page_title: The Byrds
section_title: 1972–1973 reunion
hierarchical_section_title: The Byrds / History / Reunions / 1972–1973 reunion
caption_attribution_description: English: David Crosby 1976 Backstage at the Frost Amphitheater, Stanford CA, Summer (?) 1976
context_page_description: The Byrds were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member. Although they only managed to attain the huge commercial success of contemporaries like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Rolling Stones for a short period in the mid-1960s, the Byrds are today considered by critics to be nearly as influential as those bands. Their signature blend of clear harmony singing and McGuinn's jangly twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar was "absorbed into the vocabulary of rock" and has continued to be influential.
  Initially, the band pioneered the musical genre of folk rock as a popular format in 1965, by melding the influence of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands with contemporary and traditional folk music on their first and second albums, and the hit singles "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!". As the 1960s progressed, the band was influential in originating psychedelic rock and raga rock, with their song "Eight Miles High" and the albums Fifth Dimension, Younger Than Yesterday and The Notorious Byrd Brothers.
context_section_description: The five original members of the Byrds reunited briefly during late 1972, while McGuinn was still undertaking selected concerts with the Columbia Records version of the group.  Discussions regarding a reunion between Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke had taken place as early as July 1971, around the same time as the then current line-up of the band were recording the Farther Along album.  Plans for a reunion accelerated in mid-1972, however, when the founder of Asylum Records, David Geffen, offered each of the original band members a sizable amount of money to reform and record an album for his label.  The reunion actually took place in early October 1972, beginning with a rehearsal at McGuinn's house, where the group began selecting suitable material for a new album.  The five original Byrds booked into Wally Heider Studios in Los Angeles from October 16 until November 15, 1972, recording their first album together in seven years.
  Following completion of the album, Crosby persuaded McGuinn to dissolve the Columbia version of the Byrds, who were still touring at that time.  Crosby had long been vocal regarding his displeasure over McGuinn's decision to recruit new band members following his dismissal from the group in 1967, and had stated in a number of interviews that in his opinion "there were only ever five Byrds."  In keeping with the new spirit of reconciliation that the reunion fostered, McGuinn permanently disbanded the Columbia line-up of the group in February 1973.
  The reunion album, titled simply Byrds, was released on March 7, 1973 to mixed reviews.  As a result, a planned tour in support of the album failed to materialize.  Among the album's shortcomings, critics made note of a lack of sonic unity and the absence of the Byrds' signature jangly guitar sound.  Nonetheless, the album managed to climb to number 20 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart and number 31 in the UK.  In the United States, the album became the band's highest charting LP of new material since 1965's Turn! Turn! Turn!, which had also been the last Byrds' album to feature Gene Clark as a full member.  Among the tracks included on the album were McGuinn's folk-flavored "Sweet Mary", the Joni Mitchell cover "For Free", a re-recording of Crosby's song "Laughing" (which had originally appeared on his 1971 solo album, If I Could Only Remember My Name), and a pair of Neil Young songs.  The album also featured the Gene Clark compositions "Changing Heart" and "Full Circle", the latter of which had provided the reunion album with its working title and was subsequently released as a single, although it failed to chart.
  The negative critical reception that Byrds received in the music press resulted in the band losing faith in the idea of an ongoing series of reunions.  In the years following its release, all five band members were openly critical of the album, with the general consensus being that the material included on it was weak and that the recording sessions had been rushed and ill-thought out.  In addition, McGuinn and Hillman have both suggested that with the exception of Gene Clark, the songwriting members of the band were reluctant to bring their strongest compositions to the recording sessions, preferring instead to hold those songs back for their own solo projects.  In the wake of the reunion, the five original Byrds quietly returned to their own careers, with the June 1973 release of McGuinn's eponymously titled solo album serving to effectively mark the end of the Byrds.
  Following the reunion of 1972/1973, the Byrds remained disbanded throughout the rest of the decade.  Roger McGuinn turned his attention to establishing his own career, releasing a series of solo albums between 1973 and 1977, and making a high-profile appearance with Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue.  Chris Hillman worked as part of the Souther–Hillman–Furay Band following the Byrds reunion and released a pair of solo albums entitled Slippin' Away and Clear Sailin' in 1976 and 1977 respectively.  David Crosby returned to the sup
caption: Following his dismissal from the band in 1967, David Crosby (pictured in 1976) was critical of Roger McGuinn's decision to recruit new band members, while continuing to use the Byrds name.
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