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Tuesday, February 07, 2023
Worst Ever Album Track by a Major Artist/Band: (An Occasional Series): Special “The Sound of Your Brain Pan Frying” Edition
I dunno -- is it too soon?
I mean, I was as saddened by David Crosby's death as the next guy. But this, er, song was born dopey. As the saying goes, one would need a heart of stone not to snort derisively if it came on the radio.
It's a frustrating track in several ways, among them: (1) Crosby's other major songs - "Everybody's Burned" and "Renaissance Fair" - on this album are, in contrast, so good; (2) it put a taint on what is otherwise, arguably, the Byrds' best album; and (3) we now know, from those CD bonus tracks on the 1990s reissues of their albums, that the group had better songs in the can that they could have put on YOUNGER THAN YESTERDAY in place of "Mind Gardens".
The cocktail-party-chat-up "Everybody Has Been Burned Before" is equally bad, if you ask me, and "Renaissance Fair" is the best non-Dylan track on the album it says here.
Is that Tiny Tim singing?
ReplyDelete- Paul in DK
It's a frustrating track in several ways, among them: (1) Crosby's other major songs - "Everybody's Burned" and "Renaissance Fair" - on this album are, in contrast, so good; (2) it put a taint on what is otherwise, arguably, the Byrds' best album; and (3) we now know, from those CD bonus tracks on the 1990s reissues of their albums, that the group had better songs in the can that they could have put on YOUNGER THAN YESTERDAY in place of "Mind Gardens".
ReplyDeleteI think this track would be a worthwhile instrumental. The voice/lyric is an embarrassment.
ReplyDeleteA truly dreadful song that almost ruins a good album.
ReplyDeleteMy album had clicks and pops from lifting the tonearm at the beginning of this mess and trying to set it down again before My Back Pages.
ReplyDeleteThe cocktail-party-chat-up "Everybody Has Been Burned Before" is equally bad, if you ask me, and "Renaissance Fair" is the best non-Dylan track on the album it says here.
ReplyDeleteMan, I'd forgotten how truly awful that song is, partly because it never (thankfully) comes on the radio -- by which, these days, I mean SiriusXM.
ReplyDeleteWhat I didn't fully appreciate until recently is how much Chris Hillman really stepped up on this album.
Marc
I've always liked it.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Al
Sheesh! I know it was a trippy time but how did this song even make it on the record???
ReplyDeleteVery irritating.
ReplyDeleteWould drive a listener to LSD.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't hold a candle to "Almost Cut My Hair" in the awfulness category.
ReplyDelete