As legend has it, the Byrds wrapped up the basic tracks for Byrdmaniax in early 1971 and then hit the road for a concert tour, leaving producers Terry Melcher and Chris Hinshaw to polish the final mix.
Melcher and Hinshaw then proceeded to add copious overdubs to what the group had set down, drowning the songs in a swampy morass of keyboards, horns, strings, and massed background singers in the misguided hope of making the album sound more "commercial" (even Clarence White's superb lead guitar often gets lost in the murk).
The shame of it is that the aural gingerbread managed to spoil what might have been one of the Byrds' better albums; it's hard to imagine what Skip Battin's goofy "Citizen Kane" or Roger McGuinn's witty "I Wanna Grow Up to Be a Politician" were intended to sound like originally, but "I Trust" and "Kathleen's Song" are lovely if you can listen past the overproduction, and "Green Apple Quick Step" gives White and Gene Parsons plenty of room to show off their old-time country chops.
Not an awful album, but Byrdmaniax is hardly the pleasure it could have been in the hands of a more tasteful production team.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glory, GloryArthur Reynolds | The Byrds | Play | 04:05 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 2 | Pale BlueRoger McGuinn, Gene Parsons | The Byrds | Play | 02:24 | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| 3 | I TrustRoger McGuinn | The Byrds | Play | 03:21 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 4 | Tunnel of LoveSkip Battin, Kim Fowley | The Byrds | Play | 05:02 | 11 MB | 33 MB |
| 5 | Citizen KaneSkip Battin, Kim Fowley | The Byrds | Play | 02:37 | 6 MB | 15 MB |
| 6 | I Wanna Grow up to Be a PoliticianJacques Levy, Roger McGuinn | The Byrds | Play | 02:06 | 4 MB | 12 MB |
| 7 | Absolute HappinessSkip Battin, Kim Fowley | The Byrds | Play | 02:40 | 6 MB | 14 MB |
| 8 | Green Apple Quick StepGene Parsons, Clarence White | The Byrds | Play | 01:51 | 4 MB | 12 MB |
| 9 | My DestinyHelen Carter | The Byrds | Play | 03:40 | 8 MB | 19 MB |
| 10 | Kathleen's SongJacques Levy, Roger McGuinn | The Byrds | Play | 02:44 | 6 MB | 15 MB |
| 11 | Jamaica, Say You WillJackson Browne | The Byrds | Play | 03:37 | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| 12 | Just Like a WomanBob Dylan | The Byrds | Play | 03:59 | 9 MB | 23 MB |
| 13 | Pale BlueRoger McGuinn, Gene Parsons | The Byrds | Play | 02:24 | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| 14 | Think I'm Gonna Feel BetterGene Clark | The Byrds | Play | 06:03 | 13 MB | 32 MB |
| 46 mins | 106 MB | |||||
| 46 mins | 279 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Skip Battin | Bass, Composer |
| 2 | John Berg | Cover Design, Design |
| 3 | Byron Berline | Fiddle, Violin |
| 4 | Jackson Browne | Composer |
| 5 | The Byrds | Primary Artist |
| 6 | Ed Caraeff | Photography |
| 7 | Helen Carter | Composer |
| 8 | Gene Clark | Composer |
| 9 | Dinky Dawson | Engineer |
| 10 | Bob Dylan | Composer |
| 11 | Kim Fowley | Composer |
| 12 | Anne Garner | Design |
| 13 | Chris Hinshaw | Engineer, Producer |
| 14 | Don Jim | Cover Photo, Photography |
| 15 | Sneaky Pete Kleinow | Guitar (Steel), Pedal Steel |
| 16 | Larry Knechtel | Keyboards, Organ, Piano |
| 17 | Glen Kolotkin | Engineer |
| 18 | Derek Lepper | Photography |
| 19 | Jacques Levy | Composer |
| 20 | Roger McGuinn | Banjo, Composer, Guitar, Vocals |
| 21 | Terry Melcher | Piano, Producer |
| 22 | Gene Parsons | Composer, Drums, Drums (Snare), Photography |
| 23 | Paul Polena | Horn, Reeds, Strings |
| 24 | Eric Prestidge | Engineer |
| 25 | Arthur Reynolds | Composer |
| 26 | Jim Seiter | Percussion, Tambourine |
| 27 | Virginia Team | Cover Design |
| 28 | Clarence White | Composer, Guitar, Vocals |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |