11 Comments

Fantastic article. I was ignorant about Byzantium, but I'm digging the album on Youtube that you linked to. Another cool album from 1972. Thanks for the detailed research and sharing something new to me!

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, Matt! Some of those songs are pretty bitchin', all tuneful and stuff! I wish I could tell you it was a hit on my turntable, but while I enjoyed listening to it back in '72, it was vying for 'table space from the likes of Sabbath, Alice, Tull, Bowie, James Taylor, Neil Young, ad infinitum! That kind of stiff competition was no different or less on the FM radio side.

I'm glad I could turn you on to something new....and, I was happy to be reunited to that "Circular" page which I know I read at the time.....I got 'em all as they came out! Please look below (if you haven't seen 'em already) for one of my replies to Andres: I've got a link to the Byzantium Facebook page, where their former engineer posted my piece with some very kind words, and a link to a rare live song from Byzantium around '72!

Expand full comment

Congrats on the well-deserved recognition!

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, Matt! It's just fun 'cause it's them!!

Expand full comment
founding

Great writing! Loved how you take us on a journey to discover a band and record which (predictably) I didn’t know about. Thanks!

Expand full comment
author
Oct 4, 2023·edited Oct 4, 2023Author

Thanks, Andy! A little more challenging, this time, precisely because there wasn't as much press about them at the time (which then ends up on the internet), with their lack of airplay and "famousness"!

Had this been Journey, or some such, there'd be three full internets full of copy from which to cull! Plus, the threads of the "ultimately famous" who passed thru the band for 5 minutes at a time made it a tad tougher, too! Anyway, I gave a voice-over a try, but it sounded too disjointed, as I had a lot of info as photo captions.

Thanks for braving being the first to leave a comment for this one! You get to be the first to hear that the Tune Tag with Kevin drops tomorrow (Thurs 10/5) at 7am CT......shhhhh, don't tell anyone!😉

Expand full comment
founding

That’s amazing, Brad. Even more impressive considering how little info there is on them. Brilliant digging skills!

Wow, thanks for the heads-up! Really looking forward to it. Duel of the Titans!

Expand full comment
author

Just got FB DM-ed by a former Byzantium! He loves the article (he corrected me on a couple of facts I found elsewhere.....I changed them, of course, in my piece), and will be posting it, soon, on the FB Byzantium fan page! https://www.facebook.com/byzantiumgroup

Meantime, here's a live (South Park, Oxford) Byzantium song from 1974, "It's a Small World": https://fb.watch/ntDR6Y7rZT/

Enjoy......this, and tomorrow's Tune Tag!

Expand full comment
founding

You keep going up, my friend! Very well deserved.

Thanks for the track! Sounds like something my dad would enjoy (he and you seem to have very similar taste in music!) so I’ll make sure I share it with him!

Expand full comment
author

Cool......along with you, I'd love to meet your dad someday! Oh, the stories we could share!

Expand full comment
founding

Absolutely! And I would show off my live interpreting skills 😄 (which are probably a bit rusty now... well, not the skills... my spoken Spanish! 🤪 fancy that!)

Expand full comment