The Notorious Byrd Brothers

That's not how you spell it

Some interesting sonic experimentation going on here, but unfortunately, it all sounds so dated. No stand out tracks that, to my mind, stand the test of time. While this album may have (strongly?) influenced music to follow, I don't feel that I've missed out by not hearing it before.

Have you been out drinking with friends and the conversation and laughs are flowing, but then something happens to snap you out of your mirth? You start questioning yourself. Have you had too much to drink? How many *have* you had? Are you going to hurl? What is your friend even saying to you at this point? Shit, he stopped talking and he's looking at you expectantly, you better laugh, he's always saying funny stuff, it was probably funny. You laugh and conversation and mirth continues. You're fine. But you switch to water instead of beer, just in case. Wasn't Born to Follow has this fairly standard country sounding sounding progression with some harmonies and jangly guitars and then... the breakdown. Totally non melodic noise. It makes you stop and question where you are. What am I doing? Is any of this even real? Then the country bass line starts back up again, and we're back in normalcy again... but it's coloured by the breakdown. It's like you've seen a monster out of the window of a speeding train. Normal doesn't feel quite as normal as it did before. And this is all in two minutes. This feels like real psychedelic folk rock. Not just a few wah pedals or phasers or tricks with tape, but psychedelia in the songwriting itself. Stuff to make you question your reality. Folk rock to set the baseline, and then all sorts of methods to pull the rug. Artificial Energy sets the tone, with a harsh edge on the bass and horns to match the lyrics that are about the harsh after affects of drugs. Natural Harmony starts with some lilting arpeggios, and then some expectant rhythmic chords, that appear to be telegraphing some upcoming rock pop chorus. But it never gets there. Instead it sorts of fades away, and ends in some fairly dissonant uneasy sounding feedback. Draft Morning starts with warm sounding music, and warm sounding lyrics, followed by a rug pull in the lyrics first, followed by a warning of horns and the sound of war. Sun warm on my face, I hear you Down below movin' slow And it's morning Take my time this morning, no hurry To learn to kill and take the will From unknown faces This album is just rug pull after rug pull. And it's all done inside such short songs. I don't like the word genius, so I won't use it, but if I liked the word, or was at least neutral about the word, I might apply it to this album I probably don't need to say it, but these five stars don't mean I would recommend it to anyone. None of my reviews are recommendations. Just how it hits me. And man, this hit me. I will listen to this a lot.

Gotta love that originating psych-folk sound, and it is such a quick little bite that doesn't overindulge or overstay its welcome. This was delectable.

Love the Bryds and I really love this album and it's probably there most diverse album they made, sure the folk/rock sound is still there but other influences show up as well. To me Goin Back (and Draft Morning) is probably reason this album is on the list, it's the root of power pop, it inspired Big Star which in turn inspired countless others like Teenage Fanclub, this is the origin. Wasn't Born to Follow is a early example of country rock sound, which they would go full in on the next album Sweetheart of the Rodeo with Gram Parson, which I hope is on the list as well. Albums awesome and a very important one in rock history.

I just know of The Byrds from their hits and the numerous references to them in Wikipedia articles about other artists they influenced. Their influence is huge, so I have been very interested in hearing more of their work. I love the swingin’ and trippy 60s sound with occasional tinges of country. It was a lot of fun feeling this groovy listening to an album.

Excellent

Nice classic.

Really enjoyed The Byrds. Fun and upbeat, a little funky. Great album.

3, it's fine. Killer bass lines by the horse though.

Great song titles.

I love The Byrds and this album. Just no time to get into the details!

More hippy shite from The Byrds - my tolerance for this was pretty low today. Some of it not too bad I suppose; there was one song I thought was pretty decent, but I can't remember which one, and I'm not going to listen to them all again just to find out.

I am disturbed by your lack of jangle.

Un très, très, très mauvais album de la part de Gene Clark et de sa bande de gugusses ignares. Je vous ai déjà dit ce que je pensais de ce chanteur et de sa capacité à choisir des pseudonymes exécrables, je ne vais donc pas revenir sur son cas personnel. Quant à l'album, rien n'est à sauver dans cet enregistrement dépourvu de tout son agréable à l'oreille.

Every time I listen to The Byrds I think I don't listen to The Byrds enough. Jangly guitars, harmonized vocals, just the right amount of pop, folk and psychedelia, this is the type of stuff that gets my left eye to jumpin'. The mid to late 60's was such a fantastically creative time for music and this album is right in the middle of it. Extra kick ass album cover with the horse.

Featuring their trademark of lovely harmony vocals, jangly guitars and melodic songs, there's also some disorienting psychedelic touches, synthethsizers and sound effects. As per the previous albums, it's quite a short album, but a heck of a lot happens in under 30 minutes. It's production is shimmering and the mood is generally quite hazy. It's a fab LP to drift away on a lovely summer afternoon.

I know a couple of tunes from The Byrds, but these were not those tunes. I didn't know anything about this album, but I really enjoyed it. The mix of psychedelic- to folk-rock was a fun listen. The album captured me from the first notes of the first track and kept my attention until the end.

A good and important album, but I see it more as a stepping stone for future bands instead of being magnificent itself. Huge development into psychedelia and rock, a lot of funny stories and incidents that have largely been forgotten, and a bonus track about a threesome that started them. A good diverse showing 3.5/5

Was mostly good although the remastered edition had a lot of psychedelic instrumentals

This one is good because it vaguely sounds like goofy medieval music. Album cover made it look like this was going to be some more honky-tonk country bullshit, but thankfully it's not at all. Even if there's a whopping 5 Byrds albums on this list, which is like 6 more than there should be, I'm glad that most of them are around 30 minutes long and don't overstay their welcome. Much easier "Artist overkill" to digest than Elvis Costello.

At its best when the cosmic babble skewers the sweetie-pie folk babble, rather than the reverse. While they're incapable of having or being fun vocally, they're less inhibited sonically. By which I mean the horns on the opener sound a lot like farts.

Incredibly soggy sound. One of those things that I can't understand how I listened to back in the day.

Vähän heikoksi jäävä genrekavalkadi.

One of my all time favourite bands. So influential in so many genres in such a short time. Never quite got the love for this album though, then one day it just clicked and it’s one of my most listened to records since. A record made by a band in turmoil, see Johnny Rogans essential for any Byrd fans book for the whole story. But it ends up such a coherent piece of work, The whole soundscape of this. 5 Star.

🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴/🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴

People have said to me in the past, 'listen to the Byrds, they are right up your street'. Very never understood why, probably because it's always end up listening to the one with 'Mr Tambourine Man' on and think, this is slightly better than Busker Bob... So i had no high hopes for this. What a surprise! A great bit of classic psychedelia.I really loved it, lots of experimentation and the use of the early synthesiser on 'Space Odyssey' I'm always a lover of a good effects pedal or two, then chuck in a few horns and what have you got? A 5.star record. I'm easy to please.

Just the kind of chill I needed after election day.

Mi álbum favorito de The Byrds (junto con Younger than yesterday). Una absoluta obra maestra. Es una obra en que participan varios miembros de la banda que entraban y salían de la misma (Gene Clark, Michael Clarke o el propio David Crosby) además de colaboradores que luego formarían parte del grupo (especialmente el magnífico Clarence White). La producción de Gary Usher (que produjo el anterior y el posterior, es decir la mejor parte de la discografía de The Byrds, además del de but de Gene Clark con los Gosdin Brothers) es otro paso de gigante en la música. Comienza con Artifical Energy (tan actual aún hoy en día) a galope de unas trompetas rimbombantes , sigue con la versión de Goin´Back (King y Goffin) que fue el sencillo del álbum, calmada y con ligeros toques country (nada que ver con lo que vendrá en su siguiente disco). Wasn't Born to Follow es otro tema de Goffin-King que los Byrds convierten en auténtica ambrosía (incluída luego en la banda sonora de Easy Rider) Natural Harmony ya es otra cosa, space rock? psicodelia? lo que sea, pero es una delicia. The Stone Roses bebieron de Draft morning (Waterfall) y de todo el disco para su excelente debut. Es una gozada de tema. Get to you, es una delicada pieza de orfebrería pop con las voces de la banda a pleno rendimiento (aquí está el fugaz retorno de Gene Clark, también en Goin´ Back). La cara B abre con la mejor canción del disco: Change is now, una canción que va por caminos normales hasta que descarrila en otra maravillosa dimensión. Old John Robertson era una canción publicada previamente (la cara B de Lady friend). Tribal Gathering es otro viaje que merece la pena. Dolphin Smile es la típica canción The Byrds con tintes ecologistas. Cierra con Space Odyssey (hola David Bowie) que está obviamente inspirada en la literatura de Arthur C. Clarke. Introduce Moog, drones y un sinfín de cacharrería. No se puede hacer más y mejor en menos de media hora, algo que muchos músicos de hoy no son capaces de entender. La edición extendida incluye dos instrumentales además de Triad la polémica canción del polémico Crosby. En mi opinión está bien fuera del álbum, no aporta gran cosa. Este mismo año publican otro disco esencial: Sweetheart of the rodeo. En mi opinión son una banda fundamental en la historia de la música. La influencia de The Byrds en Dylan, The Beatles, en cualquier banda coetánea y posterior (REM sin ir más lejos) es enorme. THE BEATLES- White Album , THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE - Electric ladyland, Odessey and Oracle de The Zombies, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND - White light, white heat, THE KINKS - The Village Green Preservation Society, VAN MORRISON - Astral weeks, THE ROLLING STONES - Beggars banquet, CREAM - Wheels of fire, THE BYRDS - Sweetheart of the rodeo, THE SMALL FACES - Ogden's nut gone flake, THE PRETTY THINGS - S.F. Sorrow, OTIS REDDING - The dock of the bay, BLOOMFIELD , KOOPER & STILLS - Super Session, JAMES CARR - A Man needs a Woman, Dance To The Music de Sly & The Family Stone, Safe As Milk del Capt. Beefhart, Surrealistic Pillow de Jefferson Airplane, Lady Soul y Now de Aretha Franklin, We're Only in It for the Money de Zappa, Idea y Horizontal de los Bee Gees, For Once in My Life de Stevie Wonder , A Saucerful Of Secrets de Pink Floyd, Spirit de Spirit, Bookends de Simon and Garfunkel, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida de Iron Butterfly, el Soundtrack to 1968 TV special de Elvis, Nuff Said! de Nina Simone, Child is father to the man y Blood, Sweat & Tears de Blood, Sweat & Tears... Debuts de JEFF BECK GROUP, NEIL YOUNG, THE BAND, CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL, OS MUTANTES, SILVER APPLES

The one where they eventually replaced David Crosby with a horse. Sure suggests that copious intakes of LSD might have been taken during the making of this album, which may explain a few things that's going on in it. The many twists and turns of *The Notorious Byrd Brothers*, with so many hairpin curves between full-blown psychedelia and the country western flavours the Byrds would later dive headfirst into on *Sweetheart Of The Rodeo* -- not to mention its jazz forays, or its novel use of electronic touches such as phasing, flanging and the Moog synthesizer -- make for a complicated initial listen. But once you get your footing, you soon realize how wonderful and groundbreaking this LP is. Ironically, its experimental nature has been watered down a little over the years -- so much has happened since then. But it's the songwriting and guitar arrangements that makes this record quite a distinctive one today. Both the songs and their instrumental arrangements are stellar on the first side. "Artificial Energy" starts things up in a brass-laden regalia evoking later albums by Beck (Hansen, not Jeff Beck), the Carol King and Gerry Goffin-penned country-rock songs "Goin' Back" and "I Wasn't Born To Follow" are absolute gems. "Natural Harmony" is an epic micro-adventure all by itself -- not only for its experimental production values and effects, but also for its moody harmonic modulations. And "Draft Morning", obviously about the Vietnam war, is another small jewel, both topical and aptly evocative on a musical standpoint. Side two also comprises great stuff: "Change Is Now" splits the difference between psychedelic rock and country-folk in a very elegant manner (and what a great guitar solo in its middle section!). "Tribal Gathering" starts with a jazz-inspired 5/4 rhythm (also found on "Get To You"), and then transmutes to quite a heavy rocker for the time period. And "Space Odyssey" is... well, all you need to know about that one is already stated in its name. That closer eerily sounds like a Silver Apples composition, which can only be a compliment coming from my mouth. Too bad David Crosby's "Triad" (now found as a bonus on CD editions) was not included in that second side. It would have been perfect between "Old John Robertson" and "Tribal Gathering" and brought the fantastic ballad that was needed in the second half of this quite short LP. Had the Byrds been better at interpersonal relationships within the band, and kept Crosby until the end, the overall end result would have been even better. Still feel like *5th Dimension* is an even more striking album within the Byrds discography. But the more I listen to *The Notorious Byrds Brothers*, so finely attuned to the artistic (r)evolutions of the late sixties, the more I'm growing fond of it. Chris Hillman, Roger McGuinn and Michael Clarke sure were creative forces to reckon with at the time. Oh, and let's not forget that very talented horse, of course! 4.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 5. 9.5/10 grade for more general purposes (5 + 4.5). Number of albums left to review: 38 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 416 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 243 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 306

Fantastic music. Mellow acoustic based rock. Very nice to listen to. Great musicians and singers.

I’d recommend listening to this album with headphones or earbuds and really paying attention to the production. Between phasing, echo, and multitracking, you can truly pick up on the rich textures and dynamics of the studio effects that enhance the psychedelic soundscape of the album. An interesting aspect of this album is the internal conflicts and turmoil the band faced during its making. They lost two members, one being a founding member and the other the drummer. Additionally, an original lineup member rejoined briefly before leaving again. Despite all this conflict, the band managed to create such a high-quality, cohesive album.

The early Byrd gets the 5 star review for their best output and easy listenability 50 years later.

A fully-realised experimental album, albeit with some slightly weird sonic artefacts, like the phasing on Old John Robertson. Great songs, with the band trying as many different ideas as possible to make them standout - fuzz guitar, strings, phasing, tape manipulation, wide panning, etc.

Stellar psychedelic rock from The Byrds. I'll have what they're having!

As good psychedelia and folk rock gets.

9/10. A mix of unique creativity but with a slight feel of nostalgia is what I get with the Byrds. I’d rate this album between the other two. I think they have a bizarre mix of what I’d consider fairly “basic” chill music (Goin Back, Wasn’t born to follow) and experimental chill music (Space Odyssey, Moog Raga).

When they're not experimenting with psychedelic music, their smooth harmonies are like honey.

There are several Byrds albums on this list, and this is the one that most deserves a spot. A shining example of how psychedelia, rock, and folk could intersect. Beautiful voices and arrangements, and some of the band's most original work.

Their best album in particular due to the two King/Coffin songs but overall it is a timeless classic of course.

Not my favourite Byrds album, but still the Byrds so 5 stars.

good

It was good enough to visit again

Love! Especially the instrumentals

Such a great album!

beautiful

Love this sound! To me, it sounds like it could have been made any time in the last fifty years!

1967 - Country/Folk Rock

Les doy un cinco. No me ha encantado, pero me ha apetecido escucharlo varias veces. Es muy agradable el disco. Y son The Byrds :).

Enjoyed this album, although it became more background music as I got busy. No standout massive hits but all tracks were pretty decent, nice lyrical imagery. 3.5/5

This is mostly standard fair 60s, landing somewhere closer to CSN than the Beatles. Lots of familiar sounds and harmonizing with the singers. There are a couple special moments throughout that elevate the album to me, including Goin' Back. A beautiful song that I really enjoyed. I also liked Change is Now and Tribal Gathering.

4 stars

What a delight! I knew Byrds radio hits over the decades but thus is beyond their best! Loved it!

Fantastisk psykedelisk folk

Nice album

Very Good Byrds Album. There are better.

This was a kind of snapshot of so many things that were going on musically in the late ‘60s. I have been learning a lot about the Byrds and how interconnected they were to so many things going on in music then. I really enjoyed this.

Peace, love and group sex! Expectations were low and I considered it’d be variations of Turn, Turn, etc. and Tamborine guy songs. This is the music my mom would’ve listened to in college. I was generally underwhelmed until Space Odyssey played and I began seeing trails, but then Moog Raga kicked in and I was tripping balls. Moving forward to the threesome sex song Triad, was unexpected but oddly enjoyable. Take another hit, there’s a great riff on Bound to Fail. Finally, Universal Mind Decoder was another trippy song to get lost in and the banter on the alternate version in the studio provided some interesting insight into the recording process. I was pleasantly surprised at how dynamic and full this album is. In the end, how much do we really know about our parents anyway? Maybe mom was a freak who liked dropping acid and frolicking naked in the mud at Woodstock with everyone else. (yuck).

I cannot fathom why there are five Byrds albums on this list. They did develop that jingle-jangle guitar sound that everyone from the Beatles onwards copied and they had a cool look, but really, most of their records don't have much staying power. This album is a good example of "the Byrds sound" -- jangly guitars, harmony singing, some slightly out there approach to production -- but the songs just aren't that memorable. Their lasting influence is probably having invented (or at least perfected) internecine band conflicts. Having David Crosby in a band will do that for you. He was a nasty little troll. Talented, but band poison. (He was also clearly into pressuring girls into threesomes, as documented in his song Triad, recorded for this album but ultimately rejected by the rest of the band because eww, that's just creepy, dude)

I have come to like The Byrds from this list. I have liked their other stuff more, but there's a few I liked in this one

Nyt tulee joka päivä vähän liian samankaltaista rockia

good album.

01) Artificial Energy - 6,5 02) Goin' Back - 8,0 03) Natural Harmony - 7,0 04) Draft Morning - 6,5 05) Wasn't Born to Follow - 7,0 06) Get to You - 6,5 07) Change Is Now - 7,5 08) Old John Robertson - 6,5 09) Tribal Gathering - 7,0 10) Dolphin's Smile - 6,5 11) Space Odyssey - 6,5 TOTAL: 6,86 (69/100) Current ranking: 281/417

no, please, just, no. Some of the melodies are nice and smooth but this is boring. Very psychedelic and i don't know, maybe psychedelic rock is not my thing after all. Very Magical Mystery Tour. Some are interesting but for the most parts it's just boring, I can imagine people enjoy it, just not my thing in gerneral. 2.5-3/5.

Another entry from what Spotify considers my 5th most listened to band! It was fine, mostly passed me by to be honest, but it's nice enough. Shouldn't think I'll be bothered listening again though, no matter what Spotify thinks 3

Technical boundaries were pushed, but u fortunately, so was my patience

Inte riktigt min kopp te, lite likt Beatles, men mjukare

Nowhere near as insufferable as Sweetheart of the Rodeo, but also generally pretty bland. Congrats on using a phase effect, I suppose? I don’t know. Think I just don’t identify with the 60s mentality at all.

Überwiegend ruhiger Rock, plätschert so vor sich hin. Mich hat es nicht begeistert, auch wenn nichts stört. 2/5

It's allright, but noall rightt very memorable.

Shit. The hippies found the flanger.

This put the No in Notorious.

A fine collection of Pop-Americana-Psychedelic-Folk songs. Without any of the Byrds' classic hits, the record lacks any real highlight. The lush vocal harmonies are typical of the California scene that The Byrds were a significant part of. Hey, look! It's another album featuring the accomplished studio drummers Hal Blaine and convicted murderer Jim Gordon!

Sick to the back teeth of Beatles rip offs now. Slightly psychedelic pop rock, ham fisted attempts at Indian music and general groovy vibes. I don't think this was quite as offensive as say the kinks (no harpsichord) but I don't feel I've heard anything new from listening to this. Please no more.

Mira, se deja escuchar, pero uno no puede dejar de pensar que en la medida que añadimos décadas a este proyecto o aumentamos la cantidad de discos o sacamos algunos que, la verdad, solo tienen valor para un nicho muy reducido.

I'm Wayne's World, there is a joke about a band playing called The Shitty Beatles and that they live up to the name. I imagine that band is actually The Byrds

Man, the Byrds suck.

No. As much as I love the sixties sound, this seemed like a phone in. They were really missing David Crosby.

Could not Stream it.

Great record. Didn’t click the first time

Perfect

Willder recommended \"wasn't born to follow\" and \"going back\" Enjoying it so far, jangley 60s, if the doors weren't a bummer

My favourite new discovery so far. This is a cracking album and one I’ll be buying. Going Back is a brilliant song. They have a lovely psychedelic folk-rock sound that just rolls through the album and then they seal the deal with effortless harmonies. I really really like it.

Make this a Beatles album and I went in like knowing them from little more than "Twist and Shout" and "Yellow Submarine". I'm fairly appalled by my ignorance of The Byrds, wtf. So; while I am not too keen on the "Old John Robertson" side of this album's music, it was overall delightful and immensely surprising. I'm suspecting there is a 5***** in The Byrds' discography and it's probably this one. /// Rating day. I'm not going to think "Man, you know what? I need to listen to The Notorious Byrd Brothers" any time soon, but I saved 4 tracks to my playlist of *everything* and this a damn fine album, a super nice blend of US-flavo(u)red late 60ies poprock and people being weird and experimental, yes indeed, 5 stars.

Kinda upset I had my shitty work headphones on for this one, I feel like I missed out on the production of it. Regardless I love this album, super cool psychedelic folk feel.

Great space cowboy/cosmic Americana music

Amazing really enjoyed the dolphin and tribe song on b side

So glad I got to hear and discover this. I love the style and cool info about the Moog. Also loved the Triad song.

I didn't really know any of the tracks from this album. Some nice jangly pop folk in there but it started to get a tiresome towards the end. Some of the tracks in the second side were really, really hard work.

I only knew the Byrds songs Turn Turn Turn and Mr Tambourine Man going in, so being greeted with horns was a surprise. Psychedelia / folk rock with twangs of country. Great harmonies. A great example of late 60's experimentation. I enjoyed this quite a bit.

Not bad, but there are better Byrds albums.

This is a very "easy to listen to" album, and I think it is one of the better/best folk rock albums I've heard. I'd like to listen to it again, but I did find it enjoyable, and I really can't give it less than a 3.5-4, because it is very well done and does seem significant to the time and basically was a supergroup.

4/5

Another pleasant '60s album with a touch of psychedelia. Low 4.

Pretty similar to the Moby Grape album, and this one actually has a member of CSN in it so this makes sense. I did find this one to be a bit more psychedelic so I'm bumping it up just a bit.

Love the mixing of this album. Felt like floating through the through a meadow whilst soaking in all the colors of the sun.

Seamless transition from the last album to this one. Pretty sad it took me until now to listen

Really enjoyed this album. It's never heard of them before now. The perfect blend of psychedelic rock, folk and country.

Bouncy southern twang Supports angelic vocals Weds country to rock

Psychedelic country rock of the first order.