Even as Roger McGuinn continued to tour with the Clarence White version of the Byrds, the original iteration of the group, including McGuinn, came together in 1970 to record what were ostensibly two tracks for a forthcoming Gene Clark solo album. But listen to the songs and there's no denying that what you're hearing is essentially a Byrds reunion, the first and best of several. Both tracks - She's the Kind of Girl and One in a Hundred - are outstanding. As much as I love Clarence White's guitar playing, nothing can compare to the pleasure that courses through my body when the band's classic lineup is setting Clark's romanticism to the sound of McGuinn's 12-string magic and David Crosby's lovely high harmony. Neither song appeared as a single or on a record until Clark's Roadmaster (a collection of odds and ends) was released in 1973. Whenever I hear these songs, I wonder why they weren't included on the record released for the much higher profile Byrds reunion album of '73. They would easily have been the two best songs on that otherwise dreary affair. Maybe therein lies the answer. It wouldn't shock me, in other words, to discover that egos were involved...
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