The Notorious Byrd Brothers

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The Notorious Byrd Brothers
The Notorious Byrd Brothers cover
Studio album by The Byrds
Released January 3, 1968
Recorded June 21 – December 6, 1967
Genre Rock
Length 28:28
Label Columbia/Legacy
Producer Gary Usher
Professional reviews
The Byrds chronology
The Byrds' Greatest Hits
(1967)		 The Notorious Byrd Brothers
(1968)		 Sweetheart of the Rodeo
(1968)

The Notorious Byrd Brothers is the fifth rock music album by The Byrds , released in 1968 on Columbia Records, catalogue item CL 2775 in mono, CS 9575 in stereo, reaching #47 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart during a chart stay of 19 weeks, and making it to #12 in the United Kingdom. The initial sales were weaker than any of the group's previous releases, and the lead single "Goin' Back," released October 20, 1967, went only to #89 on the Billboard Hot 100, a feat that would be bettered only twice by any of the band's subsequent singles. The recording of Notorious, however, was not a pleasant experience and resulted in the loss of two members of the band. In 2003, the album was ranked number 171 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. [1]

Contents

[edit] Overview

The recording of the album during the summer and fall of 1967 was marked by internal dissolution, as two more of the band's five original members had left the group by the time the LP was released, Gene Clark having departed in early 1966. David Crosby was fired by other members during the making of this album, a result of both friction over the previous months, especially at the Monterey Pop festival in the summer, and disagreement during the early sessions for this album. Drummer Michael Clarke also quit the group in apparent dissatisfaction over the material chosen by Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. It has been suggested that the horse on the cover was intended as a replacement for Crosby (see link).

Crosby had been displeased with the band's wish to record the Goffin-King composition "Goin' Back" to be released as a single, believing such an act, like the Dylan cover of earlier in the year, to be a step backwards considering the aesthetics of the day demanded original material and that the band contained three active songwriters. He also fought for the inclusion of his controversial "Triad," even for 1967 a risqué song about a ménage à trois. He eventually gave the tune to Jefferson Airplane, who included a version on their 1968 album Crown of Creation. The Byrds did record "Triad" but refused to release it at the time, the track surfacing officially on the band's box set of 1990, but eventually added to the album via the 1997 reissue. Crosby's absence from many of the recording sessions for this album represented the final straw, and Crosby would soon find himself with a handsome severance package and time to associate with his new partner, Stephen Stills. To Crosby's chagrin, McGuinn and Hillman reworked three other songs of his, including the new versions in the final running order for the album.

Just after Crosby's departure, Gene Clark was asked to rejoin the band. His debut album (produced by Usher with both Clarke and Hillman playing on it) was a failure, and Clark was currently inactive. Gene rejoined the Byrds in October of 1967 for three weeks. During that time, Clark and the Byrds performed on the The Smothers Brothers Comedy Show (lip-syncing "Goin' Back" and "Mr. Spaceman") and played several live dates. While on tour, Gene's fear of flying prevented him taking a flight from Minneapolis to New York. He was dumped from the band soon after.

It has been debated just how involved Gene was in the recording of the album. The most accepted story is that Gene took no part in the proceedings. It has been rumored, however, that Clark did contribute backing vocals to two songs: "Goin' Back" and "Space Odyssey", and co-wrote "Get To You." McGuinn has actually stated in interviews that he wrote "Get To You" with Clark, and that the writing credits for the track are mistaken; they should have read McGuinn/Clark, rather than McGuinn/Hillman.

With Michael Clarke's departure in December of 1967 as well, McGuinn and Hillman needed to rely upon outside musicians, including noted session drummer Jim Gordon. Clarence White also featured prominently, as he had on the group's previous album, such contribution leading to his being hired as a foil to McGuinn for the new latter-day Byrds of the second half of the band's lifespan.

The final track on the album, "Space Odyssey," is a musical retelling of Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Sentinel," which was also the inspiration for Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The song was written in hopes of being included in the film, as it was rumored that Kubrick was considering using contemporary music in the soundtrack. Since the band only knew that movie was somehow plotted around Clarke's short story, it refers to a pyramid found on the Moon, which, in the movie, became a rectangular monolith.

The Notorious Byrd Brothers was remixed and remastered at 20-bit resolution as part of the Columbia/Legacy Byrds series, reissued in an expanded form on March 25, 1997. The six bonus tracks include "Triad," an early synthesizer experiment by McGuinn in making a Moog sound like a sitar, and a hidden track including an advertisement by producer Gary Usher speaking over a portion of the lead single, and one of the group's more contentious moments in the studio, ironically starting as an altercation between Crosby and Clarke, both of whom would be out of the band within months.

Ric Menck, best known for being a member of the band Velvet Crush, is currently writing a book about the album for Continuum Publishing's 33 1/3 series.

At less than 29 minutes, this is the Byrds' briefest album. Nonetheless, in a contemporary review, famed music critic Robert Christgau regarded Notorious as "simply the best album the Byrds have ever recorded", ranking it with simultaneous releases by Love (Forever Changes) and The Beach Boys (Wild Honey) and remarking "[i]t's hard to believe that so much good can come out of one place [i.e., Los Angeles"]. He later declared Notorious (as well as its follow-up, Sweetheart of the Rodeo) to be "[one] of the most convincing arguments for artistic freedom ever to come out of American rock".

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Additional personnel

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Artificial Energy" (Roger McGuinn/Chris Hillman/Michael Clarke) – 2:18
  2. "Goin' Back" (Carole King/Gerry Goffin) – 3:26
  3. "Natural Harmony" (Chris Hillman) – 2:11
  4. "Draft Morning" (David Crosby/Chris Hillman/Roger McGuinn) – 2:42
  5. "Wasn't Born to Follow" (Carole King/Gerry Goffin) – 2:04
  6. "Get to You" (Chris Hillman/Roger McGuinn) – 2:39
  7. "Change Is Now" (Chris Hillman/Roger McGuinn) – 3:21
  8. "Old John Robertson" (Chris Hillman/Roger McGuinn) – 1:49
  9. "Tribal Gathering" (David Crosby/Chris Hillman) – 2:03
  10. "Dolphin's Smile" (David Crosby/Chris Hillman/Roger McGuinn) – 2:00
  11. "Space Odyssey" (Roger McGuinn/R.J. Hippard) – 3:52

[edit] 1997 CD reissue Bonus Tracks

  1. "Moog Raga" [Instrumental] (Roger McGuinn) – 3:24
  2. "Bound to Fall" [Instrumental] (Mike Brewer/Tom Mastin) – 2:08
  3. "Triad" (David Crosby) – 3:29
  4. "Goin’ Back" [Version One] (Carole King/Gerry Goffin) – 3:55
  5. "Draft Morning" [Alternate End] (David Crosby/Chris Hillman/Roger McGuinn) – 2:55
  6. "Universal Mind Decoder" [Instrumental] (Chris Hillman/Roger McGuinn) - 3:31

[edit] Singles

  1. "Lady Friend" b/w "Old John Roberston" (single version) (Columbia 44230) 13 July 1967
  2. "Goin' Back" b/w "Change Is Now" (Columbia 44362) 20 October 1967

[edit] Differences between the mono and stereo mixes

Of all Byrds albums, The Notorious Byrd Brothers almost certainly has the most differences between the stereo and mono mixes.

  • The horns on "Artificial Energy" are noticeably quieter on the mono mix.
  • The cello sections during the chorus of "Goin' Back" are much quieter on the mono mix.
  • Where the stereo mix of "Natural Harmony" has a lot of double-tracking on the vocals, this is almost non-existent on the mono mix. To make up for the lack of double-tracking, the mono mix adds extra electronic phasing to the vocals.
  • The mono mix of "Change Is Now" has more echo on the vocals, which tends to give the song a "spacier" feel.
  • The Moog synthesizer sound effects on "Space Odyssey" are sometimes louder and sometimes quieter than the stereo mix.

[edit] Sources

  • The Notorious Byrd Brothers CD booklet essay, David Fricke, c.1997.
  • AllMusicGuide.com
  • "Top Pop Albums 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c.2002.
  • About the album cover
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