Byzantium was only active for a brief period at the tail end of the late 1960s and the first half of the 1970s, but the band is still well-remembered within the British underground rock scene.  Now, the group's officially issued works (and more!) have been collected by Cherry Red's Grapefruit imprint on the new 5-CD set Halfway Dreaming: Anthology 1969-75.

Byzantium emerged from the ashes of the band Ora, formed by students Robin Sylvester, Julian Diggle, and Jamie Rubinstein at University College School in Hampstead.  After releasing one album with which Rubinstein was dissatisfied - as it had been assembled from unfinished demos and recordings without his consent - Ora disbanded.  But its members felt a gravitational pull towards one another, and after some comings and goings, Byzantium was born with Rubinstein (primary songwriter), fellow USC Hampstead student Nico Ramsden (lead vocals/guitar/percussion/keyboards), Chaz Jankel (lead vocals/guitar/keyboards), and Stephen Corduner (drums/percussion).  Robin Sylvester remained part of the band, too, but in the behind-the-scenes capacities of producer, arranger, and conductor.  Rod Stewart's manager Billy Gaff caught wind of the band and got them a deal with the U.K. arm of A&M Records.  (In the U.S., their first album appeared on the Warner Bros. label.)  Soon, Byzantium was on the road with Faces, Family, and Rory Gallagher, and appearing on a bill with Hawkwind, Man, and Brinsley Schwarz.

The first two discs of Halfway Dreaming chronicle the transition from Ora to Byzantium with both bands' self-titled LPs.  Disc One has the controversial Ora LP as originally issued on Tangerine Records in 1969.  It's nominally a psych-folk set but the album was actually quite more.  It amalgamated haunting folk-rock ("Seashore"), jazz-inflected pop ("About You"), tougher rock ("Whitch"), soft bossa-ish balladry ("Emma's Saga"), and more into an appealing, effectively lo-fi, baroque-folk mélange.  The LP has been expanded here with ten additional demos and alternate versions including a couple of songs that would find their way onto Byzantium's first album.

Disc Two presents 1972's appropriately titled Byzantium, recorded at Trident Studios with future Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker as engineer.  Robin Sylvester and Stuart Taylor produced the sessions.  A&M had difficulty marketing the eclectic album which, like its Ora predecessor, didn't fit easily into one category.  With the lion's share of the material again penned by Rubinstein (who played acoustic guitar on "Come Fair One"), Byzantium was less folky as it showcased its higher-budget, fuller band sound.  The album again balanced acoustic and electric styles but added more pronounced rock elements such as twin electric guitars.

Often a pretty ballad would add one off-kilter touch like the jazz interlude in the pretty "I Am a Stranger to My Life" or the languid saxophone solo in the otherwise-bright "Lady Friend." Additionally, Byzantium employed brass and strings, sparingly but effectively.  Strong CSNY-style harmonies dominated the attractive likes of the aforementioned "Stranger," "Come Fair One," and the Robin Lamble-written "Trade Wind."  Chaz Jankel wrote the closing, multi-part "Why or Maybe It's Because," but the 10+-minute track in the mold of "A Day in the Life" didn't showcase the band's core strength for crafting compact, attractive melodies.

Shortly after the album was recorded, Nico Ramsden left the group and was replaced by Mick Barakan a.k.a. Shane Fontayne (later to work with Bruce Springsteen and CSN); Jamie Rubinstein also stepped up to a more prominent role on guitar and vocals.  Rubinstein and Barakan's demos as a duo round out Disc Two of the box, with the band's sophomore album Seasons Changing appearing on CD 3.  Released in 1973 on A&M, it did not receive a U.S. release.  Seasons Changing reflected the newly-invigorated Byzantium with multiple members writing.  Side One featured five short songs from Lamble, Barakan, and Jankel, while Rubinstein authored the side-long suite "Something You Said: A Trilogy" on Side Two.  Lamble's opening "What a Coincidence" was a confident electric rocker.  Barakan's "My Season's Changing with the Sun" and "October Andy" were more mellow (with the latter featuring a pronounced country influence and B.J. Cole on pedal steel), while Jankel's "Show Me the Way" and "I'll Always Be Your Friend" stayed in Byzantium's diverse bag.  The former is an attractive harmony ballad and the latter dips into the prog feel that would find full flower on "Something You Said."  With Rubinstein on lead vocals, Robin Sylvester and David Hentschel on ARP synthesizer, and Jankel on guitar, the 20+-minute extended composition was an ambitious mini-tour through Byzantium's musical interests.

Unhappy with the band's direction(s), Chaz Jankel was next to exit.  He would go on to greater fame working with Ian Dury and The Blockheads.  Alas, Byzantium's management and record label both abandoned the group following Seasons Changing.  Rubinstein, Barakan, Lamble, and Corduner attempted to move forward, and in early 1974 the quartet released a self-pressed album, Live/Studio.  It's included here on Disc Four.  With three live cuts and five studio tracks of all new songs from three of the four bandmates, the LP attempted to "sell" the band to prospective labels.  It didn't work, but it did feature consistently strong songwriting and musicianship.  The box set presents a further disc of live recordings, High Time, on Disc Five; this disc primarily consists of original material recorded at various U.K. venues in 1974-1975.

Byzantium's swansong occurred at a summer 1975 session for Atlantic Records.  Over four songs (all included as bonus material on Disc Four), the band sold themselves as purveyors of commercial pop, but Atlantic declined to sign them.  They came full circle about a month after recording the demos with a concert at London's Roundhouse, the same venue in which they'd first performed together.  That marked the end of Byzantium.  But happily, the music lives on in this superb collection.  The diversity that may have impeded their quest for success makes these albums all the more enjoyable today; one can't help but think that if just one single was better promoted to radio, we'd might have been hearing a lot more of this band.  The discs are housed in paper sleeves replicating the original front and back cover artwork of each LP.  A 32-page booklet has compiler David Wells' detailed liner notes and plenty of photographs.  Jamie Rubinstein, now a successful music-biz attorney, adds selected track-by-track annotations, too.  Everything is stored in a clamshell case.  Oli Hemingway has remastered.

With prog, country, pop, rock, and a healthy helping of the West Coast sound filtered through a U.K. sensibility, Byzantium's Halfway Dreaming: Anthology 1969-75 offers something for everyone.  It's available now at the links below.

Byzantium, Halfway Dreaming: Anthology 1969-75 (Cherry Red/Grapefruit CRSEGBOX082, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Ora (Tangerine DPLP 002S, 1969)

1. Seashore
2. About You
3. Deborah
4. Whitch
5. Venetia II
6. You
7. Fly
8. Ladyfriend
9. Are You Seeing
10. Emma's Saga
11. The Morning After the Night Before
12. The Seagull and the Sailor

Bonus Tracks (demo recordings originally unissued; all previously collected on Ora, Prog Temple PT2CD8054, 2016)

13. Ooo
14. What Is Happening
15. I Love You
16. Deborah (Alternate Version)
17. I Am a Stranger to My Life
18. Fly (Alternate Version)
19. It Was an Easy Legend
20. Seashore (Alternate Version)
21. No More Love
22. Pomme

CD 2: Byzantium (A&M (U.K.) LP AMLH 68104, 1972)

1. What Is Happening
2. I Am a Stranger to My Life
3. Come Fair One
4. Baby I Hear You Calling Me
5. Trade Wind
6. Into the Country
7. Lady Friend
8. Why or Maybe It's Because

Bonus Tracks (rec. autumn 1972, previously collected on Ora, Prog Temple PT2CD8054, 2016)

9. Morning Love
10. This Time I Won't Let You Go
11. Thank God

CD 3: Seasons Changing (A&M (U.K.) LP AMLH 68163, 1973)

1. What a Coincidence
2. My Season's Changing with the Sun
3. Show Me the Way
4. I'll Always Be Your Friend
5. October Andy
6. Something You Said: A Trilogy (Something You Said/I Can See You/Morning)

CD 4: Live/Studio (no label, BYZL/S, 1974)

1. Flashing Silver Hope
2. Cowboy Song
3. Feel It
4. I'll Just Take My Time
5. Surely Peace Will Come to Those Who Try
6. If You Wanna Be My Girl
7. Oh Darling
8. Move with My Time

Bonus Tracks (unreleased EP rec. July 29-30, 1975, Tangerine Studios, London)

9. Alright Now
10. It Could Be Better
11. You Made Me Stand Up Straighter
12. I'd Still Love to Have You Around

CD 5: High Time (rec. 1974-1975) (Tracks 1-8, 10 previously released as digital download, Track 9 previously unreleased)

1. Gypsy Man
2. Every Day's the Same
3. High Time
4. October Andy
5. Halfway There
6. It Could Be Better
7. Small World
8. Flashing Silver Hope
9. This Time Around
10. A Day Like This