Skip Battin “Skip”

Skip

Byrds historians would have you believe that Cecil Ingram Parsons III was the squarest peg ever to occupy one of the legendary band’s round holes. Not a bit of it: that honour has to go to Clyde Skip Battin, who held down the bass chair from 1969 till the breakup of the band in 1972. Progeny of Italian immigrant parents, Battin was born in 1934, which makes him a hoary 35 years old when he joined McGuinn & Co. In fact he was the oldest Byrd ever, by eight years. Further, whilst all previous Byrds had cut their teeth on Greenwich Village folk or Nashville bluegrass in the early sixties, Skip’s musical genesis came in the novelty music era which followed the initial surge of rock’n’roll in the fifties. With his heroes being Fats Domino and Tom Lehrer, it’s no surprise that his forte turned out to be witty narrative songs with a piano spine, mostly written with assistance from maverick lyricist Kim Fowley. If you’re familiar with the moderately successful single America’s Great National Pastime taken from Farther Along, you’ll get the essence. Surprisingly, in the latter days when all but McGuinn were merely salaried Byrds members, the Leader allowed a handful of Battin’s distinctly oddball songs on to the final three albums.

Even before the breakup, Skip obtained a contract with Signpost Records of LA on the strength of Pastime, and his first solo album, Skip, emerged rapidly. Battin handles piano duties as well as bass, and his voice is warm and husky. All the Byrds’ final lineup contributed, including McGuinn in amusing circumstances: the track Captain Video is a delightful pastiche of the Byrds singing Dylan, and McGuinn guests on 12-string Rickenbacker whilst Skip himself sings the lyrics dedicated to Roger, who allegedly never realised that they were about him. Clarence White is everywhere, including some of his best-ever B-Bender wailing on The Ballad Of Dick Clark, more of the same plus amazing mandolin on Four Legs Are Better Than Two and what sounds like Fender electric mandolin on Valentino, providing an appropriately Italian flavour. In fact much of the record combines Bakersfield country licks with typically Italian polka two-step rhythms, as Skip wears his two cultural hearts on his sleeve. Towards the end the pace slackens for the wistful, witty paean to a 1940s baseball team, St Louis Browns, on which Clarence flatpicks superb dobro licks, and the closing, gentle My Secret Life in which Battin artfully lays his own soul bare.

The late ’72 timing of the album was not good; Skip’s touring commitments with the ailing Byrds meant that it was barely promoted, and sales were poor. Nonetheless, a second album was mooted by Signpost, by now part of Atlantic, to be entitled Topanga Skyline, but Clarence White was killed the day before recording was due to begin. It went ahead assisted by members of Country Gazette plus Al Perkins, but the heart had gone out of the project and the completed tapes were shelved. Skip went on to serve with New Riders Of The Purple Sage and the reformed Burritos, but his two other solo albums were released in the 1980s solely in Italy, to which he made frequent visits; these featured some songs sung in Italian, and remain rare collectors’ items. In Sept 2009 Skip’s son Brent financed the belated release of Topanga Skyline on Sierra Records as a fortieth anniversary commemoration of Skip’s first appearance with the Byrds. For an affectionate Skip Battin tribute website, go to http://www.skipbattin.com.

“Four Legs Are Better Than Two”

:D CD Reissue | 2003 | Collectors Choice | at amazon ]
:) Vinyl | 1972 | Signpost | ebay ]


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11 Comments.

  • r

    Skip was in Skip & Flip who recorded “Cherry Pie,” and “It was I.”

  • Steve

    “Four Legs Are Better Than Two” is damn catchy. Thank you for the great posts.

  • I’ve long had a soft spot for this record (found a cheap copy in Edinburgh, god knows how it got there) and Captain Video, pastiche though it is, blows me away every time I hear it.

  • Len Liechti

    Flip, I’ve just discovered, was Gary S Paxton, the wayward record producer and songwriter who gave the world “Alley Oop” by the Hollywood Argyles and “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett & the Cryptkickers. Later, he worked with Clarence White, Gene Parsons and other future Byrds, and also produced the original “Jesus Is Just All Right” by gospel group the Art Reynolds Singers, which of course went on to become a Byrds staple during the Skip years, thus completing an unbroken circle. (I’m fascinated by the way the careers of LA music personalities endlessly intertwine.) My Christmas wish list includes Paxton’s compendium “Hollywood Maverick”, so there’s a possibility of a review soon. Paxton’s personal website at http://www.garyspaxton.net, though still largely under construction, is a hoot.

  • Thanks for the interesting post. I was always a fan of the Byrds Mark V (McGuinn, York, Parsons, White) probably because I finished high school in ’68 and so cut my teeth on Dr Byrds & Ballad, and was never really impressed by Battin’s work but he’s always been worth a listen. It’s also gr8 to know that somebody else cares.

  • Eric Malamud

    “what sounds like Fender electric mandolin on “Valentino”…i produced the album with Skip, was the head of A&R at Signpost…the mandolin was my Grandfather’s 1956 Gibson that I showed Clarence who had to play it…

    Eric

  • Len Liechti

    Wow, it’s fantastic when someone actually connected with the album you reviewed comes on the blog! It’s an honour to hear from you, Eric, and many thanks for correcting me about the mandolin used! If someone put a ’56 Gibson mando in my hands I’d have to play it too. (Tho’ not to Clarence’s standard!)

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