There Is A Season

A newcomer to the musical progression and legacy of the Byrds could hardly expect to find a better crash course than this: four discs with 99 songs, a DVD of ten previously unissued television performances, extensive annotation. Yet longtime fans of the band might wonder what the point is. Any riches buried in the vaults have long ago been mined--first in 1990's definitive four-disc Byrds box, then on Columbia's series of extended editions of every Byrds album in the catalog, replete with previously unreleased bonus tracks. By this late date, all possible revelations have been revealed, with the five previously unissued performances here of interest mainly to completists. The familiar music is glorious, of course--the chiming guitars and soaring harmonies that brought Bob Dylan and folk-rock to the top of the charts and then soared into the stratosphere with "Eight Miles High" and all but invented country-rock with Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Yet except for the DVD, anyone who wants this much Byrds probably already has most of it. --Don McLeese