Best Byrds Album '65-'68

notorious byrd brothers, definitely.

The Notorious Byrd Brothers, no contest

Younger Than Yesterday, no contest

Younger than Yesterday or Notorious Byrd Brothers, contest

Fifth Dimension for me, mostly for 'Eight Miles High' and 'I See You'.

preflyte?

Younger than Yesterday or Notorious Byrd Brothers, contest
^^^

The Notorious B.Y.R.D.

younger and notorious is probably the race....but do have to stump for the pretty trad folk rock jangle of turn turn turn..that's such an awesome record

The Notorious Byrd Brothers > Younger Than Yesterday > Mr. Tambourine Man > Fifth Dimension > Sweetheart of the Rodeo > Turn! Turn! Turn!

... today anyway, I'll probably change my mind tomorrow

Sweetheart of the Rodeo ftw! (I see I am in a minority)

Like Tom D. each day can bring a new top five. Lately, I've shifted back to Sweetheart. I think that and the debut are the most consistent records here. Younger, Notorious and Fifth all have higher peaks, I think. But all of them also have chunks of dated 60s silliness. Then again, Notorious will be my fave next month.

Haven't we done this already? "Notorious Byrd Brothers" by a landslide anyway.

I thought so too.

Sweetheart, definitely, but I'd take The Gilded Palace of Sin over any of these, and any other set of records, too, probably. Almost seems like it should cut off before Sweetheart, though, cause i mean i would probably take Untitled over Tambourine man and turn turn turn

notorious

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

When I was growing up, I'm sure Younger Than Yesterday was always *the* Byrds album. Now Notorious Byrd Bros seems to walk it. I'm not complaining - it's my favorite too.

Just picked up the remastered Notorious Byrd Brothers in Manchester, Vermont over the weekend for $7.99- it's the best Byrds I've heard yet. (Still haven't heard 5D or any of the later ones.)

Gary Usher's production is tremendous, songs layered so beautifully, harmonies sound even more exquisite than usual. Hillman's bass playing really stands out and his tune "Natural Harmony" practically invents Elephant 6 (especially Olivia Tremor Control.) Whether or not that's a good thing is another thread.

This version of "Old John Robertson" is like more spaced out dude than the single version.

The only clunker is "Space Odyssey"- "Triad" is a million times better and it's a shame it didn't make the album.

It's amazing how consistently great the early Byrds' albums are- just tower over most of the competition.

When it comes to the old psychedelic folk pop rock thing this is the real shit- sorry for the rambling...

"Dance to the day when fear is gone."

Surprised "Mr. Tambourine Man" didn't get any votes, that's a pretty fucking great album!

I am dumb, cos the only one of these I've never heard is the winner. The only one I don't like is Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. Is Notorious Byrd Brothers country Byrds or jangly Byrds?

Psychedelic Byrds

Oh good I might like it then. Really can't stand the country stuff :(

it's funny when you go your whole life without hearing that fits so perfectly in your mindset as a great album. i've only just recently gotten into the byrds, but "notorious" is already a keeper.

I missed the poll, but vote would have easily been Fifth Dimension

^^^^^^^ verbatim!

why no love for 'fifth dimension'? its a great record. 'mr spaceman', 'eight miles high', 'what happened', 'i see you'...

I guess, like all so-called "transitional records", it sort of falls in-between two chairs. Those who prefer "Folk Byrds" will vote for "Mr. Tambourine Man", those who prefer "psych Byrds" will vote either "Notorious Byrd Brothers" or "Younger Than Yesterday". And those who prefer country Byrds will of course go for "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo". "Fifth Dimension" is a little of everything without really fully realizing any of it at all. It's a great album though, all of these are.

Especially with the added bonus tracks, 5D's my favourite. Even the throwaways ("Lear Jet Song" and "Captain Soul" are unusual and atypical enough to work as parts of the whole, in a "Yellow Submarine" sort of way. Plus it's got McGuinn's most unhinged playing throughout, and he thus single-handedly (OK, "double-handedly") saves "Hey Joe" from being too far behind all those other '66-67 versions. And "I Come And Stand At Every Door" woulda been a nice soundtrack to that famous only-aired-once "Vote for Johnson" ad (with the little girl and the flower.)

i can't get over "get to you" from NBB. i tried covering it but the 5/4 time signature's next to impossible to follow.

NBB sleeve never fails to tickle my funny bone

"get to you" rumored to have been mostly written by gene clark
great song

I dig the acid guitar break in "change is now"

This album is the perfect mix of country-folk and classic psychedelia, it would have gotten my vote.

Bloomsday thread I see.

I have just been listening to NOTORIOUS BYRDS BROTHERS for first time - it's very strong!

Leaving aside 'Goin' Back' I think 'Draft Morning' might be the highlight - love the effortless combination of jangle and fluid bass rolling this song into the light.

And what about 'Universal Mind Decoder' on the extended CD? McGuinn's best playing since 'Eight Miles High'?

Actually agree with almost everything said on this thread, for once.

TTT, 5D, YTY, NBB - they're all awesome!

I've been on a huge Byrds kick lately. Been listening to 5D and YTY...like %D a little more. Eight Miles High is a big factor, but I for some cornball reason find John Riley and I Come and Stand at Every Door to very affecting. Lots of great stuff on YTY as well (CTA 103--my nomination for The Byrds' Yellow Submarine; My Back Pages; Mind Gardens; Renaissance Fair; Thoughts and Words)

lady friend is the best thing david crosby ever wrote.

It really is gorgeous. Today is totally a Wild Mountain Thyme day.

pleased to see notorious won this poll-- such an awesome album

"Mind Gardens"?

I love Crosby but...

And what about 'Universal Mind Decoder' on the extended CD? McGuinn's best playing since 'Eight Miles High'?
YES. Love it. Wish there was a whole album of this kinda thing from the Byrds.

I would listen to all of this byrds.

what's wrong with Mind Gardens?

(TS: The Salvation Army's "Mind Gardens" vs. The Byrds')

been loving "Stranger in a Strange Land" lately

http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/richmedia/images/cover.gif

I has a box set.. (reffed this and the other poll thread for guidance)

Oh, it's £28 on Amazon..

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41FdHNtFszL.jpg

that looks delicious

getting pretty into this band

sweetheart robbed

Younger Than Yesterday, without a doubt!

5D for me these days

Heard "Wild Mountain Thyme" playing as I walked past a bar the other day, good vibes all around

This poll is basically right on, though all of these albums are awesome.

yeah that is an amazingly productive/innovative/entertaining three years right there -- June '65 to August '68.

Not to mention Dillard & Clark and Burrito Brothers, though maybe spilling into 69 there.

sweetheart robbed

Did I vote in this? I don't remember. I would vote for the debut, still sounds mysterious to me.

1st, 3rd, and 5th all worthy of best

Not big on sweetheart myself

love sweetheart, but it does seem like an outlier in this poll w/o crosby or clark in the mix

"younger than yesterday" is great but oh god mind gardens is so bad.

never got why mind gardens is so bad. backwards guitars rule

Crosby gonna Croz

Notorious Byrd Bros is like the best album ever made. Sweetheart is a GP solo album.

Bummer of a solo album when the two best songs are Dylan covers sung by another guy.

I'm down with those Poll results.

first two flying burrito brothers albums so much better than sweetheart, imo

not that it matters

even though they're both parsons/hillman country rock, sweetheart and the burritos actually seem pretty different to me. FBB are so much stonier.

Yeah I need to listen to all of these - that first compilation they did is one of my favourite albums ever, although it leads me to suspect that Mr Tambourine Man got shafted here

first two flying burrito brothers albums so much better than sweetheart, imo

I might prefer the 3rd to the 2nd tbh."Cody Cody" is the most "Byrds" song on any of the albums in question.

Yeah I need to listen to all of these - that first compilation they did is one of my favourite albums ever, although it leads me to suspect that Mr Tambourine Man got shafted here

It totally did get shafted, it would get even more shafted by sweetheart were this poll ran again today

were this poll to be run

Grammar

yeah I listened to Mr Tambourine Man just now and it's a really great album with surely many of their best songs. looking forward to hearing the rest though

I'm with the folks above, don't really rate Sweetheart on the same level as Burritos or the GP solo jeans (or International Submarine Band for that matter)

yeah the first two albums are the best for me... they weren't quite as good with gene gone.

I maintain that Chris Hillman was secretly the best thing about the Byrds. Younger and Notorious are their two best albums and those are the two that feature his contributions most prominently.

speaking of hillman and burrito/byrds comparisons, this Burrito song co-written and sung by hillman almost sounds like a Notorious outtake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3geFZhjZ_aE

5D is probably even better than MTM. Amazing record

for a long long time i had yty/nbb >>> everything else but nowadays i am like where are the goddamn gene songs give me gene

yeah I've heard the first five now and my ranking would be, as it stands, 5D > MTM > the other three about level

all at least 8/10 records though

been enjoying this lately -- http://rocking-byrd.blogspot.com/2009/08/byrds-alternate-fifth-dimension.html
think fifth dimension is peak mcguinn-as-lead-guitarist. some pretty radical stuff for 1966.

What's Happening must be not only one of the best songs of the 1960s/all time but the moment MBV were invented. Can't you just hear Blown A Wish in there?

OK, they totally lose the magic on Sweetheart. But what a run beforehand!

What's Happening must be not only one of the best songs of the 1960s/all time but the moment MBV were invented. Can't you just hear Blown A Wish in there?

― imago, Thursday, 3 November 2016 22:19

Yes! I always thought this too

5D is my favourite album of theirs

I love me some 5D as much as anyone but what gives with all the Sweetheart dissing? It's pretty clearly their final classic.

does anyone know the story of the cover of younger than yesterday? was there a processing error or something? all the images of it have that splotchy, pixelated look, so i'm assuming that's how the original cover really looked. was it on purpose or a mistake?

https://i.imgur.com/Mf8ZsWK.jpg

the cover of everybody knows this is nowhere has a similarly pixelated look, but on that cover it's exaggerated enough that it looks intentional (while still looking terrible imo). the plastic ono band cover has just a hint of splotchiness, too, but not too bad.

Would definitely assume that was done as an effect and really can't imagine Columbia would have found that acceptable if it was unintentional.

younger than yesterday

yeah, that's a good point tim. it'd be kind of cool to see the original, sharp image on some sort of reissue...i said, until google image searching and finding this image on doom & gloom from the tomb!

https://i.imgur.com/65gr5fI.jpg

Younger than Yesterday or Notorious Byrd Brothers, contest
^ still otm imo

i guess i need to finally check these out. i've been obsessed with gene clark for long enough.

i like sweetheart but can't do "the christian life" lol

"others find pleasure in things I despise" is all-time.

if i need to hear people bleating about their tribal identity i'll go to a mormon church hymnal, the songs are more interesting and it's irony-free

i like sweetheart but can't do "the christian life" lol

i like it because i like to hear sinners sing songs like that

The first two albums are so perfect too, the lack of votes disconcertingly suggests otherwise

damn, that b/w photo, no text, would've been a great cover!

yeah I like 'the Christian Life' although I'm never sure how ironic it's meant to be. Kind of a Violent Femmes thing happening there.

Any country track Roger McGuinn sings sounds ironic tbh.

I'm a quarter through Requiem for the Timeless. That is one big book. Got the sequal waiting for me.