The Byrds: Sanctuary III (Sundazed Music/2001)

It might be easy to forget now, but behind The Beatles, The Rolling Stones & The Beach Boys - The Byrds were quite possibly the most popular and influential band of the 1960s. They ushered in folk rock, raga rock, acid rock and country rock all with equal creative success. Sundazed Music has released all of their albums in both stereo and mono along with a line of revisionist alternate releases as well. They've released a series of four albums of all unreleased and alternate versions of tracks on vinyl. Sanctuary III is the third of these releases and it contains tracks from the Ballad Of Easy Rider from 1969 and their Untitled album from 1970. The band are in their country rock period here and are just starting to sound comfortable as such.

This version of the Byrds included bassist John York and drummer Gene Parsons. The Untitled tracks feature Skip Battin on bass. The best tracks here are a cover of The Pentangle's "Way Behind The Sun", a version of "Mae Jean Goes To Hollywood" written by a then-unknown songwriter by the name of Jackson Browne, a longer version of "Ballad Of Easy Rider" that features virtuoso guitarist Clarence White and an alternate version of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now Baby Blue". The band made a tradition of covering one Dylan song on each album. And I daresay their version of "Baby Blue" is the very best of these.

 There are also a few interesting instrumentals ("Build It Up" and "White's Lightening Parts I & II") which make for a nice showcase for the late, great Clarence White and his B-Bender Telecaster. The majority of the Sanctuary tracks have all appeared as bonus tracks on the respective album's CD reissues for which they were recorded for. However here the tracks have a nice unified cohesive whole, instead of appearing as also-rans after each album's original tracks. If you are a fan of the Byrds and are looking for a nice vinyl series in which to invest, by all means pick up the four records on 180 Gram vinyl on Sundazed Music that make up Sanctuary series.


Here's The Video Review:

Special Thanks: Sundazed Music.