The Notorious Byrd Brothers
Encyclopedia
The Notorious Byrd Brothers is the fifth album
by the American rock
band
The Byrds
and was released in January 1968 on Columbia Records
(see 1968 in music
). Musically, the album represents the pinnacle of The Byrds' psychedelic
experimentation, with the band blending together elements of folk rock
, psychedelic rock
, country music
, electronica
, and jazz
on many of the songs. Of these disparate styles, the subtle country and western
influences evident on a number of tracks pointed towards the full-blown country rock
direction that the band would pursue on their next album. In addition, The Notorious Byrd Brothers saw the band and record producer
Gary Usher
making extensive use of a number of studio effects and production techniques, including phasing
, flanging
, and spatial panning
. The Byrds also introduced the sound of the pedal steel guitar
and the Moog modular synthesizer
into their music for the first time on the album, making it one of the first LP
releases on which the Moog appears.
Recording sessions
for the album took place throughout the latter half of 1967 and were fraught with tension, resulting in the loss of two members of the band. Rhythm guitar
ist David Crosby
was fired in October 1967 and drummer
Michael Clarke
left the band midway through recording, returning briefly before finally being dismissed after completion of the album. Additionally, original band member Gene Clark
, who had left the group in early 1966, rejoined for three weeks during the making of the album, before leaving again. Author Ric Menck has noted that in spite of these changes in personnel and the conflict surrounding its creation, The Notorious Byrd Brothers is the band's most cohesive and ethereal-sounding album statement.
Upon its release, the album reached #47 on the Billboard Top LPs
chart and #12 on the UK Album Chart. A cover
of the Gerry Goffin
and Carole King
song "Goin' Back
" was released in October 1967 as the lead single
from the album to mild chart success. Although The Notorious Byrd Brothers was critically praised at the time of its release, it was only moderately successful commercially, particularly in the United States. However, the album is today widely considered to be one of The Byrds' best LP releases, as well as their most experimental and progressive.
, David Crosby
, Chris Hillman
, and Michael Clarke
, the same line-up that had recorded their two previous albums. By the time of the album's release, however, only McGuinn and Hillman remained in the group. The first line-up change occurred when drummer Michael Clarke quit the group over disputes with Crosby and the other band members over his playing ability and his apparent dissatisfaction with the material the three songwriting
members of the band were providing. He was replaced temporarily by noted session drummers
Jim Gordon
and Hal Blaine
. David Crosby was then fired by McGuinn and Hillman and replaced by a former member of The Byrds, Gene Clark, who stayed on board for just three weeks before leaving again. Prior to Gene Clark rejoining the band, Michael Clarke had also returned from his self-imposed exile, only to be informed by McGuinn and Hillman that he was once again an ex-Byrd after the album was completed. Amid so many changes in band personnel, McGuinn and Hillman needed to rely upon outside musicians to complete the album. Among these hired musicians was Clarence White
, who had also played on the group's previous LP. His contributions to this and subsequent Byrds' albums eventually led to his being hired as a full-time member of The Byrds as part of the latter-day line-up of the band.
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David Crosby was fired by McGuinn and Hillman in October 1967, as a result of friction arising from, among other things, Crosby's displeasure at the band's wish to record the Goffin
–King
composition "Goin' Back". Crosby felt that recording the song was a step backwards artistically, especially when the band contained three active songwriter
s. Another factor that contributed to Crosby's dismissal was his controversial song "Triad
", a risqué composition about a ménage à trois
that was in direct competition with "Goin' Back" for a place on the album. He eventually gave the tune to Jefferson Airplane
, who included a version of the song on their 1968 album, Crown of Creation
. Although The Byrds did record "Triad", the song's daring subject matter compelled McGuinn and Hillman to prevent it from being released at the time. The track eventually surfaced on the band's 1987 archival compilation album
, Never Before
, and was later added to The Notorious Byrd Brothers as a bonus track
on the 1997 Columbia/Legacy
reissue.
Crosby had also annoyed the other members of The Byrds during their performance at the Monterey Pop Festival
when he gave lengthy in-between-song speeches on a number of controversial subjects, including the JFK assassination
and the benefits of giving LSD to "all the statesmen and politicians in the world." He further irritated his bandmates at Monterey by performing with rival group Buffalo Springfield
, filling in for ex-member Neil Young
. His stock within the band deteriorated still further following the commercial failure of his song "Lady Friend
", when it was released as the A-side
of a Byrds' single in July 1967. His absence from many of the recording sessions for The Notorious Byrd Brothers represented the final straw for McGuinn and Hillman, and Crosby would soon find himself an ex-Byrd, with a handsome severance package and time to associate with his new musical partner, Stephen Stills
. It has been suggested that the horse on the cover of the album was unkindly intended to represent Crosby, although this has been denied by both McGuinn and Hillman.
Much to Crosby's chagrin, McGuinn and Hillman reworked three of his songs following his departure, namely "Tribal Gathering", "Dolphin's Smile" and "Draft Morning", and included them in the final running order for the album. In the end, Crosby ended up playing on about half of The Notorious Byrd Brothers, appearing on his own three songs, plus "Change Is Now" and "Old John Robertson". Crosby also appears on several of the bonus tracks included on the 1997 reissue, including "Triad", "Universal Mind Decoder" and an early version of "Goin' Back".
was asked to rejoin the band. Clark had originally left The Byrds in early 1966 due to his fear of flying
and his tendency towards anxiety and paranoia. His debut solo album (co-produced by The Byrds' then current producer
, Gary Usher, with both Clarke and Hillman playing on it) had been a critical success but a commercial failure and Clark was currently inactive. Gene Clark rejoined The Byrds in October 1967 for three weeks, during which time he and the band performed on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
television program
, lip-syncing
"Goin' Back" and "Mr. Spaceman
". The Byrds also played several live dates with Clark during a tour of the Midwest
. Following the final concert
of the tour, Clark's fear of flying again became a problem when it prevented him from taking a flight to New York with his bandmates and as a result, he left the band soon after.
It has been debated by biographers and band historians just how involved Clark was in the recording of The Notorious Byrd Brothers. There is evidence in the form of studio documentation and eyewitness accounts to suggest that Clark did contribute backing vocals
to two songs: "Goin' Back" and "Space Odyssey". One of the aforementioned eyewitnesses, John Noreen of the L.A. folk rock band The Rose Garden
, has stated in an interview that he clearly remembers being at Columbia Recording Studios during sessions for the album and seeing Clark record his backing vocals. This has been corroborated by another eyewitness, The Rose Garden's drummer, Bruce Bowdin, who has claimed that Clark's voice can be heard most clearly on the mono
mix
of "Goin' Back" that was released as a single. However, if Clark is indeed present on either "Space Odyssey" or "Goin' Back", his contributions are not obvious and must have been buried very low in the mix
by producer Gary Usher. The Byrds' lead guitar
ist, Roger McGuinn, cannot remember whether Clark contributed to the album or not but he has admitted that it is possible. McGuinn has, however, gone on record as stating that he wrote the song "Get to You" with Clark, and that the writing credits on the album are mistaken; they should have read McGuinn/Clark, rather than McGuinn/Hillman.
, it attempted to deal with many contemporary themes such as peace
, ecology
, freedom, drug use
, alienation
and mankind's place in the universe. The album, as a whole, represented the apex of the McGuinn–Crosby–Hillman songwriting partnership, and took the musical experimentation of the original Byrds to its farthest logical extreme, mixing folk rock, country
, psychedelia
and jazz, often within a single song. The band and producer Gary Usher also used a number of innovative studio-based production techniques on the album, in particular making heavy use of phasing, spatial panning, and rotary speaker effects
.
The band also began experimenting with the Moog modular synthesizer on a number of tracks, making The Notorious Byrd Brothers one of the very first rock albums to feature the instrument. McGuinn had first discovered the Moog during the Monterey Pop Festival, where the instrument's inventor, Robert Moog
, had set up a booth to demonstrate his new creation to the musicians who were performing at the festival. Being something of an electronics buff, McGuinn was eager to experiment with the synthesizer in the recording studio, although reportedly, Hillman failed to share his enthusiasm for the instrument. Although McGuinn and Usher played the Moog parts on the song "Space Odyssey" themselves, they ceded the instrument's other appearances on the album to electronic music
pioneer and session musician
Paul Beaver
. The album also featured the pedal steel guitar
playing of session musician Red Rhodes
, which represented the first use of the instrument on a Byrds' recording. This use of pedal steel, along with Clarence White's countrified guitar playing, foreshadowed the country rock direction that the band would explore on their next album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo
.
The album's opening track, "Artificial Energy", features a prominent horn section
and as such, can be seen as a stylistic relative of "Lady Friend" and "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star
", two earlier Byrds' songs that made use of brass
. The song deals with the dark side of amphetamine
use and it was Chris Hillman who initially suggested that the band should "write a song about speed". The title was suggested by drummer Michael Clarke, and his input in the creation of the song was sufficient to afford him a rare writing credit. Although the song's lyrics initially seem to be extolling the virtues of amphetamines, the tale turns darker in the final verse
when it becomes apparent that the drug taker has been imprisoned for murdering a homosexual man, as evidenced by the song's final couplet: "I'm coming down off amphetamine/And I'm in jail 'cause I killed a queen
." Although The Byrds had been accused of writing songs about drugs
in the past, specifically with "Eight Miles High
" and "5D (Fifth Dimension)
", when the band finally did record a song unequivocally dealing with drugs, it was largely ignored by the press
.
"Artificial Energy" is followed on the album by the poignant and nostalgic Goffin–King song "Goin' Back". With its chiming 12-string Rickenbacker
guitar and laid-back harmonies
, the song provides a sharp contrast to the negativity and violence of the opening track. The song's lyrics describe an attempt on the part of the singer to reject the cynicism that comes with being an adult in favor of the innocence of childhood. Thematically, the song recalled the title of The Byrds' previous album, Younger Than Yesterday
, and the understated pedal steel guitar playing of Red Rhodes gives the track a subtle country flavor.
A second Goffin–King composition, "Wasn't Born to Follow", also displays country and western influences, albeit filtered through the band's psychedelic and garage rock
tendencies. The song's country leanings are underscored by the criss-crossing musical dialogue between the electric guitar
and pedal steel. The rural ambiance is further heightened by the striking imagery of the lyrics which outline the need for escape and independence: a subject perfectly in keeping with the hippie
ethos of the day. Another song on the album that deals with the need to escape the confines of society is David Crosby's "Dolphin's Smile". The song was an early example of Crosby's penchant for using nautical imagery in his songs, a thematic trait he would utilize in future compositions, including "Wooden Ships
" and "The Lee Shore". The theme of unfettered idyllic bliss is further explored in the Chris Hillman-penned "Natural Harmony". Like "Goin' Back", "Natural Harmony" conveys a sense of longing for the innocence of youth, albeit filtered through the awareness-raising properties of psychedelic drug
s. It has been suggested by some commentators that the song exhibits the strong influence of David Crosby's writing style, with its laid-back, jazzy feel and dreamy, high tenor
vocal part.
The McGuinn and Hillman composition "Change Is Now", with its lyrics advising the listener to live life to the full, represents a celebration of the philosophy of carpe diem
(popularly translated as "seize the day"). Within this context, the song's lyrics explored a number of other themes, including epiphenomenalism
, communalism
and human ecology
. The quasi-philosophical nature of the song prompted McGuinn to flippantly describe it in a 1969 interview as "another one of those guru-spiritual-mystic songs that no-one understood." An early instrumental recording of the song, listed under its original working title
of "Universal Mind Decoder", was included as a bonus track on the 1997 reissue of The Notorious Byrd Brothers. "Change Is Now" is notable for being the only song on the album to feature both David Crosby and future Byrd Clarence White together on the same track.
"Draft Morning" is a song about the horrors of the Vietnam War
as well as a protest against the conscription
of men into the military
during the conflict. The song was initially written by David Crosby but he was fired from The Byrds shortly after he had introduced it to the rest of the band. However, work had already begun on the song's instrumental backing track by the time of Crosby's departure. Controversially, McGuinn and Hillman decided to continue working on the song, despite its author no longer being a member of the band. Having only heard the song's lyrics in their original incarnation a few times, McGuinn and Hillman couldn't remember all of the words when they came to record the vocals and so decided to rewrite the song with their own lyrical additions, giving themselves a co-writing credit in the process. This angered Crosby considerably, since he felt, with some justification, that McGuinn and Hillman had stolen his song. Despite its troubled evolution, "Draft Morning" is often considered one of David Crosby's best songs from his tenure with The Byrds. Lyrically, it follows a newly recruited soldier from the morning of his induction into the military through to his experiences of combat and as such, illustrates the predicament faced by many young American men during the 1960s. The song also makes extensive use of battlefield sound effects, provided for the band by the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Firesign Theatre
.
Another of Crosby's songwriting contributions to the album, "Tribal Gathering", was, for many years, assumed to have been inspired by the Human Be-In: A Gathering Of Tribes
, a counter-culture
happening
held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park
on January 12, 1967. However, in recent years, Crosby has revealed that the song was actually inspired by another hippie gathering held at Elysian Park
near Los Angeles on March 26, 1967. Played in a jazzy, 5/4 time signature
, the song's vocal arrangement was greatly influenced by the music of The Four Freshmen
, a vocal group that Crosby had admired as a youngster. Another song on the album that uses a 5/4 time signature, albeit with occasional shifts into 3/4 time, is the Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark composition "Get to You". The song recounts a plane trip to London, England just prior to the advent of autumn but the identity of the enigmatic "you" mentioned in the song's title is not specified in the lyrics and thus, can be interpreted as either a waiting lover or as the city of London itself. Although Clark helped to co-write the song, he had left The Byrds by the time it was recorded and therefore does not appear on the track.
"Old John Robertson", which had already been issued some six months earlier as the B-side
of the "Lady Friend" single, was another country-tinged song that looked forward to the band's future country rock experimentation. The song was inspired by a retired film director
who lived in the small town near San Diego where Chris Hillman grew up. John S. Robertson
was something of an eccentric figure around the town, regularly wearing a Stetson hat
and sporting a white handlebar moustache
, which gave him the appearance of a character out of the old American West
. In the song, Hillman recalls the children of the town and their cruel laughter at this colorful figure, as well as the combination of awe and fear that he elicited in the townsfolk. During the recording of the song, Crosby switched instruments with Hillman to play bass
instead of his usual rhythm guitar
. The track also makes liberal use of the studio effects known as phasing
and flanging
, particularly during the song's orchestra
l middle section and subsequent verse. The version of "Old John Robertson" found on the B-side of the "Lady Friend" single is a substantially different mix
from the version that appears on The Notorious Byrd Brothers album.
The final track on the album, "Space Odyssey", is a musical retelling of Arthur C. Clarke
's short story "The Sentinel
", which was also the inspiration for Stanley Kubrick
's 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey
. The song makes extensive use of the Moog modular synthesizer and features a droning, dirge-like melody
reminiscent of a sea shanty
. Since "Space Odyssey" predates the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, McGuinn and his co-writer, Robert J. Hippard, composed lyrics that referred to a pyramid
being found on the Moon
, as was the case in "The Sentinel". However, the pyramid was replaced by a rectangular monolith
in both the film and the accompanying novelization
.
, CS 9575 in stereo
) and on April 12, 1968 in the UK (catalogue item 63169 in mono, S 63169 in stereo). However, there is some evidence to suggest that the U.S. release date may have been brought forward to January 3, 1968. Regardless, the album's appearance during the first month of 1968 surprised many fans of the band, who had been led to believe by contemporary press reports that the album was still in the planning stages. It peaked at #47 on the Billboard Top LPs
chart, during a chart stay of 19 weeks, but fared better in the United Kingdom where it reached #12, spending a total of 11 weeks on the UK chart. The album's front cover photograph was taken by Guy Webster, who had also been responsible for the cover of The Byrds' Turn! Turn! Turn!
album. The "Goin' Back" single was released ahead of the album on October 20, 1967 and reached #89 on the Billboard Hot 100
but failed to chart in the UK. The album is notable for being the last Byrds LP
to be commercially issued in mono in the United States, although subsequent albums continued to be released in both mono and stereo variations overseas.
The album was almost universally well received by the music press upon release, with Jon Landau
in the newly launched Rolling Stone
magazine noting that "When The Byrds get it together on record they are consistently brilliant." Landau went on to praise The Byrds' musical eclecticism, before stating "Their music is possessed by a never-ending circularity and a rich, child-like quality. It has a timelessness to it, not in the sense that you think their music will always be valid, but in the sense that it is capable of forcing you to suspend consciousness of time altogether." Crawdaddy!
magazine was also enthusiastic in its praise of the album, with Sandy Pearlman
describing it as "enchantingly beautiful". Pete Johnson, in his review for the Los Angeles Times
, summed up the album as "11 good songs spiked with electronic music, strings, brass, natural and supernatural voices, and the familiar thick texture of McGuinn's guitar playing."
In a contemporary review published in Esquire
magazine, famed music critic Robert Christgau
described The Notorious Byrd Brothers as "simply the best album the Byrds have ever recorded." Christgau went on to rank it with other releases of the era by Love
(Forever Changes
) and The Beach Boys
(Wild Honey
), remarking "[i]t's hard to believe that so much good can come out of one place [i.e. Los Angeles]." In the UK, Record Mirror
gave the album a rare five-star rating, commenting "Hard though it was for The Byrds to follow-up their near-perfect Younger Than Yesterday album, they've done it with this fantastic disc." The Melody Maker
newspaper was also complimentary about the album, describing it as "A beautiful selection, representing US pop at its finest." Beat Instrumental concluded their review by stating "It's true to say that The Byrds are one of the two best groups in the world. Nobody can say any different with the proof of this album."
In 1997, Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke
described the album as The Byrds' "finest hour" and "the work of a great rock & roll band, in every special sense of the word". On his official website, Robert Christgau again commented on the album, declaring that The Notorious Byrd Brothers (along with its follow-up, Sweetheart of the Rodeo) is "[one] of the most convincing arguments for artistic freedom ever to come out of American rock". Parke Puterbaugh, writing for the Rolling Stone website in 1999, noted the presence of "burbling Moog synthesizers and purring steel guitars" on the album, which he ultimately described as "a brilliant window onto an unforgettable place and time".
has noted that The Byrds' greatest accomplishment on the album was in creating a seamless mood piece from a variety of different sources, bound together by innovative studio experimentation. Although the album is widely regarded as the band's most experimental, its running time of a little under 29 minutes also makes it their briefest.
The album was voted the fourth-best album ever in a 1971 ZigZag
magazine readers' poll and the 1977 edition of the Critic's Choice: Top 200 Albums book ranked it at #154 in a list of the "Greatest Rock Albums of All-Time". A subsequent edition of the book, published in 1988, ranked the album at #75. In 1995, Mojo
magazine placed the album at #36 in their list of "The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made". In 2003, the album was ranked at #171 on Rolling Stone
magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
" and #32 on the NME
s list of the "100 Best Albums". In 2004, Q
magazine included the album in its list of "The Music that Changed the World".
The Notorious Byrd Brothers was remastered at 20-bit
resolution as part of the Columbia/Legacy
Byrds series. It was reissued in an expanded form on March 25, 1997, with six bonus tracks, including Crosby's controversial ballad "Triad", the Indian
-influenced "Moog Raga", and an instrumental backing track for the outtake
"Bound to Fall". The final track on the CD extends to include a hidden track
featuring a radio advertisement by producer Gary Usher for the album, as well as a recording of an in-studio altercation between the band members.
Following the release of the album, The Byrds' recording of "Wasn't Born to Follow" was used in the 1969 film Easy Rider
and included on the accompanying Easy Rider soundtrack album. In addition, the song "Change Is Now" has been covered by the progressive bluegrass band The Dixie Bee-Liners
, on the tribute album
Timeless Flyte: A Tribute to The Byrds — Full Circle, and by rock band Giant Sand
, on Time Between – A Tribute to The Byrds. Ric Menck, best known for being a member of the band Velvet Crush
, has written a book about the album for Continuum Publishing's 33⅓ series.
The Byrds
Additional Personnel
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by the American rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
and was released in January 1968 on Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
(see 1968 in music
1968 in music
-Events:*January 4 – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is jailed by Stockholm police, after trashing a hotel room during a drunken fist fight with bassist Noel Redding.*January 6 – Gibson Guitar Corporation patents its Gibson Flying V electric guitar design....
). Musically, the album represents the pinnacle of The Byrds' psychedelic
Psychedelic music
Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...
experimentation, with the band blending together elements of folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
, psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
, country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
, and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
on many of the songs. Of these disparate styles, the subtle country and western
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
influences evident on a number of tracks pointed towards the full-blown country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
direction that the band would pursue on their next album. In addition, The Notorious Byrd Brothers saw the band and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Gary Usher
Gary Usher
Gary Usher was an American surf rock musician, songwriter, and record producer.-Biography:Usher's early life was spent in Grafton, Massachusetts. He attended Norcross Grammar School with his sister, Sandra, who was in the same class and was likely his twin. Gary was kiddingly called "Chicken Feed"...
making extensive use of a number of studio effects and production techniques, including phasing
Phasing
In the compositional technique phasing, the same part is played on two musical instruments, in steady but not identical tempo...
, flanging
Flanging
Flanging is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, with one signal delayed by a small and gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a swept comb filter effect: peaks and notches are produced in the resultant frequency spectrum,...
, and spatial panning
Panning (audio)
Panning is the spread of a sound signal into a new stereo or multi-channel sound field. A typical physical recording console pan control is a knob with a pointer which can be placed from the 8 o'clock dial position fully left to the 4 o'clock position fully right...
. The Byrds also introduced the sound of the pedal steel guitar
Pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
and the Moog modular synthesizer
Moog modular synthesizer
Moog modular synthesizer refers to any of a number of monophonic analog modular synthesizers designed by the late electronic instrument pioneer Dr. Robert Moog and manufactured by R.A Moog Co...
into their music for the first time on the album, making it one of the first LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
releases on which the Moog appears.
Recording sessions
Studio recording
The term studio recording means any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance.-Studio cast recordings:...
for the album took place throughout the latter half of 1967 and were fraught with tension, resulting in the loss of two members of the band. Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
ist David Crosby
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
was fired in October 1967 and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke (musician)
Michael Clarke , was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the 1960s rock group The Byrds from 1964 to 1967. He died in 1993, at age 47, from liver failure, a direct result of more than three decades of heavy alcohol consumption.-Biography:Clarke was born Michael James Dick in...
left the band midway through recording, returning briefly before finally being dismissed after completion of the album. Additionally, original band member Gene Clark
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
, who had left the group in early 1966, rejoined for three weeks during the making of the album, before leaving again. Author Ric Menck has noted that in spite of these changes in personnel and the conflict surrounding its creation, The Notorious Byrd Brothers is the band's most cohesive and ethereal-sounding album statement.
Upon its release, the album reached #47 on the Billboard Top LPs
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart and #12 on the UK Album Chart. A cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of the Gerry Goffin
Gerry Goffin
Gerry Goffin is an American lyricist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 with former songwriting partner and first wife, Carole King. he has co-written six Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers.-Career:Goffin enlisted with the Marine Corps Reserve after graduating from...
and Carole King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
song "Goin' Back
Goin' Back
"Goin' Back" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King in 1966. It describes the loss of innocence that comes with adulthood along with an attempt, on the part of the singer, to recapture that youthful innocence...
" was released in October 1967 as the lead single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
from the album to mild chart success. Although The Notorious Byrd Brothers was critically praised at the time of its release, it was only moderately successful commercially, particularly in the United States. However, the album is today widely considered to be one of The Byrds' best LP releases, as well as their most experimental and progressive.
Background
The recording of The Notorious Byrd Brothers, during the latter half of 1967, was marked by severe internal dissolution and acrimony. The Byrds began the recording sessions as a four-piece band, consisting of Roger McGuinnRoger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
, David Crosby
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
, Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....
, and Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke (musician)
Michael Clarke , was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the 1960s rock group The Byrds from 1964 to 1967. He died in 1993, at age 47, from liver failure, a direct result of more than three decades of heavy alcohol consumption.-Biography:Clarke was born Michael James Dick in...
, the same line-up that had recorded their two previous albums. By the time of the album's release, however, only McGuinn and Hillman remained in the group. The first line-up change occurred when drummer Michael Clarke quit the group over disputes with Crosby and the other band members over his playing ability and his apparent dissatisfaction with the material the three songwriting
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
members of the band were providing. He was replaced temporarily by noted session drummers
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
Jim Gordon
Jim Gordon (musician)
James Beck "Jim" Gordon is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award winner was one of the most requested session drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of the time, and was the drummer in the blues-rock supergroup Derek...
and Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by popular groups, including Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and...
. David Crosby was then fired by McGuinn and Hillman and replaced by a former member of The Byrds, Gene Clark, who stayed on board for just three weeks before leaving again. Prior to Gene Clark rejoining the band, Michael Clarke had also returned from his self-imposed exile, only to be informed by McGuinn and Hillman that he was once again an ex-Byrd after the album was completed. Amid so many changes in band personnel, McGuinn and Hillman needed to rely upon outside musicians to complete the album. Among these hired musicians was Clarence White
Clarence White
Clarence White was a guitar player for Nashville West, The Byrds, Muleskinner, and the Kentucky Colonels. His parents were Acadians from New Brunswick, Canada...
, who had also played on the group's previous LP. His contributions to this and subsequent Byrds' albums eventually led to his being hired as a full-time member of The Byrds as part of the latter-day line-up of the band.
David Crosby's departure
Gerry Goffin
Gerry Goffin is an American lyricist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 with former songwriting partner and first wife, Carole King. he has co-written six Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers.-Career:Goffin enlisted with the Marine Corps Reserve after graduating from...
–King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
composition "Goin' Back". Crosby felt that recording the song was a step backwards artistically, especially when the band contained three active songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
s. Another factor that contributed to Crosby's dismissal was his controversial song "Triad
Triad (David Crosby song)
"Triad" is a song written by David Crosby in 1967 about a ménage à trois, a subject perfectly in keeping with the "free love" hippie philosophies of the day. The song was written while Crosby was a member of the rock band The Byrds, who were at that time recording their fifth studio album, The...
", a risqué composition about a ménage à trois
Ménage à trois
Ménage à trois is a French term which originally described a domestic arrangement in which three people having sexual relations occupy the same household – the phrase literally translates as "household of three"...
that was in direct competition with "Goin' Back" for a place on the album. He eventually gave the tune to Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
, who included a version of the song on their 1968 album, Crown of Creation
Crown of Creation
-Personnel:*Marty Balin – vocals, rhythm guitar*Grace Slick – vocals, piano, organ*Paul Kantner – rhythm guitar, vocals*Jorma Kaukonen – lead guitar, electric chicken, vocals*Spencer Dryden – drums, piano, organ, steel balls, vocals...
. Although The Byrds did record "Triad", the song's daring subject matter compelled McGuinn and Hillman to prevent it from being released at the time. The track eventually surfaced on the band's 1987 archival compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, Never Before
Never Before (album)
Never Before is a compilation album by the American rock band The Byrds, consisting of previously unreleased outtakes, alternate versions, and rarities. It was initially released by Re-Flyte Records in December 1987 and was subsequently reissued on CD in 1989, with an additional seven bonus tracks...
, and was later added to The Notorious Byrd Brothers as a bonus track
Bonus track
In terms of recorded music, a bonus track is a piece of music which has been included on specific releases or reissues of an album. This is most often done as a promotional device, either as an incentive to customers to purchase albums they might otherwise not, or to repurchase albums they already...
on the 1997 Columbia/Legacy
Legacy Recordings
Legacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated...
reissue.
Crosby had also annoyed the other members of The Byrds during their performance at the Monterey Pop Festival
Monterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California...
when he gave lengthy in-between-song speeches on a number of controversial subjects, including the JFK assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
and the benefits of giving LSD to "all the statesmen and politicians in the world." He further irritated his bandmates at Monterey by performing with rival group Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield is a North American folk rock band renown both for its music and as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Among the first wave of North American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion, the group combined...
, filling in for ex-member Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
. His stock within the band deteriorated still further following the commercial failure of his song "Lady Friend
Lady Friend (song)
"Lady Friend" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by David Crosby and released as a single on July 13, 1967. The single reached #82 on the Billboard Hot 100 but failed to chart in the United Kingdom...
", when it was released as the A-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of a Byrds' single in July 1967. His absence from many of the recording sessions for The Notorious Byrd Brothers represented the final straw for McGuinn and Hillman, and Crosby would soon find himself an ex-Byrd, with a handsome severance package and time to associate with his new musical partner, Stephen Stills
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash . He has performed on a professional level in several other bands as well as maintaining a solo career at the same time...
. It has been suggested that the horse on the cover of the album was unkindly intended to represent Crosby, although this has been denied by both McGuinn and Hillman.
Much to Crosby's chagrin, McGuinn and Hillman reworked three of his songs following his departure, namely "Tribal Gathering", "Dolphin's Smile" and "Draft Morning", and included them in the final running order for the album. In the end, Crosby ended up playing on about half of The Notorious Byrd Brothers, appearing on his own three songs, plus "Change Is Now" and "Old John Robertson". Crosby also appears on several of the bonus tracks included on the 1997 reissue, including "Triad", "Universal Mind Decoder" and an early version of "Goin' Back".
Gene Clark's return
Following Crosby's departure, Gene ClarkGene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
was asked to rejoin the band. Clark had originally left The Byrds in early 1966 due to his fear of flying
Fear of flying
A fear of flying is a fear of being on an airplane , or other flying vehicle, such as a helicopter, while in flight. It is also sometimes referred to as aerophobia, aviatophobia, aviophobia or pteromerhanophobia....
and his tendency towards anxiety and paranoia. His debut solo album (co-produced by The Byrds' then current producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, Gary Usher, with both Clarke and Hillman playing on it) had been a critical success but a commercial failure and Clark was currently inactive. Gene Clark rejoined The Byrds in October 1967 for three weeks, during which time he and the band performed on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Smothers Brothers
The Smothers Brothers are Thomas and Richard , American singers, musicians, comedians and folk heroes. The brothers' trademark act was performing folk songs , which usually led to arguments between the siblings...
television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
, lip-syncing
Lip sync
Lip sync, lip-sync, lip-synch is a technical term for matching lip movements with sung or spoken vocals...
"Goin' Back" and "Mr. Spaceman
Mr. Spaceman
"Mr. Spaceman" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds and was the third track on their 1966 album Fifth Dimension. The song was initially written by band member Jim McGuinn as a "melodramatic screenplay" but it soon evolved into a whimsical meditation on the existence of extraterrestrial...
". The Byrds also played several live dates with Clark during a tour of the Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
. Following the final concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
of the tour, Clark's fear of flying again became a problem when it prevented him from taking a flight to New York with his bandmates and as a result, he left the band soon after.
It has been debated by biographers and band historians just how involved Clark was in the recording of The Notorious Byrd Brothers. There is evidence in the form of studio documentation and eyewitness accounts to suggest that Clark did contribute backing vocals
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
to two songs: "Goin' Back" and "Space Odyssey". One of the aforementioned eyewitnesses, John Noreen of the L.A. folk rock band The Rose Garden
The Rose Garden (band)
The Rose Garden was an American folk rock musical group from Los Angeles, California which was active in 1967 and 1968.The members were Diana DeRose on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, John Noreen on 12-string guitar and backup vocal, James Groshong on lead vocal and guitar, William Fleming on bass...
, has stated in an interview that he clearly remembers being at Columbia Recording Studios during sessions for the album and seeing Clark record his backing vocals. This has been corroborated by another eyewitness, The Rose Garden's drummer, Bruce Bowdin, who has claimed that Clark's voice can be heard most clearly on the mono
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
mix
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
of "Goin' Back" that was released as a single. However, if Clark is indeed present on either "Space Odyssey" or "Goin' Back", his contributions are not obvious and must have been buried very low in the mix
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
by producer Gary Usher. The Byrds' lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
ist, Roger McGuinn, cannot remember whether Clark contributed to the album or not but he has admitted that it is possible. McGuinn has, however, gone on record as stating that he wrote the song "Get to You" with Clark, and that the writing credits on the album are mistaken; they should have read McGuinn/Clark, rather than McGuinn/Hillman.
Music
Despite its troubled genesis, the album contains some of the band's most gentle and ethereal music, as well as some of its most progressive and experimental. LyricallyLyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
, it attempted to deal with many contemporary themes such as peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
, ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
, freedom, drug use
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
, alienation
Social alienation
The term social alienation has many discipline-specific uses; Roberts notes how even within the social sciences, it “is used to refer both to a personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship”...
and mankind's place in the universe. The album, as a whole, represented the apex of the McGuinn–Crosby–Hillman songwriting partnership, and took the musical experimentation of the original Byrds to its farthest logical extreme, mixing folk rock, country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, psychedelia
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
and jazz, often within a single song. The band and producer Gary Usher also used a number of innovative studio-based production techniques on the album, in particular making heavy use of phasing, spatial panning, and rotary speaker effects
Leslie speaker
The Leslie speaker is a specially constructed amplifier/loudspeaker used to create special audio effects using the Doppler effect. Named after its inventor, Donald Leslie, it is particularly associated with the Hammond organ but is used with a variety of instruments as well as vocals. The...
.
The band also began experimenting with the Moog modular synthesizer on a number of tracks, making The Notorious Byrd Brothers one of the very first rock albums to feature the instrument. McGuinn had first discovered the Moog during the Monterey Pop Festival, where the instrument's inventor, Robert Moog
Robert Moog
Robert Arthur Moog , commonly called Bob Moog was an American pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer.-Life:...
, had set up a booth to demonstrate his new creation to the musicians who were performing at the festival. Being something of an electronics buff, McGuinn was eager to experiment with the synthesizer in the recording studio, although reportedly, Hillman failed to share his enthusiasm for the instrument. Although McGuinn and Usher played the Moog parts on the song "Space Odyssey" themselves, they ceded the instrument's other appearances on the album to electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
pioneer and session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
Paul Beaver
Paul Beaver
Paul Beaver was a jazz musician and a pioneer in popular electronic music, using the Moog synthesizer.Beaver was the electronic half of a 1965 experimental free-form album for Dunhill Records with studio drummer Hal Blaine called "Psychedelic Percussion"...
. The album also featured the pedal steel guitar
Pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
playing of session musician Red Rhodes
Red Rhodes
Rhodes played pedal steel on many country rock, pop and rock albums with The Monkees, James Taylor, Seals and Crofts, The Byrds, The Carpenters and many other groups. He is most often remembered for his work with former Monkee Michael Nesmith on Nesmith's first solo albums in the early 1970s...
, which represented the first use of the instrument on a Byrds' recording. This use of pedal steel, along with Clarence White's countrified guitar playing, foreshadowed the country rock direction that the band would explore on their next album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo is the sixth album by American rock band The Byrds and was released on August 30, 1968 on Columbia Records...
.
The album's opening track, "Artificial Energy", features a prominent horn section
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
and as such, can be seen as a stylistic relative of "Lady Friend" and "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star
So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star
"So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by Jim McGuinn and Chris Hillman and included on their 1967 album, Younger Than Yesterday. The song was released as a single on January 9, 1967 and reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 but failed to...
", two earlier Byrds' songs that made use of brass
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
. The song deals with the dark side of amphetamine
Amphetamine
Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...
use and it was Chris Hillman who initially suggested that the band should "write a song about speed". The title was suggested by drummer Michael Clarke, and his input in the creation of the song was sufficient to afford him a rare writing credit. Although the song's lyrics initially seem to be extolling the virtues of amphetamines, the tale turns darker in the final verse
Song structure (popular music)
The structures or musical forms of songs in popular music are typically sectional, repeating forms, such as strophic form. Other common forms include thirty-two-bar form, verse-chorus form, and the twelve bar blues...
when it becomes apparent that the drug taker has been imprisoned for murdering a homosexual man, as evidenced by the song's final couplet: "I'm coming down off amphetamine/And I'm in jail 'cause I killed a queen
Queen (gay slang)
In gay slang, queen is a term used to refer to flamboyant or effeminate gay men. The term can either be pejorative or celebrated as a type of self-identification.-Drag queen:...
." Although The Byrds had been accused of writing songs about drugs
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
in the past, specifically with "Eight Miles High
Eight Miles High
"Eight Miles High" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn, and David Crosby and first released as a single on March 14, 1966 . The single managed to reach the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 30 of the UK Singles Chart...
" and "5D (Fifth Dimension)
5D (Fifth Dimension)
"5D " is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by band member Jim McGuinn. It was released as a single on June 13, 1966 and reached #44 on the Billboard Hot 100 but failed to chart in the United Kingdom. The song was also included on the band's third album, Fifth Dimension, released...
", when the band finally did record a song unequivocally dealing with drugs, it was largely ignored by the press
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
.
"Artificial Energy" is followed on the album by the poignant and nostalgic Goffin–King song "Goin' Back". With its chiming 12-string Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
guitar and laid-back harmonies
Vocal harmony
Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...
, the song provides a sharp contrast to the negativity and violence of the opening track. The song's lyrics describe an attempt on the part of the singer to reject the cynicism that comes with being an adult in favor of the innocence of childhood. Thematically, the song recalled the title of The Byrds' previous album, Younger Than Yesterday
Younger Than Yesterday
Younger Than Yesterday is the fourth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in February 1967 on Columbia Records . The album saw the band continuing to integrate elements of psychedelic rock into their music, a process they had begun on their previous LP...
, and the understated pedal steel guitar playing of Red Rhodes gives the track a subtle country flavor.
A second Goffin–King composition, "Wasn't Born to Follow", also displays country and western influences, albeit filtered through the band's psychedelic and garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
tendencies. The song's country leanings are underscored by the criss-crossing musical dialogue between the electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and pedal steel. The rural ambiance is further heightened by the striking imagery of the lyrics which outline the need for escape and independence: a subject perfectly in keeping with the hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
ethos of the day. Another song on the album that deals with the need to escape the confines of society is David Crosby's "Dolphin's Smile". The song was an early example of Crosby's penchant for using nautical imagery in his songs, a thematic trait he would utilize in future compositions, including "Wooden Ships
Wooden Ships
"Wooden Ships" is a rock song written and composed by David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Paul Kantner in the late 1960s. The song was written and composed in Florida on Crosby's boat...
" and "The Lee Shore". The theme of unfettered idyllic bliss is further explored in the Chris Hillman-penned "Natural Harmony". Like "Goin' Back", "Natural Harmony" conveys a sense of longing for the innocence of youth, albeit filtered through the awareness-raising properties of psychedelic drug
Psychedelic drug
A psychedelic substance is a psychoactive drug whose primary action is to alter cognition and perception. Psychedelics are part of a wider class of psychoactive drugs known as hallucinogens, a class that also includes related substances such as dissociatives and deliriants...
s. It has been suggested by some commentators that the song exhibits the strong influence of David Crosby's writing style, with its laid-back, jazzy feel and dreamy, high tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
vocal part.
The McGuinn and Hillman composition "Change Is Now", with its lyrics advising the listener to live life to the full, represents a celebration of the philosophy of carpe diem
Carpe diem
Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace that has become an aphorism. It is popularly translated as "seize the day"...
(popularly translated as "seize the day"). Within this context, the song's lyrics explored a number of other themes, including epiphenomenalism
Epiphenomenalism
In philosophy of mind, epiphenomenalism, also known as Type-E Dualism, is a view that "mental" states do not have any influence on "physical" states.-Background:...
, communalism
Communalism
Communalism is a term with three distinct meanings according to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary'.'These include "a theory of government or a system of government in which independent communes participate in a federation". "the principles and practice of communal ownership"...
and human ecology
Human ecology
Human ecology is the subdiscipline of ecology that focuses on humans. More broadly, it is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The term 'human ecology' first appeared in a sociological study in 1921...
. The quasi-philosophical nature of the song prompted McGuinn to flippantly describe it in a 1969 interview as "another one of those guru-spiritual-mystic songs that no-one understood." An early instrumental recording of the song, listed under its original working title
Working title
A working title, sometimes called a production title, is the temporary name of a product or project used during its development, usually used in filmmaking, television production, novel, video game, or music album.-Purpose:...
of "Universal Mind Decoder", was included as a bonus track on the 1997 reissue of The Notorious Byrd Brothers. "Change Is Now" is notable for being the only song on the album to feature both David Crosby and future Byrd Clarence White together on the same track.
"Draft Morning" is a song about the horrors of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
as well as a protest against the conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
of men into the military
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
during the conflict. The song was initially written by David Crosby but he was fired from The Byrds shortly after he had introduced it to the rest of the band. However, work had already begun on the song's instrumental backing track by the time of Crosby's departure. Controversially, McGuinn and Hillman decided to continue working on the song, despite its author no longer being a member of the band. Having only heard the song's lyrics in their original incarnation a few times, McGuinn and Hillman couldn't remember all of the words when they came to record the vocals and so decided to rewrite the song with their own lyrical additions, giving themselves a co-writing credit in the process. This angered Crosby considerably, since he felt, with some justification, that McGuinn and Hillman had stolen his song. Despite its troubled evolution, "Draft Morning" is often considered one of David Crosby's best songs from his tenure with The Byrds. Lyrically, it follows a newly recruited soldier from the morning of his induction into the military through to his experiences of combat and as such, illustrates the predicament faced by many young American men during the 1960s. The song also makes extensive use of battlefield sound effects, provided for the band by the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Firesign Theatre
The Firesign Theatre
The Firesign Theatre is an American comedy troupe consisting of Phil Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman and Philip Proctor. Their brand of surrealistic humor is best known through their record albums, which acquired a cult following in the late 1960s and early '70s.The troupe began as live radio...
.
Another of Crosby's songwriting contributions to the album, "Tribal Gathering", was, for many years, assumed to have been inspired by the Human Be-In: A Gathering Of Tribes
Human Be-In
The Human Be-In was a happening in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the afternoon and evening of January 14, 1967. It was a prelude to San Francisco's Summer of Love, which made the Haight-Ashbury district a symbol as the center of an American counterculture and introduced the word 'psychedelic'...
, a counter-culture
Counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...
happening
Happening
A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings take place anywhere , are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience...
held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...
on January 12, 1967. However, in recent years, Crosby has revealed that the song was actually inspired by another hippie gathering held at Elysian Park
Elysian Park, Los Angeles, California
Elysian Park is a park and adjacent neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles, California.Encompassing Chavez Ravine where Dodger Stadium is located, Elysian Park is mostly a hillside community that is also home to the Los Angeles Police Academy....
near Los Angeles on March 26, 1967. Played in a jazzy, 5/4 time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
, the song's vocal arrangement was greatly influenced by the music of The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen is a multiple Grammy-nominated American male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmony jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires , The Pied Pipers , and The Mel-Tones , founded in the barbershop tradition...
, a vocal group that Crosby had admired as a youngster. Another song on the album that uses a 5/4 time signature, albeit with occasional shifts into 3/4 time, is the Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark composition "Get to You". The song recounts a plane trip to London, England just prior to the advent of autumn but the identity of the enigmatic "you" mentioned in the song's title is not specified in the lyrics and thus, can be interpreted as either a waiting lover or as the city of London itself. Although Clark helped to co-write the song, he had left The Byrds by the time it was recorded and therefore does not appear on the track.
"Old John Robertson", which had already been issued some six months earlier as the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of the "Lady Friend" single, was another country-tinged song that looked forward to the band's future country rock experimentation. The song was inspired by a retired film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
who lived in the small town near San Diego where Chris Hillman grew up. John S. Robertson
John S. Robertson
John Stuart Robertson was a Canadian born actor and later film director perhaps best known for his 1920 screen adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, starring John Barrymore. He broke into filmmaking in 1915 with Vitagraph, then with Famous Players-Lasky, making 57 features in his career...
was something of an eccentric figure around the town, regularly wearing a Stetson hat
Stetson
Stetsons are the brand of hat manufactured by the John B. Stetson Company of St. Joseph, Missouri.Stetson eventually became the world’s largest hat maker, producing over 3.3 million hats a year in a factory spread over . Today Stetson remains a family-owned concern...
and sporting a white handlebar moustache
Handlebar moustache
A handlebar moustache is a moustache with particularly lengthy, upward curved, extremities. It is named for its resemblance to the handlebars of a bicycle. It is also known as a "spaghetti moustache", because of its stereotypical association with Italian men...
, which gave him the appearance of a character out of the old American West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
. In the song, Hillman recalls the children of the town and their cruel laughter at this colorful figure, as well as the combination of awe and fear that he elicited in the townsfolk. During the recording of the song, Crosby switched instruments with Hillman to play bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
instead of his usual rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
. The track also makes liberal use of the studio effects known as phasing
Phasing
In the compositional technique phasing, the same part is played on two musical instruments, in steady but not identical tempo...
and flanging
Flanging
Flanging is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, with one signal delayed by a small and gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a swept comb filter effect: peaks and notches are produced in the resultant frequency spectrum,...
, particularly during the song's orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l middle section and subsequent verse. The version of "Old John Robertson" found on the B-side of the "Lady Friend" single is a substantially different mix
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
from the version that appears on The Notorious Byrd Brothers album.
The final track on the album, "Space Odyssey", is a musical retelling of Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
's short story "The Sentinel
The Sentinel (short story)
"The Sentinel" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, which was expanded and modified into the novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Clarke expressed impatience with the common description of it as "the story on which 2001 is based." He was quoted as saying, it is like comparing "an acorn to...
", which was also the inspiration for Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
. The song makes extensive use of the Moog modular synthesizer and features a droning, dirge-like melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
reminiscent of a sea shanty
Sea shanty
A shanty is a type of work song that was once commonly sung to accompany labor on board large merchant sailing vessels. Shanties became ubiquitous in the 19th century era of the wind-driven packet and clipper ships...
. Since "Space Odyssey" predates the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, McGuinn and his co-writer, Robert J. Hippard, composed lyrics that referred to a pyramid
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...
being found on the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, as was the case in "The Sentinel". However, the pyramid was replaced by a rectangular monolith
Monolith
A monolith is a geological feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock, or a single piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument...
in both the film and the accompanying novelization
Novelization
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...
.
Release and reception
The Notorious Byrd Brothers was released on January 15, 1968 in the United States (catalogue item CL 2775 in monoMonaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
, CS 9575 in stereo
Stereophonic sound
The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...
) and on April 12, 1968 in the UK (catalogue item 63169 in mono, S 63169 in stereo). However, there is some evidence to suggest that the U.S. release date may have been brought forward to January 3, 1968. Regardless, the album's appearance during the first month of 1968 surprised many fans of the band, who had been led to believe by contemporary press reports that the album was still in the planning stages. It peaked at #47 on the Billboard Top LPs
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, during a chart stay of 19 weeks, but fared better in the United Kingdom where it reached #12, spending a total of 11 weeks on the UK chart. The album's front cover photograph was taken by Guy Webster, who had also been responsible for the cover of The Byrds' Turn! Turn! Turn!
Turn! Turn! Turn! (album)
Turn! Turn! Turn! is the second album by the folk rock band The Byrds and was released in December 1965 on Columbia Records . Like its predecessor, Mr. Tambourine Man, the album epitomized the folk rock genre and continued the band's successful mix of vocal harmony and jangly twelve-string...
album. The "Goin' Back" single was released ahead of the album on October 20, 1967 and reached #89 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
but failed to chart in the UK. The album is notable for being the last Byrds LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
to be commercially issued in mono in the United States, although subsequent albums continued to be released in both mono and stereo variations overseas.
The album was almost universally well received by the music press upon release, with Jon Landau
Jon Landau
Jon Landau is an American music critic, manager and record producer, most known for his association in all three capacities with Bruce Springsteen.He is currently the head of the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame....
in the newly launched Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine noting that "When The Byrds get it together on record they are consistently brilliant." Landau went on to praise The Byrds' musical eclecticism, before stating "Their music is possessed by a never-ending circularity and a rich, child-like quality. It has a timelessness to it, not in the sense that you think their music will always be valid, but in the sense that it is capable of forcing you to suspend consciousness of time altogether." Crawdaddy!
Crawdaddy!
Crawdaddy! was the first U.S. magazine of rock and roll music criticism. Created in 1966 by college student Paul Williams in response to the increasing sophistication and cultural influence of popular music, Crawdaddy! was self-described as "the first magazine to take rock and roll...
magazine was also enthusiastic in its praise of the album, with Sandy Pearlman
Sandy Pearlman
Sandy Pearlman is an American music producer, artist manager, professor, poet, songwriter, and once was a record company executive...
describing it as "enchantingly beautiful". Pete Johnson, in his review for the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, summed up the album as "11 good songs spiked with electronic music, strings, brass, natural and supernatural voices, and the familiar thick texture of McGuinn's guitar playing."
In a contemporary review published in Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
magazine, famed music critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
described The Notorious Byrd Brothers as "simply the best album the Byrds have ever recorded." Christgau went on to rank it with other releases of the era by Love
Love (band)
Love was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols...
(Forever Changes
Forever Changes
Forever Changes is the third album by American rock band Love, released by Elektra Records in November 1967. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Forever Changes 40th in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time...
) and The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
(Wild Honey
Wild Honey (album)
-Singles:* "Wild Honey" b/w "Wind Chimes" , 23 October 1967 US #31; UK #29* "Darlin'" b/w "Here Today" , 18 December 1967 US #19; UK #11....
), remarking "[i]t's hard to believe that so much good can come out of one place [i.e. Los Angeles]." In the UK, Record Mirror
Record Mirror
Record Mirror was a British weekly pop music newspaper, founded by Isadore Green and featured, news articles, interviews, record charts, record reviews, concert reviews, letters from readers and photographs. The paper became respected by both mainstream pop music fans and serious record collectors...
gave the album a rare five-star rating, commenting "Hard though it was for The Byrds to follow-up their near-perfect Younger Than Yesterday album, they've done it with this fantastic disc." The Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
newspaper was also complimentary about the album, describing it as "A beautiful selection, representing US pop at its finest." Beat Instrumental concluded their review by stating "It's true to say that The Byrds are one of the two best groups in the world. Nobody can say any different with the proof of this album."
In 1997, Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke
David Fricke
David Fricke is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he writes predominantly on rock music. In the 1990s, he was managing editor before stepping down.-Background:David Fricke is a graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania...
described the album as The Byrds' "finest hour" and "the work of a great rock & roll band, in every special sense of the word". On his official website, Robert Christgau again commented on the album, declaring that The Notorious Byrd Brothers (along with its follow-up, Sweetheart of the Rodeo) is "[one] of the most convincing arguments for artistic freedom ever to come out of American rock". Parke Puterbaugh, writing for the Rolling Stone website in 1999, noted the presence of "burbling Moog synthesizers and purring steel guitars" on the album, which he ultimately described as "a brilliant window onto an unforgettable place and time".
Legacy
Over the years, The Notorious Byrd Brothers has gained in reputation and is often considered the group's best work, while the contentious incidents surrounding its making have been largely forgotten. The album managed to capture the band at the height of their creative powers, as they pushed ahead lyrically, musically and technically into new sonic territory. Band biographer Johnny RoganJohnny Rogan
Johnny Rogan is an author of Irish descent best known for his books about music and popular culture. He has written influential biographies of The Byrds, The Smiths and Van Morrison. His writing is characterised by "an almost neurotic attention to detail", epic length and a sometimes hostile...
has noted that The Byrds' greatest accomplishment on the album was in creating a seamless mood piece from a variety of different sources, bound together by innovative studio experimentation. Although the album is widely regarded as the band's most experimental, its running time of a little under 29 minutes also makes it their briefest.
The album was voted the fourth-best album ever in a 1971 ZigZag
ZigZag (magazine)
ZigZag was a British rock music magazine. It was started by Pete Frame and the first edition rolled off the printing presses on 16 April 1969...
magazine readers' poll and the 1977 edition of the Critic's Choice: Top 200 Albums book ranked it at #154 in a list of the "Greatest Rock Albums of All-Time". A subsequent edition of the book, published in 1988, ranked the album at #75. In 1995, Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
magazine placed the album at #36 in their list of "The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made". In 2003, the album was ranked at #171 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
" and #32 on the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
s list of the "100 Best Albums". In 2004, Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
magazine included the album in its list of "The Music that Changed the World".
The Notorious Byrd Brothers was remastered at 20-bit
Bit
A bit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states...
resolution as part of the Columbia/Legacy
Legacy Recordings
Legacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated...
Byrds series. It was reissued in an expanded form on March 25, 1997, with six bonus tracks, including Crosby's controversial ballad "Triad", the Indian
Indian classical music
The origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
-influenced "Moog Raga", and an instrumental backing track for the outtake
Outtake
An outtake is a portion of a work that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and DVD reissues of many albums and films as bonus tracks or features, in film often, but not...
"Bound to Fall". The final track on the CD extends to include a hidden track
Hidden track
In the field of recorded music, a hidden track is a piece of music that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, vinyl record or other recorded medium in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener...
featuring a radio advertisement by producer Gary Usher for the album, as well as a recording of an in-studio altercation between the band members.
Following the release of the album, The Byrds' recording of "Wasn't Born to Follow" was used in the 1969 film Easy Rider
Easy Rider
Easy Rider is a 1969 American road movie written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It tells the story of two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South with the aim of achieving freedom...
and included on the accompanying Easy Rider soundtrack album. In addition, the song "Change Is Now" has been covered by the progressive bluegrass band The Dixie Bee-Liners
The Dixie Bee-Liners
The Dixie Bee-Liners are an American Bluegrass group, formed in New York City in 2002 by Buddy Woodward and Brandi Hart. The band members currently reside in Bristol, Virginia, and Asheville, North Carolina...
, on the tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
Timeless Flyte: A Tribute to The Byrds — Full Circle, and by rock band Giant Sand
Giant Sand
Giant Sand is an American rock band, based in Tucson, Arizona, USA. The name is shortened from the original Giant Sandworms, a reference to the creatures in the Dune books. Overseen by singer-songwriter Howe Gelb, its membership has shifted over the years—at times with each album...
, on Time Between – A Tribute to The Byrds. Ric Menck, best known for being a member of the band Velvet Crush
Velvet Crush
Velvet Crush is a power pop band from Rhode Island that achieved prominence in indie-rock circles in the early- and mid-1990s. The band broke up in 1996 but re-formed in 1998 and have continued to record, releasing their most recent album in 2004...
, has written a book about the album for Continuum Publishing's 33⅓ series.
Side 1
- "Artificial Energy" (Roger McGuinnRoger McGuinnJames Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
, Chris HillmanChris HillmanChristopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....
, Michael ClarkeMichael Clarke (musician)Michael Clarke , was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the 1960s rock group The Byrds from 1964 to 1967. He died in 1993, at age 47, from liver failure, a direct result of more than three decades of heavy alcohol consumption.-Biography:Clarke was born Michael James Dick in...
) – 2:18 - "Goin' BackGoin' Back"Goin' Back" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King in 1966. It describes the loss of innocence that comes with adulthood along with an attempt, on the part of the singer, to recapture that youthful innocence...
" (Carole KingCarole KingCarole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
, Gerry GoffinGerry GoffinGerry Goffin is an American lyricist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 with former songwriting partner and first wife, Carole King. he has co-written six Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers.-Career:Goffin enlisted with the Marine Corps Reserve after graduating from...
) – 3:26 - "Natural Harmony" (Chris Hillman) – 2:11
- "Draft Morning" (David CrosbyDavid CrosbyDavid Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
, Chris Hillman, Roger McGuinn) – 2:42 - "Wasn't Born to Follow" (Carole King, Gerry Goffin) – 2:04
- "Get to You" (Gene ClarkGene ClarkGene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
, Roger McGuinn) – 2:39- NOTE: The album erroneously credits "Get to You" to Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn.
Side 2
- "Change Is Now" (Chris Hillman, Roger McGuinn) – 3:21
- "Old John Robertson" (Chris Hillman, Roger McGuinn) – 1:49
- "Tribal Gathering" (David Crosby, Chris Hillman) – 2:03
- "Dolphin's Smile" (David Crosby, Chris Hillman, Roger McGuinn) – 2:00
- "Space Odyssey" (Roger McGuinn, Robert J. Hippard) – 3:52
1997 CD reissue bonus tracks
- "Moog Raga" [Instrumental] (Roger McGuinn) – 3:24
- "Bound to Fall" [Instrumental] (Mike Brewer, Tom Mastin) – 2:08
- "TriadTriad (David Crosby song)"Triad" is a song written by David Crosby in 1967 about a ménage à trois, a subject perfectly in keeping with the "free love" hippie philosophies of the day. The song was written while Crosby was a member of the rock band The Byrds, who were at that time recording their fifth studio album, The...
" (David Crosby) – 3:29 - "Goin' Back" [Version One] (Carole King, Gerry Goffin) – 3:55
- "Draft Morning" [Alternate End] (David Crosby, Chris Hillman, Roger McGuinn) – 2:55
- "Universal Mind Decoder" [Instrumental] (Chris Hillman, Roger McGuinn) – 13:45
- NOTE: this song ends at 3:32; at 4:32 begins "The Notorious Byrd Brothers Radio Advertisement" which ends at 5:41; at 6:42 begins "Dolphin's Smile" [In-studio Argument] (David Crosby, Chris Hillman, Roger McGuinn).
Personnel
NOTES:- Due to his departure from the group, David CrosbyDavid CrosbyDavid Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
appears only on tracks 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 (plus bonus tracks 13–17). - Sources for this section are as follows:
The Byrds
- Roger McGuinnRoger McGuinnJames Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, Moog synthesizerMoog synthesizerMoog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - David Crosby – guitar, electric bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals - Chris HillmanChris HillmanChristopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....
– electric bass, vocals (mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
on "Draft Morning") - Michael ClarkeMichael Clarke (musician)Michael Clarke , was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the 1960s rock group The Byrds from 1964 to 1967. He died in 1993, at age 47, from liver failure, a direct result of more than three decades of heavy alcohol consumption.-Biography:Clarke was born Michael James Dick in...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
on tracks 1, 4, 8, 9, 10 (plus bonus tracks 16–17)
Additional Personnel
- Clarence WhiteClarence WhiteClarence White was a guitar player for Nashville West, The Byrds, Muleskinner, and the Kentucky Colonels. His parents were Acadians from New Brunswick, Canada...
, James BurtonJames BurtonJames Burton is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 , Burton has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame...
– guitar - Red RhodesRed RhodesRhodes played pedal steel on many country rock, pop and rock albums with The Monkees, James Taylor, Seals and Crofts, The Byrds, The Carpenters and many other groups. He is most often remembered for his work with former Monkee Michael Nesmith on Nesmith's first solo albums in the early 1970s...
– pedal steel guitarPedal steel guitarThe pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"... - Paul BeaverPaul BeaverPaul Beaver was a jazz musician and a pioneer in popular electronic music, using the Moog synthesizer.Beaver was the electronic half of a 1965 experimental free-form album for Dunhill Records with studio drummer Hal Blaine called "Psychedelic Percussion"...
, Terry Trotter – pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal... - Paul Beaver, Gary UsherGary UsherGary Usher was an American surf rock musician, songwriter, and record producer.-Biography:Usher's early life was spent in Grafton, Massachusetts. He attended Norcross Grammar School with his sister, Sandra, who was in the same class and was likely his twin. Gary was kiddingly called "Chicken Feed"...
– Moog synthesizer - Barry GoldbergBarry GoldbergBarry Goldberg is a blues and rock keyboardist, songwriter and record producer.-Career:As a teenager in Chicago, Goldberg sat in with Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, and Howlin' Wolf. He played keyboards in the band supporting Bob Dylan during his 1965 'electrified' appearance at the Newport Folk Festival...
– organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with... - Dennis McCarthyDennis McCarthy (composer)Dennis McCarthy is an ASCAP- and Emmy Award-winning composer, mostly for television programs and films produced in the United States....
– celesteCelestaThe celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators... - Jim GordonJim Gordon (musician)James Beck "Jim" Gordon is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award winner was one of the most requested session drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of the time, and was the drummer in the blues-rock supergroup Derek...
– drums (tracks 2, 3, 5, bonus tracks 13–15) - Hal BlaineHal BlaineHal Blaine is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by popular groups, including Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and...
– drums (tracks 6–7) - Lester Harris, Raymond Kelley, Paul Bergstrom, Jacqueline Lustgarten – celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
- Victor Sazer, Carl West, William Armstrong – violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Alfred McKibbon – double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
(bowed) - Ann Stockton – harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
- Richard Hyde – tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Jay MiglioriJay MiglioriJay Migliori was an American saxophonist, best known as a founding member of Supersax, a tribute band to Charlie Parker....
– saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846... - Roy Caron, Virgil Fums, Gary Weber – brassBrass instrumentA brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
- Dennis Faust, Gary Usher – percussion
- Curt BoettcherCurt BoettcherCurt Boettcher was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer from Wisconsin. His career spanned 1964 to 1983...
, Gary Usher – backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists... - Firesign Theatre – sound effectSound effectFor the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
s - Gene ClarkGene ClarkGene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
– possible backing vocal on "Goin' BackGoin' Back"Goin' Back" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King in 1966. It describes the loss of innocence that comes with adulthood along with an attempt, on the part of the singer, to recapture that youthful innocence...
" and "Space Odyssey" - unknown musicians – trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
("Draft Morning"), glockenspielGlockenspielA glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
("Goin' Back"), string quartetString quartetA string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
and additional fiddleFiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
("Old John Robertson")
Release history
| Date | Label | Format | Country | Catalog | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 15, 1968 | Columbia Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company... |
LP LP album The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... |
US | CL 2775 | Original mono Monaural Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path... release. |
| CS 9575 | Original stereo release. | ||||
| April 12, 1968 | CBS Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company... |
LP | UK | 63169 | Original mono release. |
| S 63169 | Original stereo release. | ||||
| 1973 | Embassy Embassy Records Embassy Records was originally a UK budget record label that produced cover versions of current hit songs that were sold exclusively in Woolworths shops at a cheaper price than the original recordings. As such, Embassy can be seen as the UK equivalent of U.S. labels such as Hit and Bell Records... |
LP | UK | EMB 31202 | Stereo reissue with the subtitle Space Odyssey. |
| 1976 | CBS | LP | UK | S 22040 | Double album stereo reissue with Sweetheart of the Rodeo Sweetheart of the Rodeo Sweetheart of the Rodeo is the sixth album by American rock band The Byrds and was released on August 30, 1968 on Columbia Records... . |
| 1987 | Edsel Demon Music Group Demon Records is a United Kingdom record label founded in 1980 by former United Artists A&R executive Andrew Lauder and Jake Riviera who had previously started Stiff Records... |
LP | UK | ED 262 | |
| 1987 | Edsel | CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
UK | EDCD 262 | Original CD release. |
| 1990 | Columbia | CD | US | CK 9575 | |
| March 25, 1997 | Columbia/Legacy Legacy Recordings Legacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated... |
CD | US | CK 65151 | Reissue containing six bonus tracks and the remastered stereo album. |
| UK | COL 4867512 | ||||
| 1999 | Simply Vinyl | LP | UK | SVLP 0006 | Reissue of the remastered stereo album. |
| 2003 | Sony Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation.... |
CD | Japan | MHCP-70 | Reissue containing six bonus tracks and the remastered album in a replica LP sleeve. |
| 2006 | Sundazed | LP | US | LP 5201 | Reissue of the original mono release. |
| 2006 | Columbia/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is a company known as an innovator in the production of audiophile-quality sound recordings. All releases are advertised as being produced from the first-generation analog master recordings, and using proprietary technology, which MFSL claims allows for improved sound... |
SACD Super Audio CD Super Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard... (Hybrid) |
US | UDSACD 2015 | Mono album plus stereo bonus tracks. |
Single release
- "Goin' Back" b/w "Change Is Now" (Columbia 44362) October 20, 1967 (US #89)
External links
- Snopes article about the significance of the horse on the album cover.