Nouvelle page 1
From the mid-nineties on, a series of 13
grey zone / illegal CDs started to appear in European CDs stores and mailing
orders lists, credited to The Byrds, with many new titles unknown to the band’s
followers.
No reason to jump for joy though, as
these CDs were not by The Byrds but originated from 3 various sources:
1)
poor re-recordings of Byrds songs by a band of “fake” Byrds, led by Danny
McCulloch and Gerry Chapman, with McCulloch being an ex-member of Eric Burdon’s
revamped New Animals. He had already done the same with recordings released
under the Animals and Mott The Hoople names (read details here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_McCulloch).
He was sued by Mott The Hoople for unlawfully using the band’s name. Next to the
Byrds songs re-recordings, they went as far as writing new songs and sometimes
crediting them to McGuinn or McQuinn. They even wrote two new songs titled “You
Ain’t Going Nowhere” and “It Won’t Be Wrong” and credited them to Dylan and
McGuinn, both songs having nothing to do with the Byrds tracks of the same name.
2)
recordings credited to The Byrds but actually produced by Pat Robinson in
the mid-eighties and performed by the band known as “CRY” comprising Gene Clark,
Pat Robinson and John York (sometimes helped by Nicky Hopkins, Carla Olson, Rick
Danko, Billy Darnell, Le Roy P. Marinell and Greg Thomas). For those who don’t
know Pat Robinson, he was the one who co-wrote and produced the songs released
on Gene Clark’s single and double CDs titled “Under The Silvery Moon”. He was a
prolific singer, songwriter, engineer, producer, musician and more (see his
impressive pedigree here: https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/18688 and here:
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/pat-robinson-mn0000181362/credits)
3)
recordings credited to The Byrds but actually written, produced and
performed by Pat Robinson during the same era and later.
The only connection to The Byrds is that
Gene Clark and John York appear on a few tracks from source #2.
Many songs are repeated on many
releases, sometimes mistitled or in alternate versions.
I will post all these CDs (in alphabetic
order of the CD title).
So let’s start.