The fourth album by The Byrds saw them expand on the psychedelic experimantation they had begun on their previous LP 5D (Fifth Dimension). They also introduced new layers of music such as brass and reverse tape special effects, as well as allowing bassist Chris Hillman to contribute a couple of country & western inspired tunes that would foreshadow the direction the band would soon begin to take. Overall, I enjoyed the album a lot more than I expected.
★ "So You Want To Be A Rock 'N' Roll Star": A US Top 30 hit that satirized teenybop bands such as The Monkees, who had achieved massive success without playing on their own records. Ironically enough, Roger McGuinn was the only member to play on The Byrds' chart-topper "Mr. Tambourine Man." This is a great song that I never get tired of hearing.
★ "Have You Seen Her Face": The first of four Hillman-penned songs and the third single released from the album. The song had a dismal showing on the Billboard Charts (it peaked at #74), but I quite liked it.
★ "CTA - 102": Named after a quasar discovered in the early '60s, this song saw the band experiment with studio trickery to produce sci-fi sound effects and expand on similar themes explored in their earlier hit "Mr. Spaceman." Ulitmately, this was a much more serious song that speculates on the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life. I like this song, but the second half (the half where they create alien voices) sounds like there are gremlins trapped in my iPod.
"Renaissance Fair": This was one of David Crosby's contributions that was based on, wait for it, a Renaissance Fair! It was an OK song, but kind of forgettable.
"Time Between": This was another Hillman song that features future Byrd Clarence White. It's very obvious that Hillman was heavily influenced by Paul McCartney on this one.
★ "Everybody's Been Burned": This is probably one of the darkest Byrds songs ever. It's also one of their best. David Crosby's crystal-clear vocals are complemented by Hillman's fluid bassline and McGuinn's understated guitar solo.
★ "Thoughts And Words": In addition to the country-inspired songs that Hillman contributed, he also wrote this LSD-inspired song that features backwards guitar effects to simulate a sitar. I guess all the sitar players were busy with The Beatles. It's still a great song.
"Mind Gardens": This is one of the most annoying songs that I've had to listen to before I die. It's just a bunch of nonsense Shakespearean references on top of ridiculous studio sound effects.
★ "My Back Pages": This was The Byrds' fourth cover from the Bob Dylan album Another Side Of Bob Dylan, and as you can imagine, was met with a little opposition from some of the band members. Most notably, David Crosby felt this was formulaic, safe and a step in the wrong direction. However, since the album's release, it has become one of the band's strongest Dylan interpretations.
"The Girl With No Name": This was another country-inspired song by Hillman and it always reminded me of the America song "A Horse With No Name" (no offense to any girls who might be reading this).
"Why": This song appeared as the B-side to an earlier Byrds hit, "Eight Miles High" nearly a year before the release of this album. Its inclusion was insisted upon by Crosby, probably because he wanted to increase his share of the songwriting credits on the album.
No comments:
Post a Comment