Easy Rider - 1969

[DudeAsInCool]

The following was taken from The Band's website.

"Easy Rider was the surprise box-office hit of the summer of 1969, a low-budget film about a couple of hippies who use their profits from a drug deal to drive their motorcycles across the Southwest and attend New Orleans' Mardi Gras celebrations, encountering adventures and tragedy along the way. It turned out to be a telling portrait of America's cultural divide in the late '60s, and no small part of its impact was the soundtrack music, which eschewed a traditional score (the filmmakers couldn't have afforded that, anyway) in favor of rock music. Even then, director Dennis Hopper didn't have much special music written, instead mostly using songs he'd heard on the radio in 1968 while he was editing the film. (In the liner notes to the 2000 CD reissue, Hopper claims that he canceled a proposed Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young score when he became enamored with his own selections; other accounts claim the film studio insisted on the music used in the rough cut.)

So, the film's music consisted of such 1968 rock radio favorites as Steppenwolf's "The Pusher" and "Born to Be Wild," the Band's "The Weight," the Byrds' "Wasn't Born to Follow," and the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "If Six Was Nine," with such humorous changes of pace as the Holy Modal Rounders' cosmic folk song "If You Want to Be a Bird" and Fraternity of Man's marijuana-smoking behavior guide "Don't Bogart Me." Hopper had little trouble persuading various record labels to grant the screen rights to these songs at a time when re-used rock wasn't heard much in movies. Roger McGuinn, making his solo performing debut, contributed new recordings of Bob Dylan's "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" and his own specially written "Ballad of Easy Rider," actually co-written with Dylan, who was not credited.

When Easy Rider became a successful film upon release, a decision was made to release a soundtrack album, and most labels agreed to license their tracks to Dunhill/ABC. Only Capitol Records held out, so the Band's version of "The Weight" was replaced by a near-copy recorded by Dunhill act Smith. The soundtrack album also featured some dialogue and sound effects from the film. The result was a commercial bonanza: The album reached the Top Ten and went gold, becoming the second most successful soundtrack LP of the year, after the Nino Rota score to Romeo and Juliet. Just as the film transformed values in Hollywood, the soundtrack album helped give birth to a new business in which soundtrack albums became collections of various pop songs that sometimes out-grossed the films with which they were associated.

Its very success ironically doomed the availability of the Easy Rider soundtrack album, however. By the CD era, the various labels that controlled the songs were no longer happy to license their material, and the album went out of print, although a CD was issued overseas in 1993. Finally, on June 13, 2000, MCA managed to bring theEasy Rider soundtrack album back into print in the U.S. Thirty-one years later, it still sounded like a good thematic collection, reflecting the film's values of drug use and open-road freedom. Songs like "Born to Be Wild" and "The Weight" had long-since been enshrined as rock classics, and the lighter material continued to amuse, confirming Easy Rider as both a historical document and an entertaining listen, especially to those who knew the film."

--William Ruhlmann, All-Music Guide

Tracks

The Pusher (Hoyt Axton) - Steppenwolf

Born To Be Wild (Mars Bonfire) - Steppenwolf

I Wasn't Born To Follow (Gerry Goffin & Carole King) - The Byrds

The Weight (Robertson,Robbie) - Smith (244K)

If You Want To Be A Bird (Antonia Duren) - The Holy Modal Rounders

Dont' Bogart Me (Elliott Ingber & Larry Wagner) - Fraternity of Man

If Six Was Nine (Jimi Hendrix) - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Kyrie Eleison Mardi Gras (David Axelrod) - The Electric Prunes

It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (Bob Dylan) - Roger McGuinn

Ballad Of Easy Rider (Roger McGuinn) - Roger McGuinn

The Band's original version of "The Weight" was used in the movie Easy Rider, but the 1969 soundtrack album (also available on CD) from the film had instead a cover version by the group Smith. This version is also available on the CD re-release of Smith's debut albumA Group Called Smith.

Soundtrack Album/ Various Artists - Easy Rider - USA 1969 - ABC-Dunhill DSX 50063

CDs: MCA 3594 (1993), MCA 119153 (2000)

Follow the link below and you can listen to the Band's legendary song The Weight from the movie:

http://theband.hiof.no/albums/easy_rider.html

[method77]

probably the most famous soundtrack of all times. A classic

[Redneck4sure]

I have that Smith cd that is referenced. Last week I saw two of them go for over a hundred bucks each on ebay. I bought mine for less than ten bucks including shipping a couple yrs ago. I can't believe they are bringing that much. Most people don't even know who Smith is. (or care!)

[Kooperman]

I have that Smith cd that is referenced. Last week I saw two of them go for over a hundred bucks each on ebay. I bought mine for less than ten bucks including shipping a couple yrs ago. I can't believe they are bringing that much. Most people don't even know who Smith is. (or care!)

I'm guessing you bought the special Smith & Wesson version of that album....

[Redneck4sure]

I thought it was too good to be true. A .357 for under ten bucks.

[KiwiCoromandel]

The Band's original version of "The Weight" was used in the movie Easy Rider, but the 1969 soundtrack album (also available on CD) from the film had instead a cover version by the group Smith. This version is also available on the CD re-release of Smith's debut albumA Group Called Smith.

good stuff..timeless......:good job:

Smith

Biography

This Los Angeles-based group, initially called the Smiths, comprised of Gayle McCormick (b. 1949; vocals), Rick Cliburn (guitar), Alan Parker (guitar), Larry Moss (keyboards), Jerry Carter (bass) and Robert Evans (drums). Their brand of folksy pop is best heard on A Group Called Smith, which included their 1969 US Top 5 hit, a cover version of the Shirelles hit, "Baby It's You", produced pseudonymously by Del Shannon. The sextet also contributed their version of "The Weight" to the million-selling soundtrack of Easy Rider when rights to the Band's original version, as featured in the film, were withheld from the attendant album. By 1970 McCormick, Moss and Carter had been joined by Jade Hass (bass) and Ed Beyer (keyboards), but the group's short-lived fame was fading and they broke up soon afterwards, leaving McCormick to pursue a solo career........

[DudeAsInCool]

Ever notice that Roger McGuinn or McGuinn's band The Byrds did most of the music for Easy Rider? Wasnt Born to Follow & Going Back is off the Notorious Byrd Brothers, which in my mind is their most interesting album. Here's a review - in fact you can download some of their music, too

"Nothing less than the American Revolver."

—Guitar World

 

1968's Notorious Byrd Brothers opened with a devastating one-two punch: a horn section marvel bemoaning the go-fast culture; and a baroque pop masterpiece that floated to heaven on wisps of pedal steel and harpsichord. The trenchant songwriting -- answering recent work by The Beatles and The Stones -- tackled subjects as diverse as the agony of the Vietnam war and the exploration of deep space on an album many people regard as The Byrds' best.

 

This 20-Bit mastered Expanded Edition includes all original album trax plus 6 rare and unreleased treasures from the 1967 recording session. All original packaging plus new liners by Rolling Stone's David Fricke; song notes by Byrds scholar Johnny Rogan; & rare and unseen memorabilia and pix.

 

Bonus Tracks 12 - 17:

 

12 = Instrumental

13 = Previously Unissued, Instrumental

15 = Previously Unissued, Version One

16 = Previously Unissued, Alternate End

17 = Previously Unissued, Instrumental.

 

All tracks are in stereo.

 

1. Artificial Energy RA | WAV

2. Goin' Back RA | WAV

3. Natural Harmony

4. Draft Morning

5. Wasn't Born To Follow

6. Get To You

7. Change Is Now RA | WAV

8. Old John Robertson

9. Tribal Gathering RA | WAV

10. Dolphin's Smile

11. Space Odyssey

12. Moog Raga RA | WAV

13. Bound To Fall

14. Triad

15. Goin' Back

16. Draft Morning

17. Universal Mind Decoder

http://www.legacyrecordings.com/thebyrds/intro.html

[Redneck4sure]

Confession: I have the Smith album "A Group Called Smith" on vinyl, cd and 7" reel to reel tape. I also have their only other album, "Minus Plus" (vinyl) and some of Gayle McCormick's solo albums (all on vinyl).

[DudeAsInCool]

Here are some of the more famous cuts from the soundtrack:

'Wasn't Born To Follow", by The Byrds

Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild

Steppenwolf - The Pusher

	Steppenwolf - The Pusher
	The Band - The Weight
	Jimi Hendrix - If 6 was 9
	Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale
	Found at skreemr.com

[Redneck4sure]

Here is a megaupload link to a 192 mp3 download of Smith's version of The Weight that is on the Easy Rider Soundtrack album so you can compare it to The Band's version if interested.

[DudeAsInCool]

A deluxe version of the soundtrack is now available at Amazon which features extra tracks. A 35th anniversary DVD of the movie, is also available for the cinefiles.

[Jim Colyer]

Didn't think much of it at the time, but "Born To Be Wild" has become a classic for all-time.

[Redneck4sure]

There are some great tunes on the original and some more great tunes on the added cd. I wish I had a better copy.