Live At Royal Albert Hall, 1971

iTunes Review

Stored in founding Byrds guitarist and singer Roger McGuinn’s climatized garage for decades, the tapes for Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971 feature the then new version of the band — guitarist Clarence White, bassist Skip Battin, and drummer Gene Parsons — backing McGuinn with steady assurance, solid harmonies, and a clear preference for country-styled backings. The band’s most recent material, “Lover of the Bayou” and “Chestnut Mare,” slips comfortably next to covers of “Baby, What You Want Me to Do,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Amazing Grace,” and a stunning version of Jackson Browne’s “Jamaica Say You Will,” plus obvious Byrds classics such as “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Eight Miles High” (in an 18 minute jam), and “So You Want to Be A Rock n’ Roll Star,” reworked for the new decade. McGuinn and White trade guitar leads (“Black Mountain Rag” is a showpiece) while the band is clearly heavier than their jangly 12-string days of the mid-60s, reflecting the smoother country-rock enjoying its vogue in the early ‘70s. Sound quality is excellent throughout, performances are strong, begging one to ask what else Mr. McGuinn might be hiding in his garage.