silver Messenger Service.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And they were very much of the San Francisco scene, but all but this. This band in particular, like, when you Even. When we even said, like, what, you know, do you want to do this episode? You were like, okay, so is it Mr. Tambourine?

[F]

Right, right. I thought it was that one. I thought it was the hit ones, by the way, I. In a weird way, I feel like this is like they are the Jefferson Airplane of the LA scene. Am I wrong about that? Morty.

[Emily]

What? We lost him? Nope. We had it. We were there. You're gone. What did he do?

[F]

He said he didn't do anything. I'm pretty good at lip reading.

[Emily]

Let's just record the episode, and then you just transcribe everything that he says he said.

[F]

I'm looking. He's looking at his. Maybe he needs to restart. Replug it in. Did you listen to the album? I mean, it just. On a side note.

[Emily]

Yeah, I did a couple times. Quick 28 minutes, easy. Like, this is. You talk about an easy. Listen. This was like, 28 minutes.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Quiet. I know. It just said. All of a sudden, it said it unplugged. I'm not even touching.

[F]

Don't touch anything.

[Emily]

Anything.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Put the handle back.

[F]

All right. I told Morty that he should take the lead on this, because I feel like he knows more about this album than I did, considering I've never bought a Birds album in my life.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So you just got them Will to you.

[Emily]

Here's the thing, though. You give Morty that kind of responsibility? We. We might say three. Hold on.

[F]

He's aware. I think he's aware.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We need exposition. So let's break this down, because we've done. You've done a Birds album, right? Didn't you do Sweethearts of the Rodeo? Or did you do.

[Emily]

No, we didn't. No, we haven't done any birds. Which is funny because I got this one. I know, Wayne. I got this one mixed up with the other group with having a rave up.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Dude, I thought Springfield or right yard.

[Emily]

We did Buffalo Springfield a few weeks ago. I did that with Adam Ferreira, good buddy of the pod. We love him to death, but.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, we talked about that album.

[Emily]

Yeah, but we haven't done. We haven't done anything.

[F]

By the way, both Birds and Yardbirds are birds, so.

[Josh Adam Myers]

They are. Yes, they are. But only one of them was an Admiral.

[F]

Right. That was the one we had.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So though, I'm gonna break it down. So we. So here's the thing. This is the greatest thing about having done so many of these episodes is when I talk to Josh about them, I. There's so many overlaid things where I say, okay, remember when we did the New Young episode? Okay, remember when did. When we had Lenny K on and we talked about Sagittarius and, you know.

[Emily]

And it all leads to Daniel Lanwa.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That's what it is, man. Look at the ambience, dude.

[Emily]

We were saying. We were. When we were doing Rod Stewart, it was like up on the wall. It's just like the crazy string going in everything and it's just like, yeah, man. And then Daniel in.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Wow.

[Emily]

It's just. It's all.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's. This is one of those episodes where I'm going to be able to almost every statement directly draw a line to something you've done. Where I can go, josh, remember.

[F]

Okay, let's do it. Let's do it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So here we go. 1964, a band gets together in. In Los Angeles.

[Emily]

This is the height.

[Unknown]

Smile on you, bro.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Very similar in a few more years. And that's. And by the way. Well, I'm not. Okay, let's. Okay, you remember, when you do this, you're the one who sends me on tangents. Okay? So it's very simple. Band gets together. It's Jim McGuinn on guitar and vocals. Jimmy. Chris Hillman. Well, no, I'll explain that.

[F]

Okay.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Chris Hillman on bass and vocals, David Crosby on guitar and vocals. Michael Clark on drums. And. And Jean Clark.

[F]

Not the actor. Michael Clark.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No. And Michael Clark with an E. And then Gene Clark without an E. No relation. On vocals and tambourine, as one does when you're a vocalist that can't play.

[F]

An instrument and your big hit is Mr. Tambourine.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That's why. I mean, it's right there in it. My you look like a woman going to church on Sunday, Josh, with your little fan. So 1964, the guys get together. They see Hard Days Night. Everybody goes, oh my God, what is this? The Beatles happen. Everybody sees John's Rickenbacker. And so they go, oh my God, this is fantastic.

[Emily]

Side notes. Your honor, I'll allow it is. Is Hard Days Night, like, when that comes out, is that like, you know, the biggest movie at the movie theater? Is that just like take over or is it just like. It's just the Beatles. So we're just, you know. But it's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, the Beatles. The Beatles are not the Beatles yet. This is the year that the Beatles break in America. So this is like, you know, the Monkeys have a single out and then the Monkees television show goes on the air. And within that moment.

[F]

I don't know if I quite agree with that, but I think the Beatles hit huge in the beginning of 1964. They had five number one singles on the chart. And this. And then this movie comes out.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Right? That's what I'm saying is. But it was still. It's still considered part of.

[F]

Oh, it was part of the ascent. But they were cute. They. Again, the Beatles and Ed Sullivan, this thing that Jim McGuinn saw at OR saw A Hard Day's Night, it was like the big. The Beatles on Sullivan was the biggest watch television event.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh yeah.

[F]

Until like the moon landing or something.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Right. But remember that the. The television show predates like the movie and everything. And so but you know, and the movie was a cash in. You know, they were just kind of going, what's, you know, like the suits would go. What's popular? You know, Chapel Roan is popular right now. Put her in a movie. It would be like that, like while her first, you know, while she's on the radio still. Yeah, while she's hot. In 10 days it's going to be gone. So let's just to be exploitive. But they ended up. It was a but. But it ended up being incredibly engaging. And then, you know, Dick Lester and the whole thing. So they go to see this and you know, these are guys in bands that are not that much younger than the Beatles. This is a. This is a. This is a scalable, you know, place to get, you know, this is like, hey, we could be in a band. These. You know, this wasn't like we were looking Little Richard who had some years on them, or even Elvis that had some years on them. This was like guys kind of their age and this new wave and you know, remember not to discount it. Kennedy being shot was seismic in what that did to America, you know, in. In. In what people were looking for something refresh, refreshing for it. So they go to see it, they put a band together and they start playing. They. They also listening to Bob Dylan, who now you've done recently on the episode we did with finally like him.

[Emily]

I Finally like them.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And Dan Vogler. Yeah. Talking about the era of the movie that he just did, which is Bob Dylan makes this sort of, you know, Bob Dylan also starts seeing what the Beatles are doing. And this is. There's a confluence of a lot of this stuff. So they speak. They become kind of a folky band. They find Bob Dylan as their muse and they find. Which is one of the most important things to the Birds, which is the 12 string Rickenbacker guitar. You get that sound, that Jim McGuinn sound of that jangle, which is the jangle that is heard around everywhere. The echo in the canyon that essentially becomes the sound of Laurel canyon in the 60s. And. And.

[F]

And. And also of Sunset Strip.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Which is right. You know, right above that. Then you end up with. So now we have the Bob. Okay, go on.

[Emily]

What I was gonna say is the. Is more. Wayne, are you a fan of the Rickenbacker? Like, I know you're a guitar dude.

[F]

I like the Birds, but I like their hits. Like, they had an album before this album came out called the Birds Greatest Hits. They came out right before this album. And that's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, no, we'll explain that too.

[F]

Yeah, that's where I'm at with that. Like, I like their. But can I say a little sidebar before that? The whole point of this is. Thank you for allowing. The whole point of this is that they were a folk band like Matt, like, echoing what was happening in New York City in the folk scene there. But they were in California. And then when the Beatles came, they were like, let's plug in our. Let's get electric guitars and plug in and get a drummer and all of that stuff.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[F]

By the way, one of the epicenters. Just this. This actually affects you, Josh. One of the epicenters of that scene, of the folk scene before it became the rock scene and moved up to Sunset Boulevard and all of those clubs was a nightclub that had bluegrass singers. Jim McGuinn was part of this whole scene called the Ash Grove. The Ash Grove later became the improv. Same state.

[Emily]

No way.

[F]

Yes. Yes. So when there's a great live recording of the Birds at the Ash Grove like, that was before Bud bought it in the mid-70s and turned it into the improv. Back to you, Morty.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Wait, that's what. That's amazing.

[Emily]

Morty, before you get into your show. Yeah, Wayne, I gotta ask you this.

[F]

Yeah.

[Emily]

That famous picture of John Lennon standing out in front, is that in.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That's a troubadour. That's a troubadour.

[F]

No, that. First of all. Yeah, I know the picture you're talking about. That's the improv in New York. That's the improv in New York.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Wait, which picture of. Oh, you talk about John Lennon at an improv.

[Emily]

Yeah, it's like.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, really?

[Emily]

Yeah, they got. It's like him standing out front. He's got on, like, the newsy cap and, like, a black boat.

[F]

That's from the New York improv.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, wow.

[Emily]

What was that?

[F]

44Th Street N. 8th.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Was that before the LA one?

[F]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, okay. I wasn't sure.

[F]

Yeah, yeah. Again, I wrote. I wrote a book about it. Here we go.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But. No, I know that. But. But that those pages are stuck together. When I got.

[F]

Oh, I see. Oh, you masturbated on the improv.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That's always. Yeah, I started. I usually. They usually start on the Laugh Factory.

[F]

That's why. Okay. All right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, so. So where we are is.

[F]

No, it is an interesting confluence, though, of just like. Like, Birds are the rock band that, like, kicks off this LA scene, but.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Also connects it to Bob Dylan. Because that's, of course.

[F]

Of course. But they're folk. They're folkies, right? Rock guitar players. And then. But what obviously became the Eagle. The Eagles are like the. The end of this rainbow.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Something like that. But remember, because nowadays it feels like all you needed to do, like, you know, you on the Internet now, and somebody's like, hey, look what's big in Japan. And then you can sort of jump with it or, you know, take off on this was like, what would get on the air, who had a record coming out and who was in your individual scene? Literally in your individual scene at the time. You know, what bands are around you. So the main. The Birds, I'm, you know, without getting into too much the Birds, I guess main rivals would be, like, Buffalo Springfield. They were another band that was very similar to them that was. That was influenced similarly and, you know, moving parts. They knew each other about the same age, play the same clubs, you know, in the Strip, the Laurel Canyon scene. So we end up with the Birds say, well, there's, you know, Bob Dylan comes out. They find his songs, they say we could. We could do these. Well, they start doing them, they start having hits. And now we are to get into this record. A few records before this, lead singer Gene Clark, who was having some anxiety issues, chiefly a fear of flying, like, deathly afraid of flying. And he didn't want to tour anymore.

[F]

This is the connection to Josh's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This is Josh's fear of flying. And he had.

[Emily]

I'm not afraid of flying. I just. Because of what's been happening.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Emily]

Like, feel a little bit of like. Like. I don't know how you explain that word. Like, it just. I get spilk is.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I guess. Yeah, it's anxiety. You have anx. And by the way, absolutely legitimized with the amount of, you know, of air travel, you know, issues. So Gene Klumric decides he doesn't really want to do this anymore. So he sets off to sort of do a solo career. He puts together a band. We don't need to get into it too much, except that the producer that he works with is a guy named Gary Usher, which comes back for this record. So they. They do this stuff. Now, in the meantime, you guys have heard of. A lot of people haven't heard of, like, the Magic Mountain Festival, which predates the. The Monterey Pop Festival. But the Monterey Pop Festival gets all the shine. But the. Originally, there's this, like, you know, magic. There's this other festival a little earlier, Birds Play. And then the Birds are the headline at Monterey Pop Festival. You've heard about this. This is like the big, you know, be in which essentially talks about it.

[F]

Many times.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Which sets sort of the table for where rock and roll goes into the psychedelic era, into this next step. So the, you know, 66 leading over, we have the Pop Festival, the Association Mamas and the Papas. You know, there's a lot of jangle going on. Laurel Canyon's incredibly popular. The west coast has a thriving scene that's insular from the New York time, which then at this point now has, like, Velvet Underground starting up and, you know, a little more of, like, darker stuff going. Dylan is going electric. The Beatles. And remember at this time, Beatles have already done rubber solen revolver. And now at the beginning, you know, in 67, they put out Sergeant Peppers, which is a revolution unto rock and roll. And also, as rock and roll being taken as little more than a fad for kids now, decidedly yes.

[Emily]

Question. So thank you. Well, I didn't say sidebar. Oh, there's not a sidebar.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, then motion motion denied.

[Emily]

This is A question is that. So the. So the Beatles, obviously are the biggest band in the world. When. You know, I don't. When sergeant Pepper came out, was it. Is it really the thing like. Like, wherever all the critics, all the people are just completely, like, floored by it?

[F]

Like, is it June 1, 1967 came out? Yes, it was what that album was played front to back, front to back on FM radio stations.

[Emily]

Wow.

[F]

For. For days.

[Josh Adam Myers]

In awe. Like, in awe. I'm not.

[F]

It wasn't just like, oh, we're just gonna play the end song. Like, the whole concept, the lyrics on the back. And it's interesting. It's just a. So that now that album has dropped in esteem. But at the time, it was obviously revolutionary. There's this great story of Jimi Hendrix that weekend, that Sunday. I think it came out maybe on a Friday, that Sunday, doing a show in England and doing a cover of sergeant Pepper's that Song on stage, like. Yeah. And so, yes, it was that revelation. I'm trying to think of an album, Morty, that's like, similar to that, that just really flipped the whole, like, music community. Even people that hated the Beatles were floored by what was going on.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, yeah, the thing was, because the Beatles stopped touring in 66, then they put out Revolver sort of in the interim, and Revolver, which is. Because sergeant Pepper came out Revolver has lost some of the shine to me. It's my favorite album of all time by any band. Because every song on Revolver, you could see it sparking an entire, like, generation of music, whether it's Loops and Chemical Brothers or whether it's, you know, George trying to find, you know, his spirituality on a song in 66, you know, or. Or. Or, you know, Eleanor Rigby having the. The pop. With a complete baroque background. So. So when sergeant Pepper comes out, the world goes Technicolor, you know, all of a sudden, you know, Jim McGuinn, because he's still. Jim at the time, is wearing his little. You know, now he's wearing granny glasses that are blue. And now they're selling them through magazines. Hey, get the Jim McGuinn birds glasses. You know, it's become its own cottage industry of, hey, everybody get granny. You know, takes a trip, clothing and fringe and freaky stuff, okay? Which lasts essentially about a year. And that's where this album sort of falls in. Then we've talked about how the band comes up and then this authenticity and, you know, wearing, you know, wearing denim and black jackets and this other thing sort of takes over. Even the Beatles go there. They Start chasing sort of the band's clout. After that shout out to Garth Hudson, who we just lost the last remaining member of the band. So during this album they do the Monterey Pop Festival. Now this is a huge contribution to why this album is the way it is. David Crosby, who was already admittedly difficult to work with.

[Emily]

Why?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Because he's a pain in the ass. And by the way, when this record is re released, when it's been re released, they actually add like a seven minute chatter of them in the studio arguing with Michael Clark, the drummer, trying to get him to play drums on I think Dolphin Smile. They're trying to get him.

[Emily]

Why not? I didn't mean to cut you off. But why?

[Josh Adam Myers]

He was a drummer, but.

[Emily]

No, no, no, no, no. But why, why is he difficult? Is he the main songwriter? Is he the main. He has a.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He has a. He. I don't want to go on too many tangents because we've made this connection with like Graham Parsons and other things. He was raised as a pretty well off child of. His dad was in the industry.

[F]

Santa photographer. Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Like some of these other people. So, you know, I don't. I forget if he's an only child, but you know, he's raised with some privilege and he goes into this and you know, when people first get into this, young men are probably like, hey, this is good. Chicks are around Elvis.

[F]

And also he was very art. He was very articulate. So a lot of times he would take over interviews and he had opinions and if I. Oh, he did. He was loaded with the penny. He thought very much of himself. I, I'm not going to say the word egomaniac, but he was certainly, certainly a confident young man. And if I'm not mistaken, at the Monterey Pop Festival, which is the summer of 67. Is that correct? July. July.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But anyway, because Sergeant, they were doing Sergeant Peppers. Yeah, they turned it down.

[F]

They, you know, he not only plays, he plays with Buffalo Springfield.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, that's some of the contention.

[F]

Yeah. And they're, they're just pissed at the guy and in, in between songs he starts pontificating about the Kennedy assassination. On and on and on. They're like, can we get to our hit?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, there's so, so to, to that.

[F]

Kind of guy, you know.

[Emily]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[F]

So I don't want to use the word arrogant, but I. It's almost that. But he was.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, yeah.

[F]

Talented. Funny.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, talented.

[F]

At the end of his. If you saw the documentary that about him at the end of his life, no one in Crosby. Stills. And Nash was talking to Crosby, right? No, it was. Let alone recording with them. Was talking to him.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Graham Nash, who had been the holdout of still remaining friendly with him. Sort of like. That was when he was even, like, hanging out with him anymore.

[F]

Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, that's just so.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So to talk. So just to go in a tiny bit of detail of how this happens is they. They're supposed to the Monterey Pop Festival and they're headlining it. They're going to film it. Everybody knows they're going to film this thing. Not only does he sort of go off on this tangent about Kennedy on the mic, where he's like, guys, he wasn't shot by one guy. He was shot by several people. People are being killed who know about this. He. He also says. And. And by the way, he.

[F]

He.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He attributes the quote to Paul McCartney, who says, you know, the people in government should all be. Should all be on lsd. They should, you know, So a few of these comments don't endear him. And the Birds don't have the most stellar set. But also because Neil Young. We've talked about this in the Neil Young episode because Neil Young dropped out of playing with Buffalo Springfield. He filled in, which is him hanging out with Stephen Stills, which sets the seeds for Crosby, Stills and Nash.

[Emily]

Wow. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So for this record, he shows up, man.

[Emily]

It's all, damn.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So let's start with Notorious Bird Brothers. So for this record, he is. He has his ideas and he has his songs that he's bringing in. Starts with Lady Friend, which is. They work on for. Which becomes a single, I think, predates the record, doesn't end up on the album, but he does Lady Friend for this. He has his ideas. Not. He's not happy with the way they all sing it. So he decides.

[F]

David, at this point.

[Josh Adam Myers]

David. David. Yes, for this record. So he says, I'm gonna go in and just basically record the vocal stacks. And sort of without the band's, you know, knowledge, without their agreement, I'm gonna start doing this. And so they're already a little bit pissed. And they know him. They've now worked for a while. Gene, remember. Gene's been out of the band for a couple albums. He's tried to have a successful solo career, but he hasn't. So he's over here. Which is why. We'll explain that in a minute. David. Not only that, David starts bringing in songs like one of them, which doesn't end up on this album, but was recorded for this album, where the subject matter is very Much contemporary to its time. He has a song called Triad, which is about him having a menagerie. And it ends up on a Crosby, Stills Nash record later. But he, he's like, hey guys, I got this song. It's about me and these two chicks. And they're like, yeah, I don't know. I don't know that we really want to start going down there for. So the Monterey Festival is immediately bad taste in everyone's mouth. They're pissed. And then David just kind of stopped showing up to rehearsals and recording sessions, so. And they usually do a lot of their, their songwriting where they actually put them on in the studio. They don't get together at like someone's house in their bedroom. They're doing this in the studio. So they start working with Gary Usher, who has previously worked with Brian Wilson with the Beach Boys with a lot of bands. He's one of the guys co wrote in my Room, I mean, or he co wrote In My Room with Brian Wilson. But he also was famous where during the 60s, the early 60s, he would. He worked on a lot of these car song, surf song, kind of like knockoffs, the Honda's and you know, if there was a hit idea, he went, oh, we're gonna do this song. So he wrote, you know, little my 409, which the beach Boys covered. He was very instrumental in producing these knockoff fad pop things. But then he became very proficient in the studio. And like I said, when we did the Lenny K episode, there are a lot of things and some other stuff that he's worked on with Kurt Bettcher as partner. They did a lot of things where they worked with music concrete, which was adding sound effects and adding instrumental sections that would pop in. Which happen on this record. When we go into the songs, you'll see these moments. So they start working with this guy and Crosby is here, there a no show. And then finally he shows up. And if you listen to the recording, which is amazing of them in the studio working on this record, you'll hear them, you'll hear David sort of taunting Michael Clark, because Michael Clark can't really get a pattern that he wants for the drums. And they're doing this live in the studio and the producer's kind of going, okay guys, can we just try it again from the top? And then they start at. By the end of it, they're all kind of going, oh, is baby Michael not okay with. It's like. And if you've been in a band.

[Emily]

You know this really, why would they put that on. On the re release, though, I don't.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Think it was more of. It was just record. Yeah, it was something. An eye in the studio of the recording.

[F]

No, they put it on the re release because David Crosby leaves the band. Oh, yeah, that's why. So they kicked out of the band or. I don't know exactly.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That's exactly what happens. They start recording. There are ways into it. David is saying now Gary Usher finds these songs by Gotham and King, who at this point, Carole King and her husband Jerry Goffin have written Umpteen. And we did this on the girl group Episodes. Yeah, and several others. And Todd Rundgren has done Umpteen hits. I mean, solid hits.

[F]

Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But she hasn't broken through as a performer at all yet. She hasn't even moved to Los Angeles until 68. 72. It's after writer, which wasn't a hit. She had her first album come out, which didn't really do well. And then she had Tapestry come out and that was the revelation of the Laurel Canyon scene.

[F]

So at this point, she's in New York. I think she might be from Brooklyn. She's like, yeah, she.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, no, absolutely. She's a Brill Building. They're Brill Building writers, which we've talked about. Yeah.

[F]

Again, that she became synonymous with. With Laurel Canyon is just an interesting little twist to the whole story.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Because, yeah, most people weren't from LA that became very popular. Right, David? But there were only a couple of them with like Neil Young's Canadian. And, you know, there's a lot of these people just, you know, you moved from wherever, you move to either San Francisco, wherever, and you. To make your dream in Los Angeles. Because the scene just like when everybody ran up to Seattle during grunge, it was like, well, that's where you're getting signed out of. Nobody signing anybody in LA anymore. Anymore. And so what happens is they get. Gary Usher gets first crack at a couple of these singles. And while. And he shows them to the band. He's like, listen, I think these songs, I think this song in particular, going back would be great for you guys and David Crosby, who remember, at this moment in time, this is the end. This is mid 67 to the end of 67. The monkeys are huge. The monkeys put out three records in 1967. So the monkeys are huge. But even though they are friends with a lot of the Laurel Canyon scene, and there is an authenticity because they played the Troubadour, you know, Mike and Peter were mainstays there and people knew them And Mike, by the first Monkees album in 66, is already doing country rock music. And that's on. Think of it that way. This is like. Like the most popular teeny bopper thing. And he's doing sort of an obscure genre of music which is very pertinent to sort of where this all goes, because he's also.

[F]

Yeah, yeah.

[Emily]

Question. Is the Troubadour. The. Like when you talk about. Because I was talking to somebody about. About music venues, and they were like, you know, I think they were like, you know, New York has the Bowery, D.C. as the 9:30 Club. Minnesota has First Avenue, where Prince is from. Or Prince started. Is LA the Troubadour, or is it the Whiskey?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, if you're talking about parallel bands to the eras that, like 9:30 and those ones have. Those would be newer clubs. But if you're talking about, like. If you're talking about, like, Cafe Wa and you're talking about. What's the other one in New York? The. The big one, Bleaker. Like. Like the bands that, like, Bob Dylan would have played and then the early folk rock bands would have played in that era also.

[F]

Something called Gertie's Folk City was.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, those are. Those would be the equivalent of, like, the Troubadour. The Troubadour had their nanny night. You know, the Whiskey and the Roxy. Roxy didn't exist yet. And the Whiskey A Go Go was the rock and roll.

[F]

You know, that was more the rocker place.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Johnny Rivers. That was like. Like, you know. And by the way, similar time period to the Doors and everyone still 66. I mean, it's bizarre to think they all sort of happened at the same time. Walking, bumping into each other and shopping and probably hanging out with the same women at the same time. But, you know, by 67, the doors are already two records in. You know, there's. There's a lot. I mean, there's all of this going on.

[F]

Youth culture.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, yeah, youth culture. And now because of traveling, don't forget.

[F]

The Ash Grove was like, before that, the Troop, like, that was the Folk. And then when it became folk rock, it moved to the Troubadour. Yeah.

[Emily]

Wait a second. I didn't know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, go on, Morty.

[Emily]

I didn't. Wayne. I didn't realize you were so. You were so close with the Troubadour that you could just call it the Troop. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So when. By the time I played there in the 80s, it was the Trueba Dump is what we called it, when it was like, just in the hair Metal. Just post hair. Metal time.

[F]

So you got me.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So they go into. So they go into the studio and they are starting on this record. They record some. They may, you know, maybe three quarters of the record, and they are just done with David Crosby, Chris Hillman. And so now here's what happens. Jim McGuinn gets into Saboud and he decides that. That I don't know if it's the numerals of his name, you know, if there's some kind of thing, but something tells him he should change his name to Roger. So all of a sudden he changes his name to Roger McGuinn about this time. So for this record, he's Roger McGuinn. So we'll just call him McGuinn from this point on, so that, you know, because people even then were still in that. Oh, no, now it's Jim, okay. I mean, now it's Roger, okay? So he becomes Roger McGuin. McGuinn and Hillman are like, we can't do this. We can't do this with David anymore. You know, we got to get him out. So essentially they kick him out when they're about 3/4 through of this record. Michael Clark, the drummer, is disillusioned with a lot of what's going on. He doesn't really like the material. He's. They've been a bit relentless with him. They're not happy. So he decides, guys, I'm not going to. To record anymore. On this record. I'll still do all my obligations, I'll play live, I'll do whatever, but I. I can't do this. So they get in session greats. Hal Blaine from the Wrecking Crew, and also from the Wrecking Crew. And then from the Mother Wreckers, Jim Gordon, who we've talked about on Steely Dan Records, and we've talked about a lot of stuff. He's the guy that ends up killing Commissioner Gordon.

[Emily]

Commissioner Gordon, yeah. He ends up his best friend.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He's one of the. He's in. He's in Derek and the Dominoes. He's one of the most prolific drummers, along with Hal Blaine, who played who.

[Emily]

Who were Mike and the Mechanics.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That is an offshoot of Genesis that happens quite a bit later. That also Paul Carrick.

[F]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And by the way, I Didn't Miss a Beat, starring Paul Carrick, who also had a solo career, who also is the one who joined Squeeze and sang Tempted in Squeeze, who also was singer in Ace, who had this. Who had a hit with How Long. But we're not going to do that one. Today we're going to finish this. And I'm trying to get through it quickly without tangent, but this is all important. Dave is out of the band. They. They contact Jean Clark, who hasn't had a great solo career, and they say, because Gary knows him, he's his producer, basically goes, hey, listen, man, you want to come back in and work with the guys? You know, join the band again. Again. So he comes back, contributes to some of the songs on this record. They finish off the record with, you know, session drummers. Session drummers, and with. And with Jean. And then we go into 1968. David is still out. Michael, who is said, I'll do whatever. Basically, they say, yeah, okay, you're. You're done. And then they kick. And then Gene Clark is out again. Whether it's because. I think it's because he just didn't really want to do the. The rigors of touring, and he was still anxious about everything. So he lasts three weeks. He lasts three weeks in the band to help finish the record, and then he's out. But because of all these moving parts, this ends up being the last record that has all the original members of the Birds on it. And by the way, Gene's been out for a couple records, so this is the first time that they actually have all of them on so we can go through. But then one other really important part about the COVID of the album, because they go and shoot in Topanga. You know, if you've seen it before, it's also used on a Linda Ronstadt album. I think Gary Webster shot it later. She's on the back in front of the exact same. But a different angle of this, you know, little. You know, I don't know if it was like a. Where they kept the horses, whatever, but what ends up happening is they line up in these little windows, and then, coincidentally, a horse sticks its face through the fourth window. And many people have taken it to mean that that was a swipe at David Crosby, which I. Presumably, David took it as that. And even the band, when they shot it, kind of joked around because there's four windows. So it's the three remaining members of the band. It's, you know, it's. It's Roger in the middle. So it's, you know, it's like Chris, Roger, Michael, and then a horse. And, you know, and then it's the Notorious Bird Brothers, which has this kind of Western theme. And the windows are like these stone mace, whatever. So a lot of people took it to me because, remember, he's on the album and he has songs that he actually wrote and sang on the album before they kicked him out. So in early 1968. So we don't know what 1968 is going to become in January.

[Emily]

Go on, guys. This is now you want to wonder why I get nervous about flying? Because I got. I'm gonna text Shane.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh no, another one.

[Emily]

Dude. Southwest pilot crazy collision at Midway in Chicago.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh my God.

[Emily]

Southwest pilot had almost had his wheels on the ground landing. Had to pull back up. What the is going on? Yeah, dude. It's crazy, dude.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, crazy.

[Emily]

God. Hey everybody. So you guys have probably heard me talk about how I've been in band bands my whole life. I love writing songs and performing in front of crowds. Just like with comedy. As a musician, it can be kind of hard to cut through the noise and really stand out as an artist. I feel like half the music projects I've been in have ended just because we couldn't figure out the answer to that eternal question of how do we get people to hear us? But then again, that was before there was Distrokid. Distrokid is a digital music distribution service that brings your sound to the masses. It's a one stop shop for getting your songs on itunes, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon, Deezer, Tidal, and many more. What's Deezer? I never even heard of Deezer. How many of them are there? I know that's like the holy grail of streaming services though. And getting paid. They want to. We want to get you paid for your music. That's huge because a lot of bands go broke before they get big. But Distrokid collects earnings and payments and sends 100% of these earnings to artists minus banking fees and and applicable taxes. And that's just one of the tons of benefits of using Distrokid. You can send big files to anyone with their Instant Share feature. You can use the Hyper Follow feature to promote your release and get pre saves on your song. You can even create personal landing pages for yourself, your band, your brand, and whatever you like. It has a free Spotify Canvas generator too to generate your own Spotify Canvas canvas for your songs. And the Mixia feature instantly masters your tracks for higher quality audio. So if you're ready to bring your band to the next level, it's time to check out Distrokid. The Distrokid app is now available on iOS and Android. Go to the app or Play Store to download it. Listeners of this show can get 30% off their first year by going to DistroKid500. That's DistroKid.com VIP the 500 for 30% off your first year.

[Josh Adam Myers]

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[Emily]

I thought it was on brand.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, that's fine. Mechanics and Learning to Fly is actually a Buffalo Springfield song. So we end up on this record. It. It talks about very pertinent young people, subjects, the draft, going to, you know, war, ecology.

[F]

Before we get to these songs, just to. Is there any hit songs off of this record?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Not really, but there are some interesting. We'll do it in. But there, there are some interesting things about some of the songs.

[F]

But I mean, again, I live sort of in the hit song world.

[Josh Adam Myers]

There's nothing on this record that you would say, oh yeah, they play that on K. Earth ever. There's nothing on this record even, even the best song on this record, which arguably we can all pick our own. There's. There's nothing that. There's no Mr. Tambourine man.

[F]

There's, you know, eight miles.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, there's no eight miles high. And by the way, so just to give Turn.

[F]

There's none of that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Gene Clark has do. Gene Clark also wrote 8 mile, 8 miles high and a few of their hit songs that were theirs. Because Turn, Turn, Turn is Bible passages, right? You know, put to put to music. And then Mr. Tambourine man and my Back Pages are obviously Dylan songs. So, you know, they, they.

[F]

Why do you think this album is so highly regarded? Like, why. Because when you list.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Because when you go back to this record, right, what's amazing about this record is as fractious as the making and the recording of this record is it's probably one of the most cohesive record by this band.

[F]

So what. So why is it that. You know what he said?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I don't know where this.

[F]

I didn't look star reviews and stuff come from.

[Emily]

Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But by the way, at the time it was critically lauded, but it didn't do well commercially. But it was accepted as being an okay album. It just didn't. It didn't connect with people because I think they saw sort of the end of one era of music going into the other. It also is their most psychedelic record.

[F]

Okay.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But it's record.

[Emily]

Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You say this is psychedelic? Yeah, the. The phasing on the instruments, which is when instruments are sort of close to. When instruments are close in. In tone. There's a thing called phase, which is when you get like a buzzing sound from it. And they also use something which is a. Which is a. I think Jeff Emmerich gets the quote for it, which is flanging, which is just something that he told John Lennon they were doing by putting things out of phase. What ends up happening is Beatles would. Jeff Emmerich would basically take two recordings of the same recording and they'd put them the millisecond out of phase. And what would end up happening was serious. Give this sort of sound like this. And John would be like, what do they call that? And Jeffrey's. It's called flanging. John. That wasn't a real thing. It's just what he ended up calling it.

[F]

I was just surprised. I was just surprised as a fan. I mean, I like the Birds again. Never bought a Birds album.

[Emily]

Sure.

[F]

I'm always fascinated by the bands that were always like animals, beetles, crickets, birds.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Again. Yeah. The name bird and the, you know, notwithstanding.

[F]

I like all of.

[Emily]

That's your brand. You're like.

[F]

Yeah, like they were just. They, they were. It was not very creative going on, Barry.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It was all fetter man and beasts.

[Emily]

Rolling Stones. Go yourself. Give me the Turtles. I want. I like, I like.

[F]

I was maybe the Animals because they.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Encompassed everything you loved about music. That's your favorite. Yeah. You were very much into Noah's Ark was the whole thing.

[F]

Or you could be a human being. Like I really. I thought they were. Were.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, look at you branching out. So. So what ends up. Oh, also Clarence White comes in and plays guitar on this record. By the time the next record comes along, he's a full fledged member of the Birds. In the Grand Parsons era. He. He's a guitar player very like a very country esque guitar player who just comes and goes through these sessions. And they also have Red Roads who plays slide guitar on this record.

[Emily]

Roads. Red Roads.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And Red Roads is already. Is already a part of the Mike nesmith World of 60s, which also brings him around. He's a slide guitar player. And then he dies tragically, which has a profound effect on Grant Parsons in 73. When he's in a brother, he's in a band with his brother and. Wait, Clarence White or Clarence Waters? I just blanked on.

[Emily]

Can we just take a second, though? You know, did I just need to make sure that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Right.

[Emily]

No, no. Figure that. While you figure that out. Out. Wayne. I want to give Morty his flowers because, you know, when. What's his name? When Rory dropped out and we were looking through and I'm like, well, I want Fetterman, obviously. I was like, we got. We should have Morty on too, obviously, because. Because he's gonna know everything. I don't know if Wayne knows everything. We can't back to back Wayne. We got to throw the wedge in.

[F]

It would have been a triple.

[Emily]

I know, but this is the Rod Stewart Birds. I don't think those are in order. No, no. Because the Carpenters was a few weeks ago. We had the.

[F]

But you did within a three weeks.

[Emily]

Sure, sure. But the thing is, I, I. When I reached out to you, Morty, you said, I just don't know enough about him. And then you just spoke.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I know. Okay. But I knew. I know.

[F]

I know about them.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This record. No, but. This record. So. So the other.

[F]

But can I also say this?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, yeah.

[F]

About Morty is. I feel like he's holding back a lot of other tangential information.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm trying not to go there. I know what.

[F]

I can see it. I can see it's painting.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's. No, but it's stupid. It's difficult. It's like, you know, it's difficult. I wanted. I.

[F]

Anyway, just Morty, in any way can you. Like when you're saying you're like, does it ever go through? Like, is this relevant to the story? Do.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[F]

Think about anything like that?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Because that's. I. I tried to make everything I'm saying so far relevant specific to this album too. Like Clarence White, is it. Clarence White plays guitar on this album. He ends up, you know, playing with the Birds. He ends up becoming a full fledged member of the Birds for the next record, Sweetheart of the Rodeo. And he's still with Gary Usher produces that too. To. They get Graham Parsons in and then they become what we know as the country rock version of the Birds, which there are hints of it on this record, by the way.

[F]

Yeah, I know what you said. Just. I want to just slow it down a little bit. There's A slight difference between folk rock.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Right.

[F]

Country rock.

[Emily]

Huge.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Huge.

[Emily]

What is it? Because I. Because I think they're both the same thing.

[F]

Right, right, right. And we're gonna learn right now from more. But I'm just saying, like. Like the birds definitely envelop both of those genres.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes. And they're really. They are instrumental. They are at. They are at ground zero of folk rock for folk rock specifically, and country rock. But remember, even folk music by its. By the idiom. The term folk music is the music played by folk. The music played by the people that did this, which were folk songs, songs passed on from other people. Protest songs, songs about. And then we go back to the Dylan stuff. Songs about things that didn't get the shine when they should have. People that were murdered. People that were, you know, there. There was. And. And John Henry and, you know, songs that. That, you know, were almost tone poems that were just.

[F]

What was that. What was that song that Joan Baez sang at Woodstock about the guy that the. The union guy that gets killed?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, how.

[Emily]

I. I'll think of it in a second.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You don't really want to start me on a Woodstock tangent.

[Emily]

No, no, no, I don't.

[F]

Believe me, no one wants.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, no. Neither do I. Trust me. I'm exhausted. So. So they. So, so wait.

[F]

I got it. I got it. Came to me. Joe Hill. Joe.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Joe Hill. Another Joe. There's a Joe on this record too. Yeah. And so they. So folk music is the music that's passed on a lot of times. Melodies were added, taken from other songs, added old blues songs just so they could keep the telling, the storytelling going. Yeah, it was a very storytelling thing. It was very much music in the minstrel era of passing town to town, bringing the news to each people. You know, the real minstrels, not the Al Jolson circuit like, you know, like minstrels and the. In the Shakespeare era of people, people didn't get mail. People didn't get. There was no way to. People would show up in your town and tell the story of the kings and queens of another town. And that's how you'd learn them. Lies and all. You know, like anything you'd hear, you'd hear through these people passing on, you know, test the tale of. Is it. And that's how you learn that whether it was true or not.

[F]

So that was my prom theme, that song. It just.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That is. That was. And you. By the way, you looked amazing in your. In your nights and. Yeah, I think. Where did you.

[F]

You knew the song. But that Was.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Well, that's how it came to our town. Some of the. Some of the details were a little.

[F]

Long seasons in the sun. And it ultimately I will take.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And I will take anything over Rod McEw and put to music by Terry Jacks. Wait, what was.

[Emily]

What was. What were those. What were really were your, like, prom songs? I think we were. What was your theme song to remember.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What is that from?

[Emily]

It's. It's Billy Joel. That was the song from oh, the Days Gotcha.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, that Was that out at the time. Was that out at the time when you graduated?

[Emily]

Yeah, it already. It. No, not. It wasn't like a big song.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It was a call back. I'm.

[Emily]

I'm pretty sure it was that. It was either that or I get knocked down, but I get.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, that's obvious. Well, that's.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, that's a word about perseverance. That really is something to send kids off onto their way with the mortar board is. Is something like that. And also a. A great drinking song, which is probably where half of your classmates ended up. So we end up everybody, everybody. They had a whiskey drink, they had a lager drink, they had a rum drink drink. And then they died. And I got up and that's why you're here. So we're on this record. They finally finished this record. So the one other thing that I was going to make sort of a connection which ends up. We can do it in the song by song. But remember 1967 Beatles, Sergeant Pepper, huge record doors are now out there. Love is out there.

[F]

Three Monkey Records.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Three Monkeys records.

[F]

And I think I can name them them Monkeys. More of the Monkeys Headquarters.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No. Yes. For this. For the. Yeah, up until this one. And so what you have to remember is Goffin and King were part of the Brill Building writers that Don Kirschner would bring to the Monkeys and bring to other acts and say, hey, these kids have written some great songs. How about. How about. So Goffin and King were there with man. And while we've talked about on the. We talked about on the Phil Spector episode, we talked about on the girl group episode, we talked about on, you know, a lot of these same. You'll hear a lot of these names start coming up as well as Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka, Paul Williams, even at Simon A. Garfong. Even Paul Simon fancied himself like a Brill Building writer in his time. These guys all wanted to. Because they went. When songwriting happened. These guys were in. There was.

[F]

This was.

[Josh Adam Myers]

They were cranking out hits from this office in New York work, you know, and another one nearby where they were just like, hey, you got a band, we got a hit. And that falls off as we go into, like, 1968, 69.

[F]

The reason for that is a lot. Because of. The Beatles were like, we're writing your own song.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, they love. Don't get it wrong. Beatles love the songs that had been coming out. And that's what. What inspired them to say, well, let's try our version of this. Which caught on with them doing it by. But by, you know, mid-60s, there's an authenticity to artists which was not just, can you play other people's songs? Because that's what you would have been doing in the circuit. In the circuit was kids wanted to go and dance. You know, that was what discotheques were. You would go to the whiskey ago and you would dance to a band playing Songs of the Day day, you know, so they. So this is a big reason David Crosby had an issue with this. David Crosby's like, hey, guys, we write interesting songs. Why the hell are we still doing covers if we've already done Dylan already set us up? And. And not just covers of Dylan, which is hip. We're doing songs that the Monkeys might have been pitched well.

[F]

Right. And might have.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know what I mean, Legitimately, Like. Like, you know, Headquarters, you know, Then you've got stuff like it's the next record, but the single Pleasant Valley Sunday and stuff, which is written by Goffin and Gang.

[F]

Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know, you've got songs that for all intents and purposes, the Monkeys might have turned down, you know, the association might have turned it down. All their. Their contemporaries, they're like, guys, I'm writing songs about humping two chicks. That's cutting edge, you know, I'm writing songs about mermaid, smiling and psychedelic. Really. We're going to go back to doing songs about, you know, being nostalgia. Yeah, exactly. So that's another big part of this going into this record. So now we can go song by song.

[Emily]

Like, we. We're. Let's just. Let's kind of summarize the songs, because we've got.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We've already. Yeah. For a record that has no hits, there's actually some. Really.

[F]

Well, what's your favorite one, Morty?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, let's.

[Emily]

Let's talk.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, let's start with the first song, like, name the first song on the record. Let's have any of us just have our opinions on the songs.

[Emily]

Because I love is Artificial Energy.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And this is probably the best song that is Mostly written as a positive about taking speed, which is what the song is about is like, you're not going to hear a lot of sort of pro amphetamine used songs in rock and roll.

[Emily]

Question. Raise your hand if you've tried Crystal Met.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Have I have.

[F]

I have.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Not really.

[F]

Not Crystal Meth. I did.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Sil. Right. Yeah.

[F]

I don't like the Folgers version. I like.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, he was. He was flying his plane at the time. He didn't wanna. He didn't want to get caught up in any upside down turbulence. And by the way, the red. This song ends with. I think the moment that this song sort of goes, well, we can't just can't be All Pro amphetamine ends with him going, now I'm in jail because I killed a queen. Which presumably means he killed a trans.

[F]

We even get to these songs. I want to go back to something that Josh, Adam Meyer said earlier that the whole album. I'm looking at the. The lengths of these songs. Short, only one two songs.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The last song is the long one.

[F]

Yeah, yeah. And there's one song that said minute 49 second. The entire album is 28 minutes.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, they kept firing everybody. You know how hard it is to keep it. You're like, we have a verse, a chorus of bridge and we just fired David. All right. That's where that song ends, you know, and that's what it is is. But also at the time, they had done hit records, they had done fifth dimension, they did whatever together.

[F]

Right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Together. Whatever.

[F]

These are the albums. It's. The album's away.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Right, but that's what I'm saying up until this record, this is a distinction distinct sort of period between the Birds.

[F]

And just so you know, for me, at this point, 68, as you know, Josh.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[F]

I'm listening to Jimi Hendrix. I'm listening to the Guitar Hero guys.

[Josh Adam Myers]

First run.

[F]

First run. Yeah. I'm listening to Cream. I'm listening to those. Those are my. More what's hitting my ear as well as obviously the Beatles. But.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And that's what's amazing about the generational thing for you, Wayne, is that when we talk about. We can only talk about this as classic rock talk. You're talking about it as that's what was top 40, right. You know, that's. That's a. People like, even like my kid today, if I'm talking to her about top, I'm like, at some point you're gonna look at Beyonce like Madonna, which is. She's always existed in your world, but she's still relevant. Whereas Madonna has never meant anything to my daughter. She's always been in her 40s or 50s by the time she was born. Even though we're like Madonna, but, you know, they're the equivalent to. This was like you said, Perry Como was just waning. Frank Sinatra was just waiting. By 68, they still had some comebacks left in them.

[F]

I know, I know. Again, I don't want to get.

[Emily]

It's.

[F]

It's.

[Unknown]

No, no.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[F]

That wasn't my point. My point was more just that you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Had better stuff to listen to.

[F]

For me, again, one stupid kid in Florida. It's not. I don't really speak for any one or.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, you speak for the listening public, dude. Because his record wasn't successful.

[F]

Right. That. That's all. I'm. I'm just trying to contextualize it as, you know, like, which I think.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Which is what you pointed out, which is, why is this on? Why is this on the 500 when they themselves have probably two or maybe three more important records. This is where. Yeah. Or even important.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This. This record goes. We have that.

[F]

This can't be their only album on the list, is it?

[Emily]

I don't think so.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No. I'm sure Sweethearts of the Rodeo has got to be on there because that's Graham Parsons.

[Emily]

Let me show you the. Well, and they have you do the next.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Every Grand Parsons record on. So anyway, so for this song, this has weird horn stabs. And this is a really good. Not only is this a showcase of the birds, this is a showcase of Gary Usher culture. And this shows a lot of what. And remember, sergeant Pepper's been out this. It. We're in the same months away from sergeant Pepper. So, you know, think about it this way is everybody has been inundated with sergeant Pepper and this psychedelic experience of these kind of bands at this moment. So the idea of, like, let's just have horn players come in and blast away, I guess, is not. But this is contemporary. This isn't like they went back and did a sergeant Peppers. This is like sergeant Peppers is still charting while they're doing this.

[Emily]

Hold on, hold on. So this is. This is the second. We did do a Birds record.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I told you crazy.

[Emily]

This is the second of four times we're talking about him.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We do Mr. Tambourine Man.

[Emily]

We did slow it down.

[F]

We do four birds. Four birds.

[Emily]

Four birds. There's four birds.

[F]

Okay. Four different birds.

[Emily]

Four different birds. There's the Oriole.

[F]

Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

There's Baltimore Gets a Shine. Yeah, yeah, right.

[Emily]

So we did Mr. We did Mr. Tambourine man with Judy Gold. That was right. In two years, 233. Yeah, well, yeah, I guess so. I mean, yeah, it was at least. God damn. It's crazy to think about that. That 233 was like almost two, two and a half years ago. Younger than yesterday. That is below this one. One Sweetheart of the Rodeo is down to 120. And then on the re rank, is this. Well, yeah. Yes, this did. Wait, hold on. Let me just double check because I.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Got this because I was. I could see this getting bumped off for anything.

[Emily]

So it says. It says in the 2020, Sweetheart of the Rodeo fell. So it goes to 274. Mr. Tambourine man fell 54 spots to 287. And this. Oh, this. And younger than yesterday did not make the cut. Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Which is what I assumed.

[F]

And I'm gonna guess that Bad Bunny took their place.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yep.

[F]

Sure.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Which is. Yeah, which is. Which. Which speaking of Florida was probably your. Your high schools. Daddy, Daddy, Yankee. You got them all mixed up. They all sound the same to you?

[F]

Oh, two of them made. Okay, but still, Mr. Tambourine man is still on. On there, right?

[Emily]

Which is.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Which is what you said. That's the record. And so right before this record came out, right, the record label was sort of like, ah, let's hedge our pets. And they put out the greatest hits album.

[F]

Ah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So now they're competing.

[Emily]

So wait, hold on. So then still.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes, if.

[Emily]

If Mr. Tambourine man is the record, then why is this record below it on the list? And why is it. Yeah, I don't get it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You mean, why is it higher on the list? List.

[Emily]

That's what I meant.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Because. Because presumably. I'll use that word again. In 2011, when they were putting this together, it was probably a lot of certain white men of a certain age that were putting this together. And they were like, what is. We're going to give Bob Dylan 75 records. And anybody that comes out of the Bob Dylan world, we're going to give every one of their records that get that sort of has that there is it influence.

[F]

I'm not mistaken. The Rolling Stone magazine begins in 1968. So this is like their birthing press, right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Was it. I thought it was maybe it was maybe of 68. I know John. I know John's on the COVID doing How I Won the War. So.

[F]

Yeah, so maybe earlier than that. Maybe.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. No, I think it was 67 or 68. We could look that up. But like, I said, they know this.

[F]

Is the sweet spot for Rolling Stone. The writers, John Landau, all those guys. This is their.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And this is the pivot.

[F]

They're coming of age music, so they're gonna love.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And this is the pivot. But this is also, like I said, this is the pivot record. This is the record where we go jangly, folky, psychedelic, blah, blah, blah, boom. And then immediately the next thing they do is country rock. Like. Like Pioneers, you know, it's Queen, you know, where they. Grant Parsons and now Clarence White is in the band.

[F]

Okay, so it's November 67. Rolling Stone begins. So that was close.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Right at the end, which is right as this is happening.

[F]

Yeah, so it's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, so, yeah, this is probably the one that was playing while they were smoking dubage in the bathroom. Yeah. They were like, dude, this is the records for me, man. Man. Yeah. There's records like that we all have, which is why in our podcast, I'm interested in what you guys have in that space. Because there's stuff that means stuff to you that we might not have ever.

[Emily]

Well, let's dig that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So the first song is pumping and bumping with all these horns and saying. The second song, which is the contention with David Crosby going back is the Goffin and King song, which is the single for this record, after Lady Friend is the single for this record. And from the 10 seconds into this song, you go, that's the Birds.

[F]

Right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

They on this song, which isn't one they wrote, sounds more like the Birds than almost anything else on this record.

[F]

I have a hunch this. That might be my favorite song on the album.

[Emily]

Yeah, me too. Me too.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, it's. Oh. Easily.

[F]

I just feel like I don't have sophisticated like them.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's a great pop song.

[F]

Yeah, I'm drawn to that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[F]

Experimental.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So I told that to Josh. That's the same thing I said, which is you play radio.

[F]

I love Taco Bell. This is why I love talking that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

See, that's why. And both Taco and Bell recordings, you know, putting on the Ritz and then anything that Tom Bell ever did and anything from the disco era of Bell Records, which I believe is Rock the Boat by the Hughes Corporation. So anyway, going. Going. So Going Back is not a hit, but really showcases what the band does. Well, when they get out of their way and sort of just go at it, I think it's. I mean, it.

[F]

Are you talking about going back still going back?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, because I think it's. I think it's worth that It's. It's probably one of the best songs.

[F]

And also the record come Columbia Record realize, oh, this sounds like a band called the Bird Hurts.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, exactly. And by the way, this song, when Carole King ends up coming to Los Angeles the next year, she puts together a band called the City with Danny Korchmar, who we've talked about a. Playing guitar with James Taylor and playing Warren Zevon and a million other people. He puts together a band that's unsuccessful. That does, I believe, does this song also, because Gary Usher got early versions of these songs and went, I'm gonna give this to the birds. And nobody's turning that down. Right.

[F]

And Gary Usher never recorded Usher, did he?

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, no, but he. But, well, I could say yeah, but no.

[Emily]

Nice.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Okay, now that's an Usher joke that only you and I got, Josh. I don't know. Exactly.

[Emily]

Kids to listen.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Which is also every ever clearer song. Okay, so move on to number three. What's number three? Let's see.

[F]

Natural Harmony.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Natural Harmony, which I think the record should have been called Artificial. Artificial High and Natural Harmony. Isn't that a better name for a record? I saw that. That's like a great comedy name for an album if those are your two bits.

[F]

I do like it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I do like Natural Harmony.

[F]

I've agreed with that. You've said today, but, yeah, absolutely.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Which is. Which sets the precedent. So, yeah, I think. I think if we have this. So I like this song. I think it's a good. I think it's a good song. And I like the idea that it's Natural Harmony and it has a kind of a hippie dippy sort of element to this song.

[F]

Well, it's interesting. It's the only song on the album that's written by one person, Chris Hillman. That's the bass player, right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes. And by the way, the bass playing on this record is pretty phenomenal, you know, for what it is at the time. Chris Hillman's bass playing is very lyrical, like in a Paul McCartney way. There's some great stuff where the bass might just be like already beautiful.

[F]

Side side note, not a sidebar. Chris used to be in a band called Hillman.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The Hillman.

[F]

No, it's called Hillman. I think that was the name of his bands. Let's keep going.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes. So what's the next. What's the next song?

[F]

Daft Draft Morning.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Draft Morning. Though what I love about this and the reason I'm wearing this is Gary Usher. Are you a fan of the Fire Sign Theater?

[F]

Of course.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Did that ever get. Okay, Fireside Theater. Josh, who's listening? Fireside Theater was a group of four guys who started on public radio. Kcrw, I believe. Yeah. Santa Monica Radio. Proctor, Phil Proctor, Bergman Proc. Proctor. Just now that I'm trying to remember. But the point being, they were like head radio. They did a lot of which. Which in the old days, in the 20s and the, you know, would have been like, you know, the Shadow and, you know, a lot of stuff you'd make up in your heads of sitcoms. They started doing Head Rad, which was. They would do. They would write scripts that were very much of its time contemporized and with a lot of radio play sort of panache, which were amazing. So they were produced by Gary Usher for their first record, Waiting for the Electrician or somebody like him. They are on this song, doing the sound effects for. For this song. All the. Yeah, Fireside. They're the four. The Four Fires. Or at least they're credited as the Four Fire Signs Theater members. For this. For this song on here.

[F]

Hey, sound effects. I see.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. So that's the connection. That's another connection to head, you know, to very contemporary head music. You know, sort of hippie, you know, of the moment type stuff. Right, right, for this one. But, you know, we're talking about a draft song. You know, this is the perfect time to be writing songs about going to war and about what happens, you know, the morning of. Of getting your draft notice. And, you know, this is. Is the Vietnam War is going to go on for another seven years, eight years. So it is right in the middle of absolute abject terror by a lot of these same people who have seen their friends die. Who have seen, you know, who have seen. You know, this is why Hair comes out, you know, all of this stuff. So I think that's whether the song is as pertinent now, the subject matter, of course, which very well. Well, these days could be something that comes back up again. Next song.

[F]

It is interesting that the Hair, the musical came out in 68, also wasn't born to follow. This is another Carol King.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This is the other one.

[F]

Yeah, this is the second. Could have been a monkey song. Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think it's still a good song. And here's the other thing. When Easy Rider came out, going back, I don't think it is. But here's a nice connection to the Monkey King camp and then threw it. Jack Nicholson monkeys put out head in 1968. The next year. What? And. Yeah, no. Yeah, that's why then the Reason they came up with that is they wanted to be able to say about the next movie by the guys that gave you head. And so the Raphaelson. And see, I put it out of order. Uh, the guys that. The guys that created the Monkeys with Jack Nicholson. No, Missouri Wazerski worked with them.

[F]

But Bob Raphaelson.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh my God, I just blanked. And I'll. I'll get it in a second. But anyway, Easy Rider, which is the movie that the success of the Monkeys made. Really? This is the song, right? Yes. This is the song that was used as a single for Easy Ride.

[Emily]

Right, right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

By the Birds. So. And it still didn't do well, most people would say, I think inarguably the hit from that would be Born. Born to Be Wild. Yep. And you probably know the cult version from Electric, which is around when I was graduating high school.

[F]

That is interesting because was that at that movie again? There was a number of movies, but that was really the one that sort of ushered in.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, absolutely.

[F]

New Hollywood, where.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Emily]

Easy Rider. Yes. And we want to know because I, I studied this in, in college in the new Hollywood era. What's the movie that. That was that. That basically tanked and made them go, we should give these younger guys do little. Nope.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What do you mean the movie that tanked?

[Emily]

That wasn't Cleopatra.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, a big budget, old school.

[Emily]

Cleopatra was. At least that's what Professor Tishkin at the Towson University.

[F]

That was.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Who may or may not be Jewish.

[F]

No, they did lose a ton of money. They did lose a ton of money. But I would get on Bert Schneider.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Bert Schneider was the other guy. Bob Raphaelson and Bert Schneiderski helped direct and, and helped develop the. The Monkeys TV show. So this song was in. This song was used Another Goffin King, which, you know, honestly, maybe they only needed one. I mean, it's still a good song, but maybe they really only needed one. But it still Curry sort of carries the hippie ethos.

[F]

Of course, an Easy Rider makes it classic. Okay.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And the fact that. Yeah.

[F]

The final song Inside One is called get to you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, it's.

[F]

I mean, Roger McGuin, Chris Hillman, but they say it's possible.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, Hillman didn't. Yeah, Hillman didn't write it. It's probably a Gene Clark song and it's been. It's been corrected. I think Roger McGuin's even said. I mean, even Chris Hillman I think said. Actually Gene probably wrote that in his three week tenure with us back here, you know, which by the way, he Leaves the band drummers out by the. By the beginning. But by this album coming out, you know, like I said. So, you know, you have to imagine this record is. This band is down to two guys when this record comes out.

[F]

Amazing.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know, even though the singles and stuff have artwork still have Dave Crosby on it and have, you know, and some Michael and. And Michael Clark on it. So they. Yeah. Get to use a good song. I mean, I think it's a good sign to end side.

[Emily]

Fine.

[F]

It was inside two. You didn't like Changes now is now.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I mean, I think that's, you know, it's another. I think it's a David Crosby song.

[Emily]

Right.

[F]

It's another one of these sort of gwin.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, Hillman. It's a very. Of its era.

[F]

We don't know if we're talking about Jim McGuinn. We don't know if we're talking about Roger.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, neither did he.

[F]

In between.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, neither. He should have hyphenated his name. Jim. Robert. Jim. Roger. Yes. J R McGuin. Again. Yeah. That's would have been perfect for country. And he.

[F]

Another Hillman McGuin thing is called Old John Robertson.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Right. Which is the most countrified song on this record, which really is the direction the band goes on by the next record. And we talk about Red Rhodes, the slide guitar player who played with everybody. He was one of the most famous slide guitar players from the Wrecking Crew era who played with like every one of these country acts, but chiefly Mike Nesmith when he started. When he went solo in the early 70s.

[F]

Definitely a big part of this. This scene. Guess the length of Old John Robertson.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It doesn't even begin.

[Emily]

I'm looking at it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Negative 47 seconds. Oh, no. I know how short these songs are.

[Emily]

But side note, not sidebar. When Burr.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I will listen to it.

[Emily]

When Burr went to the SNL 50th sitting next to him. Bonnie Rate speaking.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, wow. Yeah, he's like amazing.

[Emily]

She was awesome. Got to talk to her like, you know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And we've done Bonnie Raid records twice. We did.

[Emily]

We did. We did it very early on with Fortune Feimster. And then I forgot. Oh, then we did Nick A Time with who was a guy.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And by the way, another musical artist, Ryan, Another musical artist who comes from the Hollywood industry. Her dad, John Rate was an actor, of course.

[F]

Famous Broadway actor.

[Emily]

All right, let's doodle through. Let's go Doodle through these.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Emily]

So we can get to tribal gathering.

[F]

Dolphin smile and.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, Tribal Gathering is another one of the. I think That's a. I think Crosby is dolphin.

[Emily]

I am Roger McGuinn, but call me Jim.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Let's just, let's just get through these two real quick. Yeah, Tribal gathering, perfect. After Monterey Pop and you know, all this stuff in Woodstock to come, it is, it makes the coral. It makes the correlation with tribes and tribal and this Native American thing that sort of connects it in this sort of hippie way, which really is a big part of sort of what has happened. But, but the what's to come part where everyone's walking around with feathers and you know, that really happens kind of after this era and you know, from 68 on. And then you have Dolphin Smile, which is another one of these David Crosby sort of. Hey, man. You know, like this is the song that you can listen to them fighting over in the studio because Michael can't get the rolling drum thing they want and then they berate him. It's worth, it's only seven minutes and it's, it's worth, it's worth listening to because it's not as good as the Trogs tapes, which you'll find on your own.

[Emily]

Not to be confused with Live, the band from York, Pennsylvania's song Dolphins Cry.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Or Mermaid Smiles by ACC on Skylarking.

[Emily]

By the way, have you guys seen. There's a video that comes around on my social media every once in a while of this very beautiful girl named Amy, kind of like a neo hippie Fish fan and she's being interviewed outside of a Fish concert. She's the most beautiful woman you've ever seen, in my opinion. He's like a girl that I would have like gone head over heels in love with, but it's always pops up and it gets like 20 million views because she's just so beautiful. But she's like got, you know, she's got like, she's got like Runaway Train singer hair, you know what I mean? Like, like nasty dread.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Who was a guest on the show. Show. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Emily]

But anyway, speaking of which, Speaking of which, I think. No, he did not do Minutemen. Did he do. Yeah, he did.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, he did. He did double nickels on the dime.

[Emily]

But I got, when I was in Minnesota, I bought a Husker do shirt which is, I don't know, I thought Minnesota, it's all connected.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Nothing says hippie. Nothing says hippie. Like buying a nine hundred dollar Husker do punk rock T shirt.

[Emily]

Most expensive shirt I've ever bought.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I got it. That's more than they spent on that.

[Emily]

Record by the Way you understand that this podcast is already double the length.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The actual house. It's actually not. We started. No, we started 10 minutes in. We actually, if we cut off all the extraneous stuff at the beginning. We're about an hour and ten minutes at that.

[Emily]

Okay, cool. So anyway, I want to get. I want to get to our thing. I don't know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I know, I know.

[Emily]

No, I know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So we'll get. So let's get to the last song on this record, the long, longest song. And remember, when this song came out, the movie hadn't come out yet. Just like Space Oddity, the book was huge. The Arthur C. Clarke 2001 book was a. Was very inspiring to a lot of people. But the movie hadn't come out yet, so people didn't know what they were going to get, which is another zenith of cinema by the time that came out. Whether you like it or not, you know, it's the next year that it actually gets made.

[F]

It comes out in 68, 2001.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What I'm saying is the records. This record's done and comes out in January 68, but the movie doesn't come out. But the other thing is maybe there's a bit of a cynicism to like, hey, man, we don't know what this movie is going to do. Easy Riders using one of the songs. Maybe 2001 will want to use one of our songs. I mean, I could see them saying, I mean, I, I don't think it's far fetched to think, hey, if we have a song called Space Odyssey, because.

[F]

They were in production of that movie.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, maybe they'll use our song, you know, Stan Kubrick or someone or will like this song and use it on the soundtrack. So now, Josh, I think, I think we've done service to this record. We know it's not on anymore.

[F]

You want to do the quick.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes.

[Emily]

Final questions. And just so everybody knows, like, we're, we're. This is if you want to hear more of this. This. If you've been listening to this record, which I'll promote at the beginning of the end, we are going to be starting our own thing with me, Morty and Wayne, and we are going to be talking. Maybe we might, we might just. You never know, the birds might make their way into it, but it's going to be so much fun. So subscribe to the Patreon patreon.com backslash the 500 podcast and you will get more of us. Because I don't think a three top has ever Been so good together.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Never ever. Never ever. And I love Smart list. And I will have to say this will be the run for the money.

[Emily]

Promote. Don't promote our. I love them.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Bill Burr is on. Bill Burr's on right now. So I'm giving props to Bill Burr for being the guest.

[Emily]

Good old Billy Burr. All right, what's our favorite song on the podcast on the.

[F]

You know, mine.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think Going Back. Going Back is mine still same.

[Emily]

I think we all agree on that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And I'm. And I'm a huge. I'm a huge Goffin and King fan. And then obviously King goes on incredible stuff.

[F]

But.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But even the stuff they do with the Monkeys, I think this is a close run of what we would have gotten. This is almost a great Monkeys record.

[F]

I like the way it sounds like the. A band called the Birds. That impresses me.

[Emily]

Yeah. Anything we skip over.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm not a big fan of Space Odyssey. It's. It's just a little. It's unnecessarily long.

[F]

I didn't love Dolphin Smile, to tell you the truth.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Good. Yeah, I get it.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[F]

Damn too.

[Emily]

I'm not gonna lie. A lot of like, I didn't hate the record, but it's also like nothing. This is a very forgettable album.

[F]

Like I know that I. Again, if you look at the reviewed five star. Five star all music, five star. It's. It's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But a lot of those are later. A lot of those are retrospective reviews. You have to check.

[Emily]

But. But that's the thing is that I'm looking at this now as a guy that is never. I didn't know about it. And it's like, like. And. And then you have these things because especially if we're talking about on that first episode, what record do we feel has been dropped off or should have been on the list? I mean I could name 10 albums that should have replaced it. So I don't see why. I see why this.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And the minute I saw this I went yeah, there's no way this is still on the list. Like the minute I was looking at it.

[Emily]

Listening to can we. Can we. To this album or for Wayne. Can you Heavy Pet or Neck? I mean neck.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Neck. Well, it's been so long since I've had sex. I. Is a refractory period allowed to be like years?

[Emily]

I don't think you can. To this. I don't think.

[F]

I don't know. I can't. I can't imagine.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Here's the thing.

[F]

If you out with a girl to Old man Robertson. I just can't imagine.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, but if you quick, you can be done before the good songs run out.

[Emily]

Yeah, I gotta go through three of these. Three of these albums before.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That's the hard part. Yeah, you can get seven. If you can get like a good seven minutes, then you can finish before the kind of. The harder songs to listen to come in.

[Emily]

What would be our. How do you. How do you pitch this to somebody? How do you get someone to listen to this?

[Josh Adam Myers]

You've never. Yeah, you've. You've never heard this and you likely never will. So we can have sex to it later and I won't sing along.

[F]

Yeah, I. I'm interested in the next basis of country. Excuse me? Folk rock. Folk country. This is kind of a transition period for a band that was at the vanguard of that scene in Los Angeles as they were kind of disintegrating. I know that's a long pitch.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, it is. I think this would make the. The story of this record is actually better than the actual record.

[F]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Emily]

Is that why it's on here, then? Is it the story?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think it's pretty compelling. I think it's pretty compelling to hear a band crumbling while it's being made with this many moving parts and still be considered big band.

[Emily]

Question. Question. And this is. This is, I think, a good way to wrap this up. And. And this is where our. Our podcast will come in even more fruitful. Is there. Is there another record where you've had this much. What's the word I'm looking for? Yeah, tumultuous. A tumultuous recording where it's like, you are.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Are.

[F]

You're.

[Emily]

You know, the. The same. The. That's going on. Is there another record where something great came out?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, sorry. I mean, really, what we end up with. Let It Be comes out of what we've seen in the movie of so many different. You know, of. Of so many sort of heads bumping. Bumping together and, you know, but those are all kind of tie together and.

[F]

And.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And so volunteers. I mean, some of the Jefferson Airplane stuff.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Which, by the way, David Crosby gave the song Triad to Jefferson Airplane first and then did it later.

[Emily]

Well, let's do this. Let's wrap this up. Let's dive into ours and, you know, promote away everybody. Morty, where they find you, you can.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Find me on all social media that isn't run by fascists or probably some that are at DJ Morty Coyle, DJ M O R T Y C A Y L E. And then on Tick Tock. And on Instagram we still have and daddy cartoons, which is now a legacy thing, but with fun music of music that you might not have heard or that you did hear and sing with your kids.

[Emily]

Live long, everybody way.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, and All Day Suckers. Sorry, my bad. Listen to them. Sorry.

[F]

I've seen All Day Sucker.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, go to Kibbutz room tonight. Tuesdays and every Tuesday where Wayne stops in when he's at the theater.

[F]

I love it. I am on X slash Twitter. I have not given up on that at Fetterman. And I also in the Knee deep in two documentaries, one on Mel Brooks and one on Norm MacDonald that I.

[Emily]

Can'T wait for that normal.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That's.

[F]

That's my day job. And I'll be. Oh, I'll be at Largo with Sarah Silverman on the 14th of March.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, wow. Right on.

[Emily]

I might. I might get in. I'll be in. I'll be in Milwaukee.

[F]

But is that a Friday, the 14th? I think.

[Emily]

Yeah, it is 1415 and then 1617 is what I'm doing the gym.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh my God.

[Emily]

Give.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I might come down to see you guys if there's any tickets still out.

[F]

The show is called Sarah Silverman and Friends. Oh, yeah, one of. I'm one of the.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, she and Apatow do those where they sort of have like a great run. Just an incredible list. If I can sneak in, I'll see if I can. If I can sneak it. All right.

[Emily]

For everybody else out there, man. Guys, subscribe to the Patreon. Subscribe to the Patreon. I'm really excited to start doing this and this is going to be the first one. So dig into it and obviously, you know, I'll see both of you guys on the podcast very soon.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes.

[Emily]

Good doodle. What did I tell you? What I tell you? The one and only Fetty Wap and DJ Morty Coyle. On Instagram, at Instafetterman, on. On Twitter, at Federman. On social media, it's always going to be at DJ Morty Coil. Now for new music this week, we just listened to the Birds. So how about Distrokid? Our proud sponsor has given us Sorry for Nothing by Corey Marks. And you can find links to the music on our website, the500podcast.com and if you were in a band and we're directly influenced by one of these albums or ours, you want your music featured on the 500 website, send us your song to 500podcasts gmail.com. put that artist and album that influenced you in the subject line next week. Oh dude, it's a goodie. It's not going to be Wayne Federman, I promise you. We got a real live Oscar nominated actor, the who Live at Leeds from 1970 coming in. Oh wow. At number 170. How cool is that?

[Unknown]

Digging just trying to be bigger in my small town Mama tried and I wanted to make her proud But I found the learn the hard way out I ain't turned around man I live in my love hell I drank all the whiskey there was to drink I never learned to stand up I went back got outside hard burn my candle at both ends Looking for something that I'm sorry for nothing she was everything to me for a while I'd break the law to see her smile that kept me slowed down for a while that I was meant for running man I live then my love hell I drank all the whiskey there was to drink I never learned to see enough I went fast God I tried hard burn my candle at those fans Looking for something I start the one day they'll put me in the ground I'll take a ride up through the the clouds ain't going to give me no gold crown and I know the reason man I lived damn I love.

[Emily]

Hell.

[Unknown]

I drank all the whiskey there was to drink Ain't never loose enough I went fast got outside home Burn my candle at both ends Looking for something I sorry for nothing I sorry for nothing I'm sorry for nothing Saund keeping it Flee for the Fleece Nation on the 500 the 500.

[DJ Morty Coyle]

This is Lawrence Lanahan, journalist, musician and host of Rearranged, an Osiris Media podcast about music arranging. Once a song is written, arrangers make musical decisions that shape how we end up hearing the song. We're not just talking about adding orchestral accompaniment like horns and strings, or doing a cover version of a song. Arrangement can be putting happy music over dark lyrics, using samples, recording all acoustic, even tiny decisions like putting an electronic loop into an acoustic song to draw your attention to an important turn of phrase. It's all arranging. Rearranged Episodes are documentary essays where I use arrangements to answer some big questions like what is a song and what can a song become? And how can the sound of a song change the meaning you take from it? Listening this way has changed my relationship with music. Tune into Rearranged and maybe it'll happen for you too. Learn more [e-mail] Osiris.

[F]

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[Josh Adam Myers]

Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group Void where prohibited by law 21 + terms and conditions apply. Next Chapter Podcast.