1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #119. The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968)

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #119. The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968)

The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968)
Label – Columbia
Producer – Gary Usher
Art Direction – Uncredited
Nationality – USA
Running Time – 28:25

Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)

1. Artificial Energy
2. Goin' Back
3. Natural Harmony
4. Draft Morning
5. Wasn't Born To Follow
6. Get To You
7. Change Is Now
8. Old John Robertson
9. Tribal Gathering
10. Dolphin's Smile
11. Space Odyssey

This is the Byrds' fifth album released in January of 1968. Other than the “hits”, before listening to the 1001 list I had never heard a single Byrds record, this is the fourth one of theirs on the list. And “The Notorious Byrd Brothers” is a good one. Also I never knew much about the Byrds history so reading up about each album has been fun as well.
The sessions for this record came during the middle of internal turmoil that found the Byrds reduced to a duo by the time the record was completed! Roger McGuinn, and Chris Hillman remained in the group while David Crosby and Michael Clarke left the band. Additionally, original band member, Gene Clark, who had left the band in early 1966, rejoined for three weeks during the album's recording, before leaving again. Fortunately that doesn’t transpire to the music.
The group continued to grow and take more chances with their music to be more than the guitar jangle and harmonies that made them so famous.
The record has spacey arrangements on songs like "Natural Harmony" and the use of electronic phasing on the Goffin & King penned "Wasn't Born to Follow". Then there is the eerie backdrop for "Space Odyssey" which by the way is a musical retelling of Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Sentinel" (which was the inspiration for Stanley Kubrick's film “2001: A Space Odyssey”).
The songs are linked with segues and fades so it feels like one long piece of music but that’s not to mistake this as a concept record because it is not. "Goin' Back" (which was also written by Goffin & King) was an excellent cover complete with the expected 12-string guitar fills all over it that it very surprising that it was not a big hit, and "Tribal Gathering" uses their trademark harmonies most effectively. Topping it all off is "Draft Morning" a subtle track about the horrors of the Vietnam War and the pleasant "Old John Robertson" which is mostly country-rock.
Over the years, “The Notorious Byrd Brothers” has gained in reputation and is often considered the group's best work. The album reached #47 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and reached #12 in the United Kingdom. The single "Goin' Back" reached #89 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2003, the album was ranked number 171 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It is highly recommended.


You can purchase the CD here


ROCK BIRTHDAYS FOR DECEMBER 8
Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers Band is 62; Warren Cuccurullo of Duran Duran is 53; Phil Collen of Def Leppard is 52; Marty Friedman formerly with Megadeth is 47;

ON THIS DATE
1943 Jim Morrison of the Doors is born in Melbourne, Florida. Morrison died in 1971
1968 Graham Nash announces the formation of Crosby, Stills And Nash
1969 Jimi Hendrix is found not guilty for possession of hashish and heroin in a Toronto courtroom
1976 Hotel California by the Eagles is released
1980 John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York City apartment building by Mark David Chapman, an apparently deranged fan
2000 On the 20th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder in New York, a statue of Lennon is unveiled in Havana
2003 Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of the Doors attend a memorial at Jim Morrison’s gravesite in Paris on his 60th birthday
2003 An ATV accident on his U.K. estate sends Ozzy Osbourne to the hospital with a broken collarbone and six broken ribs
2004 "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, 38, an influential heavy metal guitarist, was fatally shot with three other people during a performance in Columbus, Ohio; the gunman was then shot dead by a police officer
2007 Chris CFornell of Audioslave and Soundgarden loses $30,000 worth of personal belongings when a flood hits the Buenos Aires, Argentina, hotel where he is staying
2008 On what would have been Jim Morrison's 65th birthday Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger attend a plaque unveiling at a restraunt in Los Angeles Barney's Beanery, where Morrison had urinated on the bar


IN CONCERT
Saturday, February 27 YES Sea World Orlando