Quite simply, one of the greatest albums ever made ! "Fifth Dimension" (1966) saw the start of The Byrds' gradual move away from their folk-rock beginnings into psychedelia, driven by McGuinn's chiming, jangling 12 string Rickenbacker, and new influences such as Indian Music & John Coltrane.
The original track listing more than stands up on its own, though this version has the bonus tracks including many unreleased versions. Check out the alternate versions of "Why ?" & "Eight Miles High".....
Easily my favourite Byrds LP & an essential addition to the collection...
If you're a newcomer to The Byrds this will blow your mind !
http://rapidshare.com/files/363876867/5D.zip
More Byrds due soon...
Quite simply, one of the greatest albums ever made ! "Fifth Dimension" (1966) saw the start of The Byrds' gradual move away from their folk-rock beginnings into psychedelia, driven by McGuinn's chiming, jangling 12 string Rickenbacker, and new influences such as Indian Music & John Coltrane.
The original track listing more than stands up on its own, though this version has the bonus tracks including many unreleased versions. Check out the alternate versions of "Why ?" & "Eight Miles High".....
Easily my favourite Byrds LP & an essential addition to the collection...
If you're a newcomer to The Byrds this will blow your mind !
http://rapidshare.com/files/363876867/5D.zip
More Byrds due soon...
If there's another person who is a bigger fan of The Byrds' music than I am, I don't know who it is. So let me start there.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it's fair to say that this is one of the greatest albums ever made, as long as one understands that the "greatest albums" category must surely contain tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of albums. On that basis, I would agree that this is one of the greatest albums ever made.
As to favourites...well, that category varies from person to person, and everyone is entitled to his opinion.
For my part, I would include Fifth Dimension among my favourite Byrds albums, and indeed among my list of all-time favourite albums.
Why? Simply put, it's because nothing has ever sounded like this, before or since. And I like the way it sounds.
I am a musician...a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, in fact. What that means in terms of my own listening experience is that if I listen to an album enough, sooner or later I will have listened to every voice and every instrument on every track. In the (now) 45 years since Fifth Dimension was released, I have heard it perhaps hundreds of times...and due to the "magic' of repeat play in digital media, I have heard some tracks (such as Eight Miles High) many more times than the others.
A complete listing of all the brilliantly innovative vocal and instrumental noises The Byrds make on Fifth Dimension would take more time than I have. I have recorded or performed most of them at one time or another. The thing that strikes me most about them is captured in the statement (uttered with suitably awed inflections), "How does anyone even THINK of stuff like this?"
I honestly don't know. But I am glad they did. No, wait...that's not good enough. I should say, I'm grateful they did. This music has influenced me in ways I cannot describe, and has influenced other musicians directly or indirectly in ways they might not even know. If you were interested enough in The Byrds' music to read this, it is likely that you know what I mean.
Many thanks Vito. This is by the far the longest and one of the best comments ever posted on the blog.
ReplyDeleteI concur - a classic & groundbreaking album & one of my all time favourites.