Let’s put it on the line now. The Byrds, in my opinion, were the
\nmost creative and aurally pleasing American band in the mid-1960’s
\nand farmed a folk-rock sound whose influence is felt even three
\ndecades down the road in the music of groups like R.E.M. and
\ncountless others. The gorgeous, organic harmonies of singers Gene
\nClark, Roger McGuinn, and David Crosby accomplished so much in the
\noriginal group’s short heyday–bringing Dylan to the masses with
\ntheir hit single “Mr. Tambourine Man” and preaching a message of
\nlove and togetherness that serves as a fitting epitaph of the
\nperiod. Roger McGuinn’s chiming 12-string electric guitar was the
\nmusical trademark, a jangling sound borrowed from the Beatles that
\ngave the group an instrumental identity. With the excellent
\nColumbia reissues, the Byrds’ records can now, for the first time,
\nbe heard in pristine clarity, augmented with outtakes and
\nB-sides.<\/p>\n
\nTurn! Turn! Turn!<\/i> was the second Byrds LP, and while perhaps
\nlacking the novelty and revolutionary quality of the first (
\nMr. Tambourine Man<\/i>), it represents a more complete artistic
\naccomplishment for the group. First, this album includes songs from
\na wider variety of sources–whereas half the first record was
\ncomposed of Dylan covers,
\nTurn! Turn! Turn!<\/i> includes only two, put alongside a handful
\nof originals (most by Gene Clark) and several traditional tunes.
\nAll in all, this is one of the better pop records of its time and
\nis a landmark accomplishment in the development of the L.A. pop
\nscene of the mid- to late-60s.<\/p>\n
The title track, Roger McGuinn’s rearrangment of a Pete Seeger
\nsong which incorporated passages from the Book of Ecclesiastes, was
\na smash hit and is most likely the one song the Byrds are best
\nknown for. It’s absolutely gorgeous–the powerful harmonies in the
\nverses, McGuinn’s trademark Bach-esque chime in the intro and
\noutro, the guitar solo, the powerful and tasteful rhythm section
\n(Chris Hillman on bass, Michael Clarke on drums) all join together
\nto create one of the most significant American songs of the
\n1960s.<\/p>\n
This is followed by a couple originals–McGuinn’s thunderous “It
\nWon’t Be Wrong”, which showcases the harmonies; and Clark’s “Set
\nYou Free This Time”, a lyrically complex work that musically
\nconjures up a vague image of the country-rock tack the Crosby- and
\nClark-less Byrds would take in the late 60s. Next is a truly
\nextraordinary cover of Bob Dylan’s melancholy “Lay Down Your Weary
\nTune”–with Crosby’s wavering voice in the middle of the harmonies
\ngiving it a layered, complex feel that seems too complicated for
\nthree voices. Follow this with McGuinn’s rewrite of “He Was A
\nFriend of Mine”, a tribute to John Kennedy, and you’ve got a very
\naurally pleasing, lyrically solid side of vinyl.<\/p>\n
Things go marginally downhill on the second side, especially the
\noriginals, but the basic heuristic remains the same–solid
\ninstrumental work based on McGuinn’s 12-string under lovely vocals.
\n“The World Turns Around Her” is perhaps the standout, followed by a
\nfairly impressive version of “The Times They Are A-Changin'” and an
\nirresistable rocked-up version of “Oh! Susannah” that is just as
\nsurreal as it sounds.<\/p>\n
This would suffice, but Columbia treats us to seven (!) bonus
\ntracks–a speedfreak version of “Times” using different verses that
\nbests the album version, in my opinion, an alternative version of
\n“The World Turns All Around Her” and B-sides “She Don’t Care About
\nTime” and “The Day Walk (Never Before)”. All are of roughly equal
\nmusical quality to the released album tracks, which shows how
\ncreative and productive the Byrds were in 1965. The treat, though,
\nis a powerful version of Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”,
\nmeant to be the groups first single from
\nTurn! Turn! Turn!<\/i> before the title track was substituted.
\n“Baby Blue” features some particularly punchy machine-gun drumming
\nfrom the underrated Clarke, as well as some nice changes between
\nthe chorus and verses.<\/p>\n
Thoroughly recommended, showing just why the Byrds were the
\nBeatles’ favorite American group. A fun listen even 35 years after
\nthe fact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":27901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5885],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-39289","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-byrds","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39289"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}