AMG Review of Best of the Byrds: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

It goes without saying that The Best of the Byrds: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 doesn't have as many classic singles as the group's first hits collection, since the Byrds stopped being a singles band shortly after the release of Greatest Hits. They never had another Top 40 hit after 1967's "My Back Pages," and between 1968 and 1970, they only had three charting singles. Instead of turning out hits, the band concentrated on albums, almost all of them (with the notable exception of The Notorious Byrd Brothers) explorations of country-rock, and that's what dominates Greatest Hits, Vol. 2. Two of their three charting singles, "You Ain't Going Nowhere" and "Ballad of Easy Rider," are present, as are staples like "He Was a Friend of Mine," "Wasn't Born to Follow," "Chestnut Mare," and "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man." It's not a bad sampling of the Byrds' final years, but Sweetheart of the Rodeo itself offers a better summation of the musical direction the Byrds took after 1967.