MINT Shrink 1969 THE BYRDS EASY RIDER 360 COLUMBIA

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BEAUTIFUL MINT IN SHRINK WRAPPER  TOP COPY!          

THE *BEST* WE'VE SEEN!                 

                      The BYRDS

                     EASY RIDER

\                                                               USA - 360 Sound Columbia - CS 9942

MINTY TOP CLEAN...BEAUTIFUL  1969 first pressing vinyl on the highly rated 360 Sound Columbia label of the sixties....

This is a great, lesser known, under appreciated BYRDS album with a load of terrific 12-string guitar led tracks, including the title track made famous by the cult biker movie "Easy Rider" ....

        ***STILL IN ORIGINAL FACTORY SHRINK WRAP***with scarce "Jesus Is Just Alright" sticker on outer cellophane...since most original copies lost the shrink wrap, there went the sticker too, making it very collectible and hard to come by some 40+ years later!

Also includes the original 360 Sound Columbia inner sleeve to the pressing

"Ballad of Easy Rider" was the feature song titled on the 1969 Byrds album. The song itself is written by Roger McGuinn and Bob Dylan (although Dylan is not credited as a co-writer) for the 1969 film, Easy Rider. The song was initially released in August 1969, on the Easy Rider soundtrack album as a Roger McGuinn solo performance, but was later issued in an alternate version as a single by The Byrds. The song perfectly captures the social mood of late 1969 and highlights "the weary blues and dashed expectations of a decade's worth of social insurrection."

The star and script writer of Easy Rider, Peter Fonda, had initially intended to use Bob Dylan's song "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" in the film but after failing to license the track, Fonda asked McGuinn to record a cover version of the song instead. Fonda also wanted Dylan to write the film's theme song but Dylan declined, quickly scribbling the lines - "The river flows, it flows to the sea/Wherever that river goes, that's where I want to be/Flow, river, flow" - on to a napkin, before telling Fonda to "give that to McGuinn." The lyric fragment was dutifully passed on to McGuinn, who took the lines and expanded upon them with his own lyrical and musical contributions to produce the finished song.

When Dylan saw a private screening of Easy Rider and realised that he had been credited as co-writer of the film's theme song, he telephoned McGuinn and demanded that his name be removed from both the film's closing credits and all subsequent releases of the song. McGuinn has theorised in interviews that Dylan disowned the song because "he didn't like the movie that much. He didn't like the ending. He wanted to see the truck blow up in order to get poetic justice. He didn't seem to understand Peter Fonda's anti-hero concept." Others have speculated that Dylan's reason for insisting his co-writing credit be removed was the belief that his name was being exploited to boost the film's street credibility.

Although the version of "Ballad of Easy Rider" used in the film and included on the Easy Rider soundtrack album is listed as a solo performance by Roger McGuinn, it actually features McGuinn accompanying himself on acoustic guitar with fellow Byrd, Gene Parsons, playing harmonica.

The Byrds' LP version of the song was recorded on June 18, 1969 and is performed at a quicker tempo than the soundtrack version. The song was also lengthened by producer, Terry Melcher, by editing a copy of the first verse onto the end of the second, effectively creating a third verse.

All in all, the album is a nice surprise and demonstrates a strong set of performances up and down both sides. From what you can make out, Roger Mcguinn is a lesser figure in this album's creation with the side men taking increasingly dominant roles and lead vocals. Aside from the well known tracks like the title song,  "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and "Jesus Is Just Alright", you get some really gorgeous stuff on here like "Oil In My Lamp", "There Must Be Someone (I Can Turn To)" and especially the quite utterly gorgeous "Gunga Din". It's nice to know that there is another great byrds album to discover once "Younger Than Yesterday", "Notorious Byrd Brothers" and "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" have fully taken root in your life.  

CONDITION: The cover is MINT, still in original factory shrink wrap. Clean with no split seams and no writing.

The vinyl is all clean and shiny M- ...top copy, the best we've seen! 

      A cool addition to anyone's music library!

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record