There Is a Season is a four-CD and one DVD box set by the American rock band the Byrds that was released on September 26, 2006 by Columbia/Legacy.[1] It comprises 99 tracks and includes material from every one of the band's twelve studio albums, presented in roughly chronological order.[1] The bonus DVD features ten clips of the Byrds lip-synching their hits on television programs between 1965 and 1967.[1] Upon release, the box set failed to reach the Billboard 200 chart or the UK Albums Chart. There Is a Season supplants the band's earlier box set, The Byrds, which was released in October 1990.[2]
There Is a Season | ||||
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Box set by | ||||
Released | September 26, 2006 | |||
Recorded | Mid-1964 – January 1973 August 6 – August 8, 1990 | |||
Genre | Rock, pop, folk rock, psychedelic rock, country rock | |||
Length | 4:40:20 | |||
Label | Columbia/Legacy | |||
Producer | Jim Dickson, Terry Melcher, Allen Stanton, Gary Usher, Bob Johnston, Chris Hinshaw, the Byrds, Neil Wilburn, Richard G. Abramson, Michael Varhol, David Crosby, Don DeVito | |||
The Byrds chronology | ||||
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Unlike the band's earlier box set, There Is a Season includes material pre-dating the band's 1965 debut single for Columbia Records "Mr. Tambourine Man".[1] This pre-fame period in the group's history is represented by a number of demo recordings from the band's 1964 rehearsals at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles (when they were known as the Jet Set), and both sides of a 1964 single released by the group under the pseudonym the Beefeaters.[3] The set also includes selections from the band's 1973 reunion album Byrds and two 1973 recordings from the Banjoman film—a period also not covered by the first box set.[1] There Is a Season includes more songs written by founding member Gene Clark, as a response to fan criticism that the first box set had neglected to properly represent his contributions to the band.[4]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
The Guardian | [5] |
Mojo | [6] |
Pitchfork Media | 8.3/10[7] |
PopMatters | [8] |
Q | [6] |
Rolling Stone | [9] |
Spin | [10] |
Uncut | [6] |
Although There Is a Season was generally well received critically, a number of reviews expressed disappointment over the relatively small number of previously unreleased tracks included in the set. Joe Tangari, writing for Pitchfork Media, praised the compilation's well-chosen track listing but expressed confusion as to who the box set was aimed at, since most hardcore fans would already own the majority of its contents.[7] Alexis Petridis was also unenthusiastic about the contents of the set in his review for The Guardian: "Bearing only five previously unreleased tracks – all live, all with a distinct air of 'so what?' – There Is a Season smacks less of curating an important artist's legacy than of record company desperation at the lucrative back-catalogue well running dry."[5]
This opinion was echoed by Richie Unterberger, who commented on the AllMusic website: "the point of putting out another four-CD Byrds box set about 15 years later wasn't all that clear, unless it was a mercenary exercise to get more mileage out of the band's durable catalog."[1] Michael Franco's review for the PopMatters website was more upbeat and described the box set as "a must-have for any serious collector of music" and "the definitive collection of The Byrds".[8]
NOTE: Tracks marked ‡ are previously unreleased.