ALBUM REVIEW: The Byrds - Ballad of Easy Rider

    The Byrds weren't quiet what they used to be in 1969 - their 1968 Sweetheart of the Rodeo album, while critically beloved, failed to make much headway in the charts, while also alienating their rock fan-base in the process. As 1969 drove on, their chart success only continued to slip, with Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde being their lowest charting album to this day. Opportunity knocked later that year, though, when Peter Fonda came to Roger McGuinn to write the theme song for the upcoming Easy Rider movie. Of course, when Easy Rider came out that July, it was an instant counter-culture touchstone - the resulting Byrds album would not only include McGuinn's theme as the opener, but would also use the movie's success to cash in. This isn't to knock the music on Ballad of Easy Rider, far from it. The Byrds regrouping efforts with producer Terry Melcher results in what is possibly their most focused work since The Notorious Byrd Brothers, although I haven't heard anything past Sweetheart until this album. The album is a clean, confident mix of country rock with more traditional, driving rock numbers, and it results in what is a damn-good LP.

     The material on Ballad of Easy Rider generally sticks to folk rock or country leanings, with some intermingling between the two, as well as the occasional outlier. "Oil in My Lamp" is a solid example of the folk side of the record, and it's an excellent, punchy rendition of the traditional tune. The immediately following "Tulsa County" shows the best of the album's country side with its clean fiddle, gentle harmonies, and clean guitar picking. "Deportee" is another prime example of the country influences on the album, and while it's a solid tune, I don't think it hits quite as good as "Tulsa County." Sometimes, though, there's an outlier - "Jack Tarr the Sailor" is a sea shanty that's given a powerful country-rock treatment on this album, but still definitively in shanty territory - the result is a fascinating sounding tune, with the rhythmic delivery meshing with country-esque harmonies and an overdriven guitar flurry between verses. One of the most peculiar moments I've heard from The Byrds, but damn is it good!

    Ballad of Easy Rider is a pretty confident album, and the group goes between ballads and rockers cleanly and professionally. Side B opener "Jesus is Just Alright" is a driving rock number, complete with a pretty killer guitar solo. It was the second single from this album, and it's a good choice for a single - it's a great rocker. In traditional Byrds fashion, we have a Dylan cover with "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," and out of all the Dylan covers I've heard from this group, this might be my favorite - yes, more than "Mr. Tambourine Man." It's slow and more stretched-out, and almost feels more somber. It's a very creative rendition, and a surprisingly strong moment that I wasn't expecting - I'm typically not a big fan of the Byrds' Dylan covers, ya dig? Of course, the title track is a strong ballad that kicks off the album strongly. Even still, rarely is any album without a misstep in my eyes, and "There Must Be Someone (I Can Turn To)" is the kind of slow country dribble that made some of the weaker moments of Sweetheart of the Rodeo as weak as they were. The closing track, "Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins," is also a pretty weak way to end, even if it fits as a closer - it doesn't feel all that realized.

    Prior to listening, I saw a few reviews of Ballad of Easy Rider that praised the album as an overlooked classic. Is it? Well, maybe to some extent, but I can at the very least conclude that what we have here with Ballad of Easy Rider is a damn-good later age Byrds album. The group is able to cleanly mesh folk, rock, and country across a pretty lean and mean 34-minute runtime. Most of the things that they try here work, regardless of how weird they are (looking at you, "Jack Tarr the Sailor"). I wasn't expecting something quite this clean and punching from The Byrds, and yet here we are. Ballad of Easy Rider proves that the Byrds' creative river is still flowing - let it flow to the sea.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Ballad of Easy Rider.