
Ultimately, Gene Tryp was abandoned and a handful of the songs that McGuinn and Levy had written for the project would instead see release on (Untitled) and its follow-up, Byrdmaniax. The musical was intended as a prelude to even loftier plans of McGuinn's to produce a science-fiction film, tentatively titled Ecology 70 and starring former Byrd Gram Parsons (no relation to Gene) and ex-member of The Mamas & the Papas, Michelle Phillips, as a pair of intergalactic flower children. The musical was to be titled Gene Tryp, an anagram of the title of Ibsen's play, and would loosely follow the storyline of Peer Gynt with some modifications to transpose the action from Norway to south-west America during the mid-19th century. įor most of 1969, The Byrds' leader and guitarist, Roger McGuinn, had been developing a country rock stage production of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt with former psychologist and Broadway impresario Jacques Levy. Thus, the McGuinn, White, Parsons, and Battin line-up of the band was the most stable and longest lived of any configuration of The Byrds. York's dismissal and Battin's recruitment marked the last line-up change to The Byrds for almost three years, until Parsons was fired by McGuinn in July 1972. Following the disbandment of that group, Battin returned to session work in the late 1960s and it was during this period that he met Gene Parsons and became reacquainted with Clarence White, whom he had known from a few years earlier. After the break-up of Skip & Flip, Battin moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a freelance session musician and formed the band Evergreen Blueshoes. The duo had notched up a string of hits between 19, including "It Was I", "Fancy Nancy", and " Cherry Pie".
THE BYRDS WILLIN PROFESSIONAL
Battin's professional career in music had begun in 1959, as one half of the pop music duo Skip & Flip. Battin was, at 35, the oldest member of the band and the one with the longest musical history.

The production was to have been based on Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt and staged under the title of Gene Tryp (an anagram of Ibsen's play), with the narrative taking place in the south-west of America during the mid-19th century.

The studio album mostly consisted of newly written, self-penned material, including a number of songs that had been composed by band leader Roger McGuinn and Broadway theatre director Jacques Levy for a planned country rock musical that the pair were developing. The album represented the first official release of any live recordings by the band as well as the first appearance on a Byrds' record of new recruit Skip Battin, who had replaced the band's previous bass player, John York, in late 1969. It is a double album, with the first LP featuring live concert recordings from two early 1970 performances in New York City and with the second LP consisting of new studio recordings. (Untitled) is the ninth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in September 1970 on Columbia Records ( see 1970 in music). Studio album: May 26 – June 11, 1970, Columbia Studios, Hollywood, CA March 1, 1970, Felt Forum, New York City, NY Live album: February 28, 1970, Colden Center Auditorium, Queens College, New York City, NY

(Untitled)įile:The Byrds - (Untitled) album cover.jpg For similarly titled albums, see Untitled (disambiguation).
