Under Review
The Byrds
Under Review
Sexy Intellectual (SIDVD524)
Grade: ****

Tracking the history of the Byrds — call it their flight path if you will — has never been a matter of simple discourse. Through innumerable personnel changes that altered entirely their original brain trust and introduced profound changes to rock’s musical motif, they remain one of the most influential and adventurous bands of the modern rock era. Its no small accomplishment that the producers of “Under Review” have yielded such a thorough and engrossing documentary to detail the band’s story, one that traces the group from its folkie origins through its numerous permutations and eventually to its final fade as country-rock avatars.

Like other offerings in the “Under Review” series, the bulk of these two discs is preoccupied with talking heads — critics, scribes and various musical associates — offering their views on the band’s evolution. It’s a credible bunch, one that includes such astute observers as Byrds biographer Johnny Rogan, ex Rolling Stone editor Anthony DeCurtis, journalists Richie Unterberger and Nigel Williamson, keyboardist/arranger Van Dykes Parks, musicians Byron Berline and Vern Gosdin, as well as later Byrds John York and Gene Parsons. To be sure, the only members of the band’s original inner circle represented here are David Crosby and Chris Hillman, and their comments are only incidental. The inclusion of rare video — snippets of the original band performing their early hits, a clip of McGuinn and company playing alongside Earl Scruggs on “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” and footage of guitarist Clarence White jamming with Andy Griffith on the latter’s sitcom — nicely complements the commentary.

Nevertheless, the most fascinating aspect of this double-disc set comes in the form of its personal asides. One revelation repeats producer Terry Melcher’s response when asked who was the most difficult rock musician he ever worked with (“David Crosby,” he replied without hesitation). Hillman corrects the assumption that Gram Parsons refused to go to South Africa — prompting his dismissal from the band — not because he had moral objections to apartheid but rather because he wanted to continue hanging out with the Rolling Stones. York recalls how they were rebuked by the label hierarchy at CBS Nashville, who scorned them as long-haired hippies. While the chatter isn’t consistently so revealing — after all the basics of The Byrds story are mostly well-known — the three-hour narrative is as fascinating as the band’s tangled trajectory would imply. Suffice it say both Byrds-lovers and casual admirers will find it absolutely intriguing.