The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968/2018) [Vinyl]

A lot of extras from the sessions for Sweetheart of the Rodeo surfaced before the 2003 release of this two-CD set, on both the 1990 Byrds box set and the 1997 single-CD expanded edition of the album. This deluxe edition, however, stretches out the body of material yet further, including everything from the official LP itself, the six outtakes and alternates from the box set, the instrumental outtake All I Have Is Memories (which first appeared on the 1997 expanded edition), and even a 1968 radio commercial for the album. And thats just disc one. For fans and collectors, the real bonuses are on disc two, which has no less than 14 previously unissued tracks, including alternates of Lazy Days, Pretty Polly, and Hickory Wind; two rehearsal versions apiece of The Christian Life, Life in Prison, One Hundred Years from Now, and Youre Still on My Mind; two alternate takes of All I Have Is Memories; and a rehearsal version of Blue Canadian Rockies. Thats not all, either, as disc two leads off with three of the four songs from the 1966 non-LP singles by Gram Parsons pre-Byrds group, the International Submarine Band, along with three songs from the International Submarine Bands sole album, Safe at Home. For all that, a couple alternate versions that were on the 1997 expanded edition dont seem to have made it onto the deluxe edition, though you need a scorecard to figure that out with all the juggling thats gone on for the records various configurations. So how is that added material, particularly the previously unreleased tracks on disc two? Its OK, and historically interesting in that several of the previously unreleased versions have Gram Parsons on vocals. Really, however, these songs dont differ all that much from the takes that made the final cut, and the variations are more valuable for the analysis of Byrdsmaniacs than they are for revealing different angles on the songs that were discarded. One gets the feeling that the material was picked very much with an eye toward Parsons cultists, particularly given the preponderance of Parsons-dominated selections on disc two, half a dozen of which (the International Submarine Band numbers) have no Byrds on board except Gram. Still, those three International Submarine Band non-LP cuts make a welcome appearance as theyve been rare for decades, with that groups Truck Drivin Man a clear indication of Parsons country-rock direction, even if another of the non-LP single tracks, One Day Week, sounds rather like the Dave Clark Five. Overall, this is a worthwhile and thorough excavation of the sessions that led to this early country-rock benchmark, though theres too much repetition in the form of the alternate versions to make this a great listen for the more general fan. by Richie Unterberger