Tiny Mix Tapes

The Byrds to Release Previously Unreleased Archive Recordings, Proving Once Again That There Really

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Well, kids, you know the ol' saying, "A Time for every purpose under heaven," right? (You know, Ecclesiastes 3.1? Ring a bell? Helloooo?!? What the heck are they teaching you in school, anyway!?!). Well, whatever, never mind. Either way, it just means that everything has its proper time and place in a sort of "grand plan" that we have no control over. It's supposed to be comforting or something.

And apparently, sometimes the current "time under heaven" just happens to be set aside for the purpose of, you know, siphoning some bottom-of-the-barrel cash for an aging ’60s-’70s folk-rock band named The Byrds. Neat how that works out, huh?

And so, never ones to ignore the subtle forces of heaven, the influential L.A. psych-jangle-folk pushers are gearing up to release a recording of their 1971 appearance at London's Royal Albert Hall. This historic (?) concert features the then-lineup of Roger McGuinn, Clarence White, Skip Battin, and Gene Parsons.

The recording itself is seeing the light of day courtesy of founding (and only constant) member Roger McGuinn's private collection. And don't look now folks, but he's got plenty more where that came from. "We've carried these tapes around for 30-something years. We just never paid much attention to them. Bob Irwin (from the Sundazed record label) came down, and he's a genius at discerning these things. He could look at a box, and go ‘Oh, this is that, and so-and-so was there, this is wonderful.’"

Irwin has taken additional tapes from McGuinn's archive and is hoping to release them in the subsequent future (a.k.a. whenever money is tight).

Meanwhile, the release of this particular ancillary monument to fast-fading baby-boomdom is slated for June of this year, though the final release date will most likely be determined by asking God what He thinks...