The Byrds - 4 albums

The Byrds - 4 albums
Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) | 95 Mb
Turn! Turn! Turn! (1965) | 101 Mb
Fifth Dimension (1966) | 107 Mb
The Notorious Byrd Brothers | 94 Mb
320 kbps | 20-bit remastered | bonus tracks | covers included

The Byrds

The Byrds were founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1964 by singers and guitarists Jim McGuinn (born James McGuinn III on July 13, 1942, in , Illinois) (he changed his name to Roger McGuinn in 1967, after joining the movement Subud), Gene Clark (born Harold Eugene Clark on November 17, 1944, in Tipton, Missouri; died May 24, 1991), and David Crosby (born David December 4, 1942, in Los Angeles) and drummer Michael Clarke (born Michael Dick on June 3, 1946, in New York City; died December 19, 1993) joined soon after.

Album Reviews

Few debut singles in the history of rock & roll have had the immediate and overwhelming impact of The Byrds' version of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Man." Marrying a Beatles-like electric jangle to Dylan's insight and folky melody (in many ways, breaking Dylan into the pop market), it not only forecast the band's influence on the future of pop music but reestablished an American rock & roll presence in the face of the British Invasion. The album of the same name, released in June of 1965, was a shotgun blast before the canon roar that Dylan's HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED (released just two months later) would become. As much as Bob Dylan was an overwhelming influence on the young Byrds--four of the twelve tracks on MR. TAMBOURINE MAN were Dylan songs--his contributions were only a part of what made the band special. The chiming sound of McGuinn's 12-string guitar was the group's backbone, characterizing The Byrds' presence in a way few rock instrumentalists had done until then. Gene Clark proved to be a mighty songwriter in his own right--"I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" has stood the test of time better than any other track here. Yet, what distinguished The Byrds and MR. TAMBOURINE MAN most was that they couldn't be easily pigeonholed. Combining disparate musical backgrounds and openly reconstructing everything from a British wartime standard ("We'll Meet Again") to a Jackie DeShannon pop tune ("Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe") in their own open-minded image, the Byrds kicked down the door to a new sound called folk-rock. Many would soon follow.

More of a companion piece than a follow-up to their debut, TURN! TURN! TURN! established The Byrds' place in the puzzle that was American rock & roll in the mid-'60s, but not for reasons commonly attributed to it. On the one hand, this was another batch of songs furthering the California folk-rock boom. "Turn! Turn! Turn!," the band's second (and final) number one single, was musical interpretation of proverbs from the Book Of Ecclesiastes; "Oh Susannah" was a 19th century minstrels' tune; "He Was A Friend Of Mine" was a folk standard; and, as was a norm for the early Byrds, there were a couple of Bob Dylan songs. Yet the application of The Byrds' sound to these long-known songs gave each of them a new, wholly different life. "He Was A Friend Of Mine" included additional Roger McGuinn lyrics that allude to John F. Kennedy's assassination, turning a mournful standard into a personalized declaration. "Oh! Susannah" was updated at a break-neck rock & roll tempo. The title track became a , evoking the turbulent '60s as much as it did the Bible. In short, this album depicted The Byrds as an early work in progress, already capable of defying the public's perception of their artistry, and stretching further with every note.

This is the album on which The Byrds truly exploded. They had already introduced the mainstream to a young folk singer named Bob Dylan by taking an electrified "Mr. Tambourine Man" to #1. They introduced California folk-rock to the masses, breaking ground for the likes of the Mamas & Papas and the Turtles. With FIFTH DIMENSION, The Byrds planted the seeds of Velvet Underground and the fuzzed-out minimalist boogie of such garage heroes as Count Five and the 13th Floor Elevators can also be found within these grooves. FIFTH DIMENSION recognized that musical higher consciousness had to be manifested in a dark side as well as a brighter one. Gene Clark's departure from the band prior to these recording sessions, and the decision not to cover any Bob Dylan songs, streamlined the Byrds' sound and made the group's vision clear. "Eight Miles High," a highly-charged sonic release, evokes both VU's "Heroin" and John Coltrane's jazz explosions. The higher consciousness of "Eight Miles High," the harmony-driven stomp of "2-4-2 Fox Trot," and the CCR-meets-Stax boogie of "Captain Soul," all drenched in heavy guitar distortion, were unlike anything the pop world had heard. For the next three years, sounds inspired by FIFTH DIMENSION would make up the of a cultural revolution.

Building on the maturity of their previous effort YOUNGER THAN YESTERDAY, the Byrds delivered a suite of songs that naturally flow into one another with uncanny ease. It is one of the few vinyl releases where both sides would always be played, and 30 years later it begs to be heard uninterrupted--played individually, the songs lose their power. This was an artistic triumph and a commercial disappointment, as the memory of Crosby faded only to be replaced (allegedly) by a horse on the album sleeve. The Byrds moved on to their country phase and numerous line-ups but they were never to sound so perfect again. It's a fascinating portrait of a band at the height of its powers.

http://rapidshare.com/files/38188832/The_Byrds_Mr_Tambourine_Man_320_mp3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/38191052/The_Byrds_Turn_Turn_Turn_320_mp3.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/38189139/The_Byrds_Turn_Turn_Turn_320_mp3.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/38176663/The_Byrds_5th_Dimension_320mp3.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/38175121/The_Byrds_5th_Dimension_320mp3.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/38188837/The_Byrds_-_The_Notorious_Byrd_Brothers_320_mp2.rar

Please DO NOT MIRROR this post

More Byrds albums (The Preflyte Sessions; Younger Than Yesterday; the 2-cd Sweetheart of The Rodeo re-issue; Farther Along and the Reunion album) together with some Gene Clark stuff can by found in these RS folders (folder pw: 4roses):
http://rapidshare.com/users/2XYSF0
http://rapidshare.com/users/J5YYOE
http://rapidshare.com/users/GBXGZ0

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