The monster and award-winning Clarence White Arlopop post got me back in the Byrds boat. I've always had a wet spot for all their incarnations - from Eight Miles High to Sweetheart - there's always a warmth there. A Rickenbacher warmth, a good pal waking you up from a lovely nap on a NorCal beach with a light tap on your light blue windbreaker.
This here is my unsung hero of the Byrds discography. A little bit of Clarence-inspired twang with some lysergic dipsy-dos and topped off by one of my most favoritest songs of all time - Triad - One man's (Crosby!) dissertation on the beauty, ne, necessity of the menage a trois. So subversive, a wee bit slimey and cheeky while sorta sweet and, ...fuck me..., convincing. Listen lovers - this is how to get two gals in the sack!
But I progress... Dense and layered like baklava, Notorious is so underrated it's like a soft-spoken Anglo middle-reliever on a World Series winner.
Enuff with the metaphorz!
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Allmusic: The recording sessions for the Byrds' fifth album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, were conducted in the midst of internal turmoil that found them reduced to a duo by the time the record was completed. That wasn't evident from listening to the results, which showed the group continuing to expand the parameters of their eclecticism while retaining their hallmark guitar jangle and harmonies. With assistance from producer Gary Usher, they took more chances in the studio, enhancing the spacy quality of tracks like "Natural Harmony" and Goffin & King's "Wasn't Born to Follow" with electronic phasing. Washes of Moog synthesizer formed the eerie backdrop for "Space Odyssey," and the songs were craftily and unobtrusively linked with segues and fades. But the Byrds did not bury the essential strengths of their tunes in effects: "Goin' Back" (also written by Goffin & King) was a magnificent and melodic cover with the expected tasteful 12-string guitar runs that should have been a big hit. "Tribal Gathering" has some of the band's most effervescent harmonies; "Draft Morning" is a subtle and effective reflection of the horrors of the Vietnam War; and "Old John Robertson" looks forward to the country-rock that would soon dominate their repertoire. [The CD reissue adds six bonus tracks, including different versions of "Goin' Back" and "Draft Morning," a few instrumentals, and David Crosby's controversial "Triad"; unlisted on the sleeve is a rehearsal outtake which captures comically vitriolic arguments among the band.]
Hear
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