The byrds easy rider11/8/2022 ![]() ![]() ![]() The album’s title track “Ballad Of Easy Rider” was re-recorded with the tempo speeded up, along with orchestration to make it a bonafide classic for both the times and the movie. All of this had me shaking my head in disbelief, unable to decide if this were a Christian album or an album with Christian songs, either way, spending money to be preached to was something I couldn’t abide, so the record was boxed away, until I later gave it to a friend. Yet the Christian mantra doesn’t end there, the traditional Christian hymn “Oil In My Lamp” was flavored with country tinges, along with blended harmonies. Arthur Reynolds would also pen another Byrds’ song “Glory Glory” where all of this nonsense, along with Dylan’s turn to Christianity, furthered the One Way movement, where lost hippies found their way home, if not to mom and dad, certainly to a disembodied concept roaming the heavens. Perhaps nothing could be more antithetical to the Christian faith than the rock ‘n roll lifestyle of the 1960’s, yet Roger McGuinn lived through it and came out the other side healthy, happy with a loving devoted wife, and most profoundly with a deep and abiding faith in God the Father, Jesus his only begotten son and the Holy Spirit, which to my way of thinking is just arrogance … though it does explain why the song ended up on the album, and why I never played it. Strangely enough it was drummer Gene Parsons who was in the recording studio with Reynolds who brought the number to the attention of Roger McGuinn. “Jesus Is Just Alright” is a tragic cover, penned by Arthur Reynolds and first recorded by his folk group the Art Reynolds Singers back in 1966. Tambourine Man” shattered the world, though within that short timeframe, the Beatles had stopped touring and were on the verge of breaking up, the end of a decade was at hand and the Byrds, well they were no longer the Byrds who helped usher in the psychedelic era, which too, was ebbing its way out the door.įounding member Roger McGuinn was the last man standing here, surrounding himself with an entirely different band, all of whom were both singers and songwriter, so it was entirely expected that this would be a good album … though it often does goes as sideways as a five year old running through the grocery store. It was only November of 1969 when this album arrived, meaning it’s only been a couple of years since “Mr. ![]()
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