Great Speckled Bird [Import]

Product Description:
Reissue of original Bearsville album, featuring Canadian folk legends Ian and Sylvia Tyson, produced by Todd Rundgren. Includes one bonus track 'New Truckers Cafe' (Live). 2000 release. Standard jewel case.

Great Speckled Bird,Great Speckled Bird,Folk

Average customer rating: It Can't get Any Better Soaring Again...

Great Speckled Bird Great Speckled Bird Manufacturer: Collector's Choice ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Country Rock | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Contemporary | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music Similar Items: The Complete Vanguard Studio Recordings Movin' On: 1967-68 The Beginning of The End Ol' Eon Ian & Sylvia - Greatest Hits ASIN: B000G04UD2 Release Date: 2006-10-10

Tracks:

1. Love What You're Doing Child
2. Calgary
3. Trucker's Cafe
4. Long Long Time To Get Old
5. Flies In A Bottle
6. Bloodshot Beholder
7. Crazy Arms
8. This Dream
9. Smiling Wine
10. Rio Grande
11. Disappearing Woman
12. We Sail
13. New Trucker's Cafe (Live)

Album Description

You can't trace the evolution of country-rock without listening to this 1970 album by Ian & Sylvia and thier crack band of Buddy Cage, Amos Garrett and N.D. Smart II; like our previous reissues of records by the Dillards (Wheatstraw Suite and Beau Brummels (Bradley's Barn), Great Speckled Bird brought a whole new "longhair" sensiblity to Nashville, and broke through the barriers that had separated country from rock for over a decade. As Sylvia Fricker herself says in our liner notes, "Not blowing our own horn or anything, but that album was so far ahead of its time that it really took people a long time to catch up with us and figure out what we were doing." Well, we're glad we caught up, and you will be, too, when you hear this lost classic. Produced by Todd Rundgren.

Customer Reviews:

It Can't get Any Better.......2007-03-08

Ian and Sylvia were innovators in the "old" folk days. Their harmonies and arrangements still leave people breathless. With the addition of Amos Garrett and company to create Great Speckled Bird it just got better and better. The harmonies deepened and became more comples and Sylvia's voice soared to the heavens. Harmony? Listen to "We Sail" alone in a quiet room at decent volume and prepare to be amazed. Some albums don't deserve to be reissued.. my question is why did it take so long for this materpiece to reappear

Soaring Again..........2006-11-06

"Great Speckled Bird" comes around on cd about as often as Halley's Comet, and usually for a similarly short duration of time. My advice is to get this true classic of the country-rock genre as quickly as you can, while it's available. Originally issued in 1970 on Bearsville Records, this album is on a par with "Sweetheart of the Rodeo", "Workingman's Dead", "The Gilded Palace of Sin", and "Music From Big Pink". It truly is that great.

Previously known as a folk duo, Canadians Ian Tyson and Sylvia Fricker went to Nashville to record this countrified effort. Todd Rundgren, also a Bearsville artist, was enlisted to produce. The original album featured an even dozen country-inflected tunes done to perfection. All were Tyson and Fricker originals except for "Crazy Arms", and the material is uniformly strong, with clear vocals and sparkling musicianship from beginning to end.

The contributions of Amos Garrett (guitar) and Buddy Cage (pedal steel) deserve special mention. Garrett was and is a very special talent. He clearly was an influence on another guitar great, Richard Thompson, who has named Garrett as one of his favorites. Garrett's lead guitar alternately stings and purrs with a string-bending technique he developed from listening to a pedal steel. He later worked with Geoff and Maria Muldaur, who were produced by Joe Boyd--the producer of R. Thompson's band Fairport Convention. I'm fairly confident that Boyd exposed the young Thompson to Garrett's playing, when Thompson was in the process of breaking free of Fairport. In 1972, as part of a project called "The Bunch", Thompson also covered "Crazy Arms" in a fashion similar to Great Speckled Bird.

Buddy Cage (pedal steel) went on to win further laurels with New Riders of the Purple Sage, after leaving Ian and Sylvia's band. Together on "Great Speckled Bird", Garrett and Cage interweave beautifully. They sound like they were born to play together.

My favorite songs on this album are "Long, Long Time to Get Old" which has rollicking, unforgettable pedal steel work from Cage, "Flies in A Bottle" (poignantly sung by Tyson), "Disappearing Woman" and "We Sail". The last two are great Sylvia Fricker compositions that together bring the album to a close. "We Sail" is a hymnlike anthem that in its own way is a stirring as another 1970 tune--the Beatles' "Let it Be".

If you aren't too familiar with Ian and Sylvia, just know that they were great songwriters (Ian wrote "Four Strong Winds", Sylvia authored "You Were On My Mind"). Ian has a very straightforward, outdoorsy tenor voice that occasionally sounds like Roy Orbison. Sylvia sounds like June Carter Cash with a vibrato, which may take a novice a few listens to get used to... but the material is so strong on "Great Speckled Bird" that nothing detracts from it.

You won't regret buying this album. If you've never heard it, you are in for a treat.

Average customer rating:

Great Speckled Bird Great Speckled Bird Manufacturer: Jvc Victor ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music General | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Country Rock | Rock | Styles | Music ASIN: B000M7FQVE Release Date: 2007-03-19

Tracks:

1. Love What You're Doing Child
2. Calgary
3. Trucker's Cafe
4. Longlng Time To Get Old
5. Flies In The Bottle
6. Bloodshot Beholder
7. Crazy Arms
8. This Dream
9. Smiling Wine
10. Rio Grande
11. Disappearing Woman
12. We Sail

Album Description

Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. 2007.

Album Details

K2 Digitally Remastered Japanese Limited Edition Special Issue of the Album Classic in a Deluxe, Miniaturized LP Sleeve Replica of the Original Vinyl Album Artwork.

Average customer rating: Forgotten Country Rock Classic

Great Speckled Bird Great Speckled Bird ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music General | Folk | Styles | Music Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music Country Rock | Rock | Styles | Music Contemporary | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music Folk | Imports | Stores | Music Rock | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B00004YU4G Release Date: 2000-10-23

Tracks:

1. Love What You're Doing Child
2. Calgary
3. Trucker's Caf
4. Long Long Time to Get Old
5. Flies in the Bottle
6. Bloodshot Beholder
7. Crazy Arms
8. This Dream
9. Smiling Wine
10. Rio Grande
11. Disappearing Woman
12. We Sail
13. New Trucker's CafLive][*]

Album Description

Reissue of original Bearsville album, featuring Canadian folk legends Ian and Sylvia Tyson, produced by Todd Rundgren. Includes one bonus track 'New Truckers Cafe' (Live). 2000 release. Standard jewel case.

Album Details

Digitally Remastered Reissue of Original Bearsville Album, featuring Canadian Folk Legends Ian and Sylvia Tyson, Produced by Todd Rundgren. Includes Bonus Track: New Truckers Cafe (Live).

Customer Reviews:

Forgotten Country Rock Classic.......2001-06-04

It is probably fair to say that this is Ian & Sylvia's most important album, and yet it was never sold under their name. It marks an astonishing intersection of roads, bringing together the well-known folk duo, drummer N.D.Smart III (already of Barry & the Remains and Mountain and later a Gram Parsons sideman), two Canadian newcomers who would enjoy higher profile careers afterward (Buddy Cage and Amos Garrett) and Todd Rundgren as producer while Nazz was still in business. This high-powered concoction yielded one of the best country rock albums of all time.

Released in 1969 on the Ampex label for the five minutes that this old recording equipment manufacturer flirted with running a record company, "Great Speckled Bird" immediately sank without a trace and remains a genuine dark horse today. A search of "Ian & Sylvia" will not pull up this release on Amazon; you have to already know about it even to think of buying it.

And buy it you should. Propelled by the toughest country rock sound anybody was doing in 1969, Ian Tyson brings together a handful of timeless classic songs seldom matched, particularly "Calgary," "Long Long Time to Get Old," "Flies in the Bottle" and "Rio Grande." Sylvia's contributions are suprisingly modest here but her "Truckers Cafe" is a classic country woman's lament.

It's tempting to imagine what might have become of this record if it had been released on a proper record label and if it had been billed as "Ian & Sylvia & the Great Speckled Bird." Surely it would now be on every record shelf that also holds "Sweatheart of the Rodeo," "Nashville Skyline" and Michael Nesmith's first few solo albums.

Average customer rating:

Untitled Great Speckled Bird Manufacturer: Pony Canyon ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music General | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music ASIN: B000064MJL

Average customer rating:

Great Speckled Bird Great Speckled Bird Manufacturer: Stony Plain Music ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music General | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music Contemporary | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music General | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Country Rock | Rock | Styles | Music Contemporary Folk | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music Folk | Imports | Stores | Music Rock | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B00000B33R Release Date: 1994-11-08

Tracks:

1. Love What You're Doing Child
2. Calgary
3. Truckers Cafe
4. Long Long Time To Get Old
5. Flies In The Bottle
6. Bloodshot Beholder
7. Crazy Arms
8. This Dream
9. Smiling Wine
10. Rio Grande
11. Disapearing Woman
12. We Sail
13. New Truckers Cafe (Live Bonus Track)

Average customer rating: Present day CW artists should take a listen & learn One of the very great and formative country rock albums Excellent

Great Speckled Bird Great Speckled Bird Manufacturer: Stony Plain (Can) ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music Contemporary Folk | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: The Complete Vanguard Studio Recordings ASIN: B000001CW8 Release Date: 1995-01-17

Tracks:

1. Love What You're Doing Child
2. Calgary
3. Truckers Cafe
4. Long Long Time To Get Old
5. Flies In The Bottle
6. Bloodshot Beholder
7. Crazy Arms
8. This Dream
9. Smiling Wine
10. Rio Grande
11. Disappearing Woman
12. We Sail
13. New Truckers CafLive Version)- New Bonus Track

Customer Reviews:

Present day CW artists should take a listen & learn.......2006-03-24

That's right. Because you can write and perform innovative, fresh, country music without turning it into the boring, homogenized, "sounds like white washed pop-rock" that is played on the radio nowadays. Of course these musicians were talented. They preserved elements of country style and heritage that seem to me to be lost in today's country scene. Example: steel guitar & guitar solos that last more than 3 seconds, are more than just a "flourish" to make you "think" you're listening to country music. Example: vocal harmony. What has happened to harmony in today's music? Well, this album wasn't made to sell millions. It was made for the sake of the music, which is how it ought to be. If only half the music coming out today was as good as this...buy this CD while you can.

One of the very great and formative country rock albums.......2006-03-13

Too bad this is no longer in print. It was out of print for years on vinyl then briefly available on CD. Apparently it's no longer available on CD anymore. Too bad, again. This is simply one of the five or six best country rock records ever made. I understand its initial brief availability. It was released on Ampex, a short lived record label, and was caught up (or down) in its demise. But when it was finally rereleasd by Stony Plain in 1995, a label that owns the Ian Tyson catalog in Canada, I thought it might last a bit longer. Apparently not. Well, we really can't account for taste and success in rock and country music, can we? But this was one of several groundbreaking country rock albums released in the 1969-1971 timeframe. Great Speckled Bird is actually Ian (Tyson) & Sylvia (Fricker/Tyson) with an incredibly hot backup band. And, oh, this one was produced in Nashville by - believe this, if you can - by TODD RUNDGREN. Yes, all the stars lined up to create a truly great, innovative album, just not a commmercially successful one. Of course, we now know that Ian Tyson turned out to be arguably the best country singer and songwriter of the last 50 years, American or Canadian. And, frankly, that greatness is completely in evidence on this album. From its start with the rocking environmental anthem (?), Love What You're Doing Child, to its closing optimistic anthem, We Sail, this is great stuff. Tyson and Fricker are in excellent songwriting form. Love What You're Doing Child is a completely relevant song about how we PERSONALLY destroy the environment around us when we should know better. And it rocks! This blends right into Calgary, a song about a cowboy aching to get back to Calgary and the woman there. Ian whistles a break on this one, and it is wonderful! Not only can this guy sing as well as anyone of his generation, he can whistle, to boot! A few more excellent cuts and then you're treated to Bloodshot Beholder, a hard rocking song of excess and running from the law out among the San Juan de Fuca Islands. Then there is an excellent cover of the country classic, Crazy Arms. This Dream and Smiling Wine are very good and then Ian tells a story about smuggling cocaine through Mexico in Rio Grande. No one - yes, no one - tells a ballad better than Ian Tyson. And Rio Grande is a compelling ballad. Then Ian moves into a country classic penned by his wife, Sylvia, Disappearing Woman, easily seen as a recount of Ian & Sylvia's rocky relationship. Then they turn the tables completely with the optimistic, We Sail. There is simply nothing less than very good on this one. As I write this review, the only seller of the CD is asking $46. Let me tell you, that is a bargain! Get it!

Excellent.......2001-01-25

I recently decided to begin replacing my favorite LPs with CDs and Great Speckled Bird is my first selection. I've owned the LP since it was released (I think in the 1970's) and it's still one of my favorites.

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