The Byrds: A Retrospective (1964-1990)

The Byrds A Retrospective: 1964-1990

Overview: Formed: 1964 Where: Los Angeles, California Disbanded: 1973 Reunited: 1990 font color=purple>History: “As Roger McGuinn once said of the Byrds, ‘It was Dylan meets the Beatles.’ The Byrds combined the upbeat, melodic pop of the Beatles with the message-oriented lyrics of Bob Dylan into a wholly original amalgam that would be branded folk-rock.” RH “The Byrds in turn influenced Dylan and the Beatles almost as much as Bob and the Fab Four had influenced the Byrds. The Byrds' innovations have echoed nearly as strongly through subsequent generations, in the work of Tom Petty, R.E.M., and innumerable alternative bands of the post-punk era that feature those jangling guitars and dense harmonies.” AM “They only attained the huge success of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys for a short time in the mid-‘60s, but time has judged the Byrds to be nearly as influential as those groups in the long run.” AM They “would have earned their place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” RH just on the strength of “their harmony-rich versions of Dylan’s Mr. Tambourine Man and Pete Seeger’s Turn! Turn! Turn!, drenched in the 12-string jangle of McGuinn's Rickenbacker guitar.” RH “The Byrds built their sound upon the three-part harmonies of McGuinn, Clark and Crosby. Vocal harmonies were a feature of the L.A. pop scene, which also boasted the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, the Mamas and the Papas, and the Turtles. The Byrds were unique among them in their chameleonic capacity for reinvention with each new single and album.” RH “The group continually broke ground,” RH “particularly during the peak years of 1965-1967, when the Byrds broke the Top Forty seven times while” RH “creating revelatory syntheses of sound” RH that only began with folk-rock. The Byrds “were not solely responsible for devising folk-rock, but they were certainly more responsible than any other single act (Dylan included) for melding the innovations and energy of the British Invasion with the best lyrical and musical elements of contemporary folk music. The jangling, 12-string guitar sound of leader Roger McGuinn's Rickenbacker was permanently absorbed into the vocabulary of rock.” AM The Byrds influence stretched to more than just folk-rock to other forms “that were given such hyphenated names as space-rock (5D [Fifth Dimension]), psychedelic-rock (Eight Miles High) and country-rock (their Sweethearts of the Rodeo album). At a time when rock and roll was exploding in all fronts, the Byrds led the way with an insatiable curiosity about the forms and directions pop music could take. In so doing, they became peers and equals of their mentors, Dylan and the Beatles.” RH font color=purple>The Beginning: “It was something of a miracle that the group had managed to coalesce in the first place. Not a single member of the original quintet had extensive experience on electric instruments.” AM “Jim McGuinn (he'd change his first name to Roger a few years later), David Crosby, and Gene Clark were all young veterans of both commercial folk-pop troupes and the acoustic coffeehouse scene.” AM “McGuinn had been a folk-music accompanist for such acts as the Limelighters, the Chad Mitchell Trio and Judy Collins, among others” RH and “had already been playing Beatles songs acoustically in Los Angeles folk clubs when Clark approached him to form an act, according to subsequent recollections, in the Peter & Gordon style.” AM “Crosby soon joined to make them a trio and they made a primitive demo as the Jet Set that was nonetheless bursting with promise. With the help of session musicians, they released a single on Elektra as the Beefeaters that, while a flop, showed them getting quite close to the folk-rock sound that would electrify the pop scene in a few months.” AM “The Beefeaters, soon renamed the Byrds, were fleshed out to a quintet with the addition of drummer Michael Clarke and bluegrass mandolinist Chris Hillman, who was enlisted to play electric bass, although he had never played the instrument before. The band was so lacking in equipment in their early stages that Clarke played on cardboard boxes during their first rehearsals, but they determined to master their instruments and become a full-fledged rock band (many demos from this period would later surface for official release).” AM font color=purple>Mr. Tambourine Man: “They managed to procure a demo of a new Dylan song, Mr. Tambourine Man; by eliminating some verses and adding instantly memorable 12-string guitar leads and Beatlesque harmonies, they came up with the first big folk-rock smash (though the Beau Brummels and others had begun exploring similar territory as well).” AM As their debut single, the Byrds’ couldn’t have hoped for better – the song was a #1 hit in mid-’65. “The band's vocals and McGuinn's inimitable Rickenbacker were backed by session musicians, although the band themselves (contrary to some widely circulated rumors) performed on their subsequent recordings.” AM font color=purple>The American Beatles: “The first long-haired American group to compete with the British Invasion bands visually as well as musically, the Byrds were soon anointed as the American counterpart to the Beatles by the press, legions of fans, and George Harrison himself. Their 1965 debut LP, Mr. Tambourine Man, was a fabulous album that mixed stellar interpretations of Dylan and Pete Seeger tunes with strong, more romantic and pop-based originals, usually written by Gene Clark in the band's early days. A few months later, their version of Seeger's Turn! Turn! Turn! became another number-one hit and instant classic, featuring more great chiming guitar lines and ethereal, interweaving harmonies. While their second LP (Turn! Turn! Turn!) wasn't as strong as their debut full-length, the band continued to move forward at a dizzying pace.” AM font color=purple>The Psychedelic Era: “In early 1966, the Eight Miles High single heralded the birth of psychedelia, with its drug-like (intentionally or otherwise) lyrical imagery, rumbling bass line, and a frenzied McGuinn.” AM “12-string [guitar] solo [that] bore elements of both John Coltrane’s modal jazz innovations and the drone of an Indian raga.” RH The song was “about the group’s flight to England for a tour – though it also tapped into the mysterious ether into which the larger counterculture had been piloting itself, politically and philosophically no less than pharmacologically.” RH “‘Eight Miles High,’ amazingly, would be their last Top 20 single; many radio stations banned the record for its alleged drug references, halting its progress at number 14. This ended the Byrds’ brief period as commercial challengers to the Beatles, but they regrouped impressively in the face of the setbacks.” AM font color=purple>Gene Clark Departs: “The Byrds suffered a major loss right after ‘Eight Miles High’ with the departure of Gene Clark, their primary songwriter and, along with McGuinn, chief lead vocalist. The reason for his resignation, ironically, was fear of flying, although other pressures were at work as well…Continuing as a quartet, McGuinn, Crosby, and Hillman would assume…the songwriting responsibilities. The third album, Fifth Dimension, contained more groundbreaking folk-rock and psychedelia…although it (like several of their classic early albums) mixed sheer brilliance with tracks that were oddly half-baked or carelessly executed.” AM font color=purple>Crosby and Clarke Also Take Flight: “Younger Than Yesterday, (1967) which included the small hits So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star and My Back Pages (another Dylan cover), was another high point, Hillman and Crosby in particular taking their writing to a new level. In 1967, Crosby would assert a much more prominent role in the band, singing and writing some of his best material. He wasn't getting along so well with McGuinn and Hillman, though, and was jettisoned from the Byrds partway into the recording of The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Gene Clark, drafted back into the band as a replacement, left after only a few weeks, and by the end of 1967, Michael Clarke was also gone. Remarkably, in the midst of this chaos (not to mention diminishing record sales), they continued to sound as good as ever on Notorious. This was another effort that mixed electronic experimentation and folk-rock mastery with aplomb, with hints of a growing interest in country music.” AM font color=purple>Gram Parsons and the Birth of Country Rock: “As McGuinn and Hillman rebuilt the group one more time in early 1968, McGuinn mused upon the exciting possibility of a double album that would play as nothing less than a history of contemporary music, evolving from traditional folk and country to jazz and electronic music. Toward this end, he hired Gram Parsons, he has since said, to play keyboards. Under Parsons’ influence, however, the Byrds were soon going full blast into country music, with Parsons taking a large share of the guitar and vocal chores. In 1968, McGuinn, Hillman, Parsons, and drummer Kevin Kelly recorded Sweetheart of the Rodeo, which was probably the first album to be widely labeled as country-rock.” AM “Opinions as to the merits of Rodeo remain sharply divided among Byrds fans. Some see it as a natural continuation of the group's innovations; other bewail the loss of the band’s trademark crystalline guitar jangle, and the short-circuited potential of McGuinn’s most ambitious experiments. However one feels, there's no doubt that it marked the end, or at least a drastic revamping, of the ‘classic’ Byrds sound of the 1965-1968 period (bookended by the Tambourine Man and Notorious albums). Parsons, the main catalyst for the metamorphosis, left the band after about six months, partially in objection to a 1968 Byrds tour of South Africa. It couldn't have helped, though, that McGuinn replaced several of Parsons’ lead vocals on Rodeo with his own at the last minute, ostensibly due to contractual obstacles that prevented Parsons from singing on Columbia releases. (Some tracks with Parsons' lead vocals snuck on anyway, and a few others surfaced in the 1990s on the Byrds box set).” AM font color=purple>McGuinn, the Last Original Byrd: “Chris Hillman left the Byrds by the end of 1968 to form the Flying Burrito Brothers with Parsons” AM which meant “McGuinn was the only original member of the four-man lineup that lasted from 1969-72.” RH This lineup included “bassist Skip Battin and drummer Gene Parsons” RH and, “most notably, former country picker Clarence White.” AM “Essentially the Byrds name was a front for Roger McGuinn and backing band. Opinions, again, remain sharply divided about the merits of latter-day Byrds albums. McGuinn was (and is) such an idiosyncratic and pleasurable talent that fans and critics are inclined to give him some slack; no one else plays the 12-string as well, he's a fine arranger, and his Lennon-meets-Dylan vocals are immediately distinctive. Yet aside from some good echoes of vintage Byrds like Chestnut Mare, Jesus Is Just Alright, and Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man, nothing from the post-1968 Byrds albums resonates with nearly the same effervescent quality and authority of their classic 1965-1968 period. This is partly because McGuinn is an erratic (though occasionally fine) songwriter; it's also because the Byrds at their peak were very much a unit of diverse and considerable talents, not just a front for their leader's ideas.” AM “This version of the Byrds recorded several albums…and evolved into a tightly knit performing group, outstripping the original lineup on that count. Sadly, guitarist White was killed when he stepped in front of a truck in 1973.” RH “The Byrds’ diminishing importance must have stung McGuinn doubly in light of the rising profiles of several Byrds alumni as the '60s turned into the '70s. David Crosby was a superstar with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Hillman, Parsons, and (for a while) Michael Clarke were taking country-rock further with the Flying Burrito Brothers; even Gene Clark, though he'd dropped out of sight commercially, was recording some respected country-rock albums on his own.” AM font color=purple>A Brief Reunion: “The five original Byrds convened for an ill-fated reunion album in 1973.” RH; “Though it made the Top 20, it was the first, and one of the most flagrant, examples of the futility of a great band reuniting in an attempt to recapture the lightning one last time.” AM font color=purple>Beyond the Byrds: “The original Byrds continued to pursue solo careers and outside projects throughout the 1970s and 1980s.” AM McGuinn, Clark and Hillman had solo careers and, as a trio, “had some success at the end of the 1970s with an adult contemporary variation on the Byrds’ sound.” AM Hillman was also a “member of Souther, Hillman and Furay” RH and “enjoyed mainstream country success with the Desert Rose Band.” AM Crosby had the greatest commercial success in his continued involvement “as part of the harmony-based supergroup Crosby, Stills and Nash” RH and battled “substance abuse and related health problems in the late Eighties;” RH Clarke was the drummer for Firefall. “The Byrds’ legend was tarnished by squabbles over which members of the original lineup had the rights to use the Byrds name; for quite a while, …Clarke even toured with a ‘Byrds’ that featured no other original members.” RH “McGuinn, Hillman and Crosby reunited to perform as the Byrds in 1989, in order to legally reclaim the name, and recorded four songs for The Byrds box set, released in 1990.” RH “The Byrds were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991; Gene Clark died several months later, and Michael Clarke died in 1993, permanently scotching prospects of a reunion involving the original quintet.” AM The Players Gene Clark (v/percussion: 1964-66, 73) Roger “Jim” McGuinn (v/g – 1964-73, 89-90) Chris Hillman (b/v/ mandolin: 1964-68, 73, 89-90) David Crosby (v/g: 1964-67,73, 89-90) Michael Clarke (d: 1964-67, 73) Jim Gordon (d: 1967) Gram Parsons (v/g/k: 1967-68) Kevin Kelly (d: 1967-68) Doug Dillard (v/banjo/g – touring band: Spring ‘68) Clarence White (g: 1969-71) John York (b: 1969-71) Glen Parsons (d: 1969-71) Skip Battin (b: 1970-73) John Jorgenson (g: 1989-90) Steve Duncan (d: 1989-90) v = vocals; g = guitar; b = bass; k = keyboards; d = drums Hillman, Gram Parsons, and Clarke were also in Flying Burrito Brothers together; Battin was later a member. Hillman, Jorgenson, and Duncan were in the Desert Rose Band together. Links DMDB encyclopedia entry for Act TheByrds.com (fan site) Byrd Watcher (excellent site for detailed discographies of the Byrds, their members, and off-shoots) Facebook Wikipedia

Awards

Studio Albums

Compilations G1 Greatest Hits (covers 1965-67, released 1967) BS The Byrds (box set: 1965-90, released 1990) 20 20 Essential Tracks from the Boxed Set (covers 1965-1990, released 1992) CODE Album Title (years covered, year released) Spotify Playlist Here’s my Title of Playlist playlist at Spotify for this artist. Under each album snapshot, songs featured on the anthologies are noted. If the song charted, the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. Click for codes to charts.

Preflyte/In the Beginning/The Preflyte Sessions (archives) The Byrds

Recorded: 1964-1965 Released: July 29, 1969 (Preflyte) Peak: 84 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 2.797 out of 5.00 (average of 14 ratings)

Tracks: You Showed Me (Clark/ McGuinn) Here without You She Has a Way The Reason Why For Me Again Boston You Movin’ The Airport Song (Crosby / McGuinn) You Won’t Have to Cry (Clark / McGuinn) I Knew I’d Want You Mr. Tambourine Man (Dylan) All songs written by Gene Clark unless noted otherwise. Total Running Time: -- About the Album: “Here without You,” “You Won’t Have to Cry,” “I Knew I’d Want You,” and “Mr. Tambourine Man” all appeared on the Byrds’ official debut, 1965’s Mr. Tambourine Man. In the Beginning added “The Only Girl I Adore,” “Please Let Me Love You,” “It’s No Use,” and two versions of “Tomorrow Is a Long Ways Away.” “It’s No Use” was also later featured on Mr. Tambourine Man. Preflyte Sessions gathers everything from both albums and adds more material to round it out to a full 40 tracks spread over 2 CDs. Comments here. Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

Mr. Tambourine Man The Byrds

Released: June 21, 1965 Peak: 6 US, 7 UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 4.369 out of 5.00 (average of 32 ratings)

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Tracks: A Total Running Time: -- About the Album: Comments here. Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

Turn! Turn! Turn! The Byrds

Released: December 12, 1965 Peak: 17 US, 11 UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 4.002 out of 5.00 (average of 30 ratings)

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Tracks: A Total Running Time: -- About the Album: Comments here. Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

Fifth Dimension The Byrds

Released: July 18, 1966 Peak: 24 US, 27 UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 3.972 out of 5.00 (average of 29 ratings)

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Younger Than Yesterday The Byrds

Released: February 6, 1967 Peak: 24 US, 37 UK, 5 CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 4.208 out of 5.00 (average of 33 ratings)

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Tracks: A Total Running Time: -- About the Album: Comments here. Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

Greatest Hits (compilation) The Byrds

Recorded: 1964-67 Released: August 7, 1967 Peak: 6 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Genre: folk rock Rating: 4.278 out of 5.00 (average of 24 ratings)

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Tracks: (1) Total Running Time: ? About the Album: A Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:

The Notorious Byrd Brothers The Byrds

Released: January 3, 1968 Peak: 47 US, 12 UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 4.219 out of 5.00 (average of 29 ratings)

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Sweetheart of the Rodeo The Byrds

Released: August 1968 Peak: 77 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Genre: folk rock Rating: 4.308 out of 5.00 (average of 38 ratings)

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Tracks: A Total Running Time: -- About the Album: Comments here. Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde The Byrds

Released: February 3, 1969 Peak: 153 US, 15 UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 2.654 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings)

Tracks: A Total Running Time: -- About the Album: Comments here. Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

Ballad of Easy Rider The Byrds

Released: November 10, 1969 Peak: 36 US, -- UK, 40 CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 3.136 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings)

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The Byrds (“Untitled”) The Byrds

Released: September 16, 1970 Peak: 40 US, 11 UK, 15 CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 3.400 out of 5.00 (average of 22 ratings)

Tracks: A Total Running Time: -- About the Album: Comments here. Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

Byrdmaniax The Byrds

Released: June 23, 1971 Peak: 46 US, -- UK, 23 CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 2.594 out of 5.00 (average of 17 ratings)

Tracks: A Total Running Time: -- About the Album: Comments here. Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

Farther Along The Byrds

Released: November 17, 1971 Peak: 152 US, -- UK, 41 CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 2.721 out of 5.00 (average of 16 ratings)

Tracks: A Total Running Time: -- About the Album: Comments here. Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

The Byrds (“Reunion Album”) The Byrds

Released: March 7, 1973 Peak: 20 US, 31 UK, 19 CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 2.824 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings)

Tracks: A Total Running Time: -- About the Album: Comments here. Go to the DMDB page for more about this album.

The Byrds (box set) The Byrds

Recorded: 1965-1990 Released: October 19, 1990 Peak: 151 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 4.428 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings)

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Tracks: (1) Total Running Time: ? About the Album: A Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:

20 Essential Tracks from the Boxed Set (compilation) The Byrds

Recorded: 1965-1990 Released: January 14, 1992 Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock Rating: 3.430 out of 5.00 (average of 16 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: (1) Total Running Time: ? About the Album: A Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com bio by Richie Unterberger RH Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Related DMDB Links: First posted 2/23/2008; last updated 10/17/2026.