The (Fake) Byrds – The Alternative Takes

Laserlight 21 579 (Germany 2000)

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 18 by McCulloch and Chapman’s bogus Byrds

Tracks 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 from the Pat Robinson CRY sessions (some with Gene Clark and John York)

 

1. Mr. Tambourine Man (2:31)
2. All I Really Want To Do (2:01)
3. Turn, Turn, Turn (3:57)
4. Eight Miles High (3:37)
5. Love´s A Loaded Word (3:19)
6. Boyfriends, Girlfriends (3:45)
7. Quicksand (3:38)
8. Tell It Like It Is (5:26)
9. As If We Didn´t Know (5:06)
10. Dangerous Games (6:31)
11. The Panther (4:48)
12. Dragon's Eye (5:18)
13. Slip Away (3:25)
14. My Marie (6:10)
15. Washington Square (4:20)
16. Prisoner Of Time (4:01)
17. You Better Move On (3:42)
18. Medley: Mr. Tambourine Man - Turn, Turn, Turn - Time And Place - It Won't Be Wrong (4:04)

 

Artwork Included (front, back, booklet, CD)

The (Fake) Byrds – Mr. Tambourine Man

ACD CD 154.904 (Austria – year unknown)

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 18 by McCulloch and Chapman’s bogus Byrds

Tracks 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 from the Pat Robinson CRY sessions (some with Gene Clark and John York)

1. Mr. Tambourine Man (2:31)
2. All I Really Want To Do (2:01)
3. Turn, Turn, Turn (3:57)
4. Eight Miles High (3:37)
5. Love´s A Loaded Word (3:19)
6. Boyfriends, Girlfriends (3:45)
7. Quicksand (3:38)
8. Tell It Like It Is (5:26)
9. As If We Didn´t Know (5:06)
10. The Panther (4:48)
11. Dragon's Eye (5:18)
12. Slip Away (3:25)
13. Dangerous Games (6:31)
14. My Marie (6:10)
15. Washington Square (4:20)
16. Prisoner Of Time (4:01)
17. You Better Move On (3:42)
18. Medley : Mr. Tambourine Man - Turn, Turn, Turn - Time And Place - It Won't Be Wrong (4:04)

Artwork Included (front, back, CD)

 

The (Fake) Byrds – Most Famous Hits – The Album

Surprise Records 6533 (Europe 2001)

Disc 1 tracks 1 to 13 = McCulloch and Chapman’s bogus Byrds

Disc 1 tracks 14 to 18 = from Pat Robinson’s CRY sessions (some with Gene Clark and John York)

Disc 2 = from Pat Robinson’s CRY sessions (some with Gene Clark and John York)

 

Disc 1

1. Mr. Tambourine Man (2:31)
2. Home Again (3:35)
3. All I Really Want To Do (2:01)
4. Do You Remember (4:24)
5. Turn, Turn, Turn (3:57)
6. Tell Sarah Jane (4:22)
7. Chestnut Mare (misitled He Was A Friend Of Mine (5:09)
8. Out Of Sight (4:19)
9. Eight Miles High (3:37)
10. Time And Place (4:20)
11. You Ain't Going Nowhere (2:57)
12. Quit This (4:10)
13. It Won't Be Wrong (2:57)
14. Quicksand (3:39)
15. Tell It Like It Is (misspelled Tell It Like Ist) (5:24)
16. As If We Didn't Know (5:05)
17. The Panther (4:48)
18. Dragon's Eye (5:17)

Disc 2

1. Slip Away (3:24)
2. Dangerous Games (6:12)
3. My Marie (4:13)
4. Washington Square (3:53)
5. Prisoners Of Time (3:24)
6. You Better Move On (3:41)
7. One More Two Times (3:54)
8. You Just You Love Cocaine (4:13)
9. Love's A Loaded Word (3:17)
10. Boyfriends, Girlfriends (3:45)
11. Carry On (5:45)
12. Reconsider Me (4:47)
13. Where Does The Love Go (4:38)
14. Next Time Around (3:59)
15. Fair Game (4:12)
16. Mary Sue (3:29)
17. Love Deluxe (3:23)
18. United Or Divided (2:45)

 

Artwork Included (box front, back, slices and individual CDs fronts, backs, CDs)

 

The (Fake) Byrds – It’s All In Your Eyes

Pop Stars Label PS 95620 (Europe 1998) 

Tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 14 by McCulloch and Chapman’s bogus Byrds but credited to McGuinn

Tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 from the CRY sessions

 

1. Do You Remember (4:22)
2. Carry On (5:43)
3. Home Again (3:33)
4. Love Deluxe (3:22)
5. Tell Sarah Jane (4:20)
6. Next Time Around (3:35)
7. Turn Turn Turn (3:54)
8. You Just Love Cocaine (4:10)
9. Where Does The Love Go (4:54)
10. Boyfriends, Girlfriends (4:16)
11. Chestnut Mare (mistitled He Was A Friend Of Mine) (5:07)
12. It´s All In Your Eyes (3:41)
13. Mary Sue (4:45)
14. Quit This (4:08)

 

Artwork Included (front, back, booklet, CD) 

 

The (Fake) Byrds – Experience

No label - EXP004 (Holland 1996)

All tracks by McCulloch and Chapman’s bogus Byrds

Story of the actual Byrds in booklet

1. Mr. Tambourine Man (2:30)
2. Turn, Turn, Turn (3:57)
3. All I Really Want To Do (2:01)
4. You Ain't Going Nowhere (2:57)
5. Eight Miles High (3:37)
6. Chestnut Mare (5:07)
7. It Won't Be Wrong (2:57)
8. Time And Place (4:20)
9. Do You Remember (4:24)
10. Tell Sarah Jane (4:22)
11. He Was A Friend Of Mine (2:31)
12. Home Again (3:35)
13. Out Of Sight (4:19)
14. Quit This (4:10)

 Artwork Included (front, back, booklet, CD) 

The (Fake) Byrds - Eight Miles High - The Greatest Hits Of The Byrds

Traditional Line TL 1353 (country and year unknown)

Tracks 1, 2, 4, 7 by McCulloch and Chapman’s bogus Byrds

Tracks 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 from the CRY sessions (some with Gene Clark and John York)

Story of The (actual) Byrds is told in the booklet.

No songwriters credits mentioned this time

1. Turn, Turn, Turn (3:55)
2. Eight Miles High (3:36)
3. Boyfriends, Girlfriends (3:44)
4. Mr. Tambourine Man (2:30)
5. Quicksand (3:35)
6. Tell It Like It Is (5:25)
7. All I Really Want To Do (2:00)
8. Love's A Loaded Word (3:17)
9. The Panther (4:48)
10. You Better Move On (3:41)
11. As If We Didn't Know (5:04)
12. Dragon's Eye (5:19)
13. My Marie (6:09)
14. Dangerous Games (6:30)
15. Prisoner Of Time (4:01)
16. Washington Square (4:20)
17. Slip Away (3:24)

Artwork Included (front, back, booklet, CD) 

The (Fake) Byrds – Best Of The Byrds

Summit Records SUMCD 4158 (U.K. 1998)

This time, the writing / composing credits are correct.

1. Eight Miles High (3:37)
2. Turn, Turn, Turn (3:57)
3. All I Really Want To Do (2:01)
4. Outta Sight (4:19)
5. Quit This (4:10)
6. Chestnut Mare (5:07)
7. You Ain't Going Nowhere (2:57)
8. Mr. Tambourine Man (2:30)
9. Do You Remember (4:24)
10. He Was A Friend Of Mine (2:31)
11. It Won't Be Wrong (2:57)
12. Time And Place (4:20)
13. Sarah Jane (4:22)
14. Home Again (3:35)

Artwork Included (front, back, booklet, CD)

The (Fake) Byrds – 30th Anniversary Album

Der Grüne Punkt CD 154.401 (Austria)

“This album is brought to you by the Michael Clarkestate (sic) and the remaining members of The Byrds in celebration of their 30th anniversary”

Once again - some people have no shame.

More, they put the wrong band on the front cover. It’s a picture of the British band The Birds, with Ronnie Wood on the left. The picture on the back insert is the Battin-McGuinn-Parsons-White lineup from the 70s.

Don’t refrain from reading the titles, the credits and the liner notes on the artwork – it’s a lot of fun. For instance, Michael Clarke is first in line in the credits for writing “Eight Miles High”, and McGuinn is credited for the “new” songs written by McCulloch and Chapman.

 

1. Mr. Tambourine Man (2:30)
2. Home Again (3:35)
3. All I Really Want To Do (2:01)
4. Do You Remember (4:24)
5. Turn, Turn, Turn (3:57)
6. Tell Sarah Jane (4:22)
7. He Was A Friend Of Mine (2:31)
8. Out Of Sight (4:19)
9. Eight Miles High (3:37)
10. Time And Place (4:20)
11. You Ain't Going Nowhere (2:57)
12. Quit This (4:10)
13. It Won't Be Wrong (2:57)
14. Medley: Mr. Tambourine Man-Turn, Turn, Turn-Time And Place-It Won't Be Wrong (4:05)

 

Artwork Included (front, back, CD)

The (Fake) Byrds – 30th Anniversary

Going For A Song Records GFS 077

“This album is brought to you by the Michael Clark Estate and the remaining members of The Byrds in celebration of their 30th anniversary”

Yeah, sure - some people have no shame.

Reading the titles, the credits and the liner notes on the artwork can be a lot of fun.

1. Mr. Tambourine Man (2:30)
2. Home Again (3:35)
3. All I Really Want To Do (2:01)
4. Do You Remember (4:24)
5. Turn, Turn, Turn (3:57)
6. Sarah Jane (4:22)
7. Outta Sight (4:19)
8. Eight Miles High (3:37)
9. Time And Place (4:20)
10. You Ain't Going Nowhere (2:57)
11. Quit This (4:10)
12. It Won't Be Wrong (2:57)
13. Medley: Mr. Tambourine Man - Turn, Turn, Turn - Time And Place - It Won't Be Wrong (4:05)
14. Chestnut Mare (5:07)

Artwork Included (front, back, booklet, CD)

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.