Sweetheart of the Rodeo

That was alright.

Die Byrds im Country Modus, nicht schlecht aber auch nicht spektakulär. Nett zu Hören.

Meh. It was alright, felt a little preachy.

Going straight from a string of great psychedelic rock and folk albums into an album consisting mainly of country covers is a weird choice.

Gram Parsons was to become somewhat of a legend, but as a newcomer in the group, I don’t really get why they would abandon their sound so drastically in such a short time.

It’s fine I guess, but I wasn’t compelled to it in the way that I had hoped.

Okay, so. I don't think this album is anywhere near as bad as the reviews suggest, but at the same time I really struggle to understand how this is, in any way, essential listening.
A very convincing, but maybe not all that challenging, country album.

I DON'T LIKE COUNTRY

Oh great, *another* Byrds album (3 down, 2 to go)... This time they go alt country with Gram Parsons on board, and it’s kinda cool?

Massive leap towards country rock in one record. Gram Parsons’ impact is inescapable. For those like me who love “the Byrds”, this is not them. Go backwards to the glory of their first five records.

3.75 excellent when it wasn't straight country.

Ah, Gram Parsons, my old nemesis. He's the anti-Eno for me; everything he touches turns to dogshit.

What a load of boring country covers

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4, but it’s a pretty recommended 4.

I’ve really liked Gram Parsons. I’ve been sort of ambivalent towards The Byrds. This is a collaboration album, and my expectations were decent, but not super strong. I do think this album exceeded them, but not to the point of a 5. This is good country music, but there are two things that sort of pull this album down to a 4 for me.

The first is that this album (and I cannot believe I’m saying this as a bit of a knock) is that the soundscapes on these tracks lean too much towards country, and don’t find a great balance between the rock sensibilities of The Byrds, and Gram Parsons’ general style. I know it’s weird to say “the country album has too much country”, but Gram Parsons himself clearly learned from this experience, and really refined the blend I think he was searching for on both the Flying Burrito Brothers album we got (1969), and his last album, Grievous Angel (1974). In theory, this combination should work remarkably well (and it does, for the most part) but the blending of genres isn’t as effective here as it could be, and that’s slowly noticeable throughout the album. However, when it works, it works – the best execution of it is on “One Hundred Years from Now” with that steel guitar solo, & “Nothing Was Delivered”, with a more rock-heavy percussion style. Past that though, this is mostly just country, which left me a little disappointed.

My other knock is simply in the vocals, and I’m realizing, with this album, how much a distinctive vocal twang can really make or break the general feel of a country soundscape. When Gram Parsons takes lead vocals here, everything simply feels right – his vocals anchor everything perfectly, and he’s got the best tracks on the album. Whenever McGuinn or Hillman take lead, the tracks are still good, but there’s just something that feels a little off (save for You Don’t Miss Your Water & Blue Canadian Rockies) – I can’t really place what it is, and maybe it’s just a bit of bias involved, but they don’t fully anchor themselves as in sync as they could be with the instrumentation. The vocals across this album are still good, but they’re not as consistently strong as they could be, and they lean more towards the rock side of the instrumentation that simply isn’t quite there.

Hence, the 4, but make no mistake – it’s a pretty good 4. Those other albums I mentioned would not be as good or as strong without this one leading the way, and what’s here is still a really enjoyable listen, and a pretty breezy 32 minutes. It’s just not as good as it could be, and it falls a little short for even my country-biased ears, just because it doesn’t fully commit to a true blend of the genres. I still liked it, though, and I do recommend it. It could even go up to a 5 if a few tracks just hit better at a later point.

Gram Parsons joined the band at this point in their history, and they completely embraced the country rock sound with this album. Definately a change from their prior albums, which were heavier to psychadelic rock. I mean, they always had a few country rock songs on each of their older albums, but this album is fully committed to the country sound. It is fantastic!

Favourite songs: Pretty Boy Floyd, Lazy Days, I Am a Pilgrim, Pretty Polly, Life in Prison, You Ain't Goin' Nowhere, Blue Canadian Rockies

Least favourite songs: The Christian Life

4/5

Sweetheart Of The Rodeo is an okay album but is not one i would say does anything all that interesting. From what i have read about this one, it was originally supposed to be a history of 20th century American popular music which would have had country, jazz, and R&B but was just made to be country which is unfortunate because i would have liked the album more if it went with it's original vision. As it stands though, the songs here are pleasant enough and don't seem to do anything egregiously terrible and it moves at a fairly brisk pace which is nice. I think that this album is worthy of a 2.5.
Best Song: Nothing Was Delivered
Worst Song: Blue Canadian Rockies

Did not like it one little bit. Felt like an a poor apeing of country. The band is quite talented but I'm just not sure what was supposed to appeal here.

The archetype LA sunshine psychedelic jangle pop band get hijacked by Gram Parsons and end up deep in Appalachian folk, Southern gospel, Nashville schmaltz and Bakersfield outlaw sensibility to create their best work. It's glorious pastiche that becomes fully it's own thing, the hillhippy sound. The album is full of swelling strings, heavenly lap steel guitar, close harmonies, ripping banjos, propulsive mandolin parts, and full twang lead guitars. Gentle ballads, sardonic love songs, bittersweet laments, and the rare touch of peak 60s Rickenbacker jangle and Beatlesy melody. None of the songs are real standouts but it's rock solid throughout.

This didn't do much for me at all; very bland country rock, almost unspeakably boring. The Byrds are very over represented on this list. Reading into the context a bit, it seems like this was one of the first country rock albums, so I guess I can see why it was included.

I've not come in contact with the Byrds album that bridges this and Younger than Yesterday, but it must have some explanation, because this full-on, honky tonkin', rootin', tootin', cow fed country album is not what I really expected this band to go with after listening to albums like Fifth Dimension. It often feels like parody of country music, with lyrics about God, killing wives, and rotting in jail cued up with the same twang that could send thousands of farmers to the jukebox in seconds, and lyrics that bow down and rhyme to no man. It's quite honestly a bit sickening, and as someone who feels they've come around to parts of country, this generic stew of country """rock""" may have been one of the first, but it certainly had to step up from this. What keeps me from outright hating this is those bits of Byrds-like songwriting that made them so good with the pop scene, the psychedelic scene, and I can only assume the country scene. It is easiest to catch in the opener and closer, where it feels as though the band took an already written song and added some sound effects to give it that authentic country charm, but still be a Byrds song at the end of it all, but I'm going to have to agree with the fans from '68 on this one, this album feels like a bit of a betrayal after everything leading up to it, and while perhaps it is influential to a big genre, being influential doesn't always mean good, otherwise I'd like Yeezus, too. Now that I think about it, I promise you I'm the only person comparing Yeezus and Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Can't really tell you what that means, but damn if it doesn't mean enough for me to call it a night.

Christian country...

I like country more than the average person. This was good.