Ballad of Easy Rider

Byrds aficionados often pronounce 1969's Ballad Of Easy Rider the band's last great work. The guitar interplay between Roger McGuinn's jangling Rickenbacker and Clarence White's inventive string-bending Telecaster birth a sweet chemistry that makes songs like "Jesus Is Just Alright" (later popularized by the Doobie Brothers) pulse and strut with an unpredictably successful marriage of country and funk. "Fido" is another standout that similarly implements White's pedal steel approximations with a heavy dance-floor boogie and a percussive conga-laden breakdown so undeniably groovy that The Beastie Boys sampled it for "Body Movin'" off 1998's Hello Nasty. The real magic happens on more pensive songs like Gene Parsons' "Gunga Din," or "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" which could be the definitive version of this Dylan chestnut with its weeping slide guitar and hushed harmonies. They also turn Jackson Browne's "Mae Jean Goes To Hollywood" (easily the best bonus song here) into a playfully romantic, twang-rocking rip on anyone who ever believed that they could easily "make it" in show business if they only relocated to Los Angeles.