Track Listing

1. Artificial Energy
2. Goin' Back
3. Natural Harmony
4. Draft Morning
5. Wasn't Born To Follow
6. Get To You
7. Change Is Now
8. Old John Robertson
9. Tribal Gathering
10. Dolphin's Smile
11. Space Odyssey
12. Moog Raga
13. Bound To Fall
14. Triad
15. Goin' Back (2)
16. Universal Mind Decoder
17. Draft Morning (2)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17211 in Music
• Released on: 1997-03-24
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Notorious Byrd Brothers captures the Byrds between the seminal folk-rock glories of their better-known mid-1960s triumphs and the equally influential country-rock that would soon follow, but the album is no holding action: with one time Beach Boy associate Gary Usher producing and Roy Halee engineering, the band weaves its signature vocal harmonies and chiming guitars through a lusher, more impressionistic art-pop tapestry that stops just short of post-Sgt. Pepper's cliché, employing phased vocals, sound effects, Moog synthesiser, and horns. Thematically, the project pits utopian innocence ("Tribal Gathering", "Dolphins Smile") against a new wariness ("Artificial Energy", a cautionary look at amphetamines, and the Vietnam vignette of "Draft Morning"). In a field of well-paced, inventive songs, the zenith is the silken, wistful "Goin' Back", Carole King's poignant meditation on childhood and innocence. --Sam Sutherland

CD Description
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 ofthe 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.

Customer Reviews

Three men and a horse -- perfection
Astonishing as it seems, the late 1960s were peppered with albums as perfect as "Notorious Byrd Brothers", a glut of riches which meant that many releases now acknowledged as masterpieces ("Forever Changes", say) were practically ignored at the time. To return to "Notorious" is to open a jewellery box of almost embarrassing luxury: eleven perfect songs adding up to just 28 minutes where even the hippiest longeur ("Space Odyssey") is less than four minutes in length. It's not only astonishing that an album of this quality can be tossed out at the end of 1967, but that it was achieved by a band going through terminal dissolution.

Looking back, it's hard to say exactly how different the album would have been had David Crosby still been a member of the band during its realisation. Though three of the songs were written by him -- "Draft Morning", "Tribal Gathering" and "Dolphin's Smile" -- he doesn't appear, the others performing rather spooky Crosby vocal impersonations which mean the harmonies are as lush as ever. Crosby's voice might have been slightly more distinctive in the mix, but the basis of his contribution is still here. In fact, one of the points of diagreement was the inclusion of Goffin/King's "Goin' Back" rather than Crosby's "Triad" (which appears here as a bonus track), and to be honest the band made the right decision. "Triad" is more of a period piece even than the glockenspiels and harpsichord of "Goin' Back", and though it was covered with spine-stiffening eroticism by Grace Slick on Jefferson Airplane's "Crown Of Creation" its inclusion on "Notorious" would have been an embarrassing weak point.

That an album as varied as "Notorious" works is as baffling as the perception that the sum is greater than its parts. As each track blurs into the next, extraordinary juxtapositions come and go almost without comment: you just get used to the changes. How does the strident brass of the cautionary (speed kills) opener "Artificial Energy" work set against the swooning nostalgia of "Goin' Back"? Why doesn't the orchestral break in the middle of prototype country rocker "Old John Robertson" grate on the senses? And how did McGuinn ever think he could get away with setting words based on Arthur C Clarke's "The Sentinel" (forerunner of "2001") to a sea shanty? Perhaps it's because, throughout, there's a unifying sense of lushness, vocally and musically, which sets each moment shimmering like jewels, while never once coming across as over-rich or gaudy. That's an incredible trick to pull off. Not even The Beatles managed it, as the rather ugly and awkward juxtapositions on the white album show.

The bonus tracks are a mixed blessing. Crosby's elaborate single "Lady Friend" isn't on here -- you'll find it on "Younger Than Yesterday" -- though thematically it charts the rift between them as much as Crosby's appearance with Buffalo Springfield at Monterey. It's also a good parallel to Graham Nash's "King Midas In Reverse". Instead there's an instrumental "Bound To Fall" which sounds half finished, alternative versions of "Goin' Back" and "Draft Morning", the former even more luxurious than the released track, the latter merely emphasising the bugle-like coda faded out of the album version, and an early version of "Change Is Now" sans vocals oddly titled "Universal Mind Decoder", possibly evidence of McGuinn's continuing obsession with science fiction. Unfortunately, before you get to any of these, you have to sit through an eternity of "Moog Raga" which is, just as the name suggests, an Indian raga played on the Moog, and quite horrible, especially since each time you play the CD you have to dive for the off button in order to miss it after the fade in-out ending of "Space Odyssey". Hidden away at the end is the notorious studio tape where Michael Clarke grows ever more entrenched in his inability to play the subtle drum pattern to "Dolphin's Smile". Presumably this sarcastic bickering accompanied the entire recording process, but any evidence of it is completely absent from the sublime finished album. A rare trick indeed.

What it should have been...
Running for just over 28 minutes the original LP release of this, arguably the best of the Byrds' albums justified the adage that "less is more". Side one flowed seamlessly from "Artificial Energy" to "Get To You" and was a brilliant example of just how to integrate a suite of songs into a satisfying whole. Featuring superb production from Gary Usher, faultless harmonies and (for the time) highly innovative instrumental breaks it ranks as one of the most impressive LP sides ever made. Side two continued in exactly the same vein for the first four tracks (and a full ten minutes!) before hitting a serious brick wall with the dull, ponderous and wholly incongruous "Space Odyssey", leaving the listener with the distinct impression that something had gone horribly wrong or that they had just ran out of songs.

Both conclusions were true and the bonus tracks on the remastered versions of "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" and "Younger Than Yesterday" provide the answer. Cut out "Space Odyssey" and put David Crosby's "Lady Friend" (from "Younger Than Yesterday") as the opener to side two and his "Triad" (from "The Notorious Byrd Brothers") as its closer and... bingo... everything fits, both sides work and the album is transformed into a true masterpiece.

Recorded in the same period as the other tracks on the album, both songs rank up there with the best of Crosby's compositions and were presumably rejected from it as a result of his acrimonious departure part way through its production. A serious case of group politics at its very worst, and an album that should, but alas will probably never be reissued with this track listing as evidence of just how good it should/could have been.

fabulous
Such tender music created in such an atrocious situation. Back in 1967 the byrds recorded their masterpiece album, full of beautiful songwriting and hauting harmonies, but behind the scenes they were bickering like children. Before the album was originally released David Crosby was fired (his songwriting credits are minimal but excellent) and shortly after michael clark left also. So what are we to expect from such an album...an aimless ego-tripping bloated beast..nope a quite beautiful charming record in fact. The real beauty comes not just from the harmonies that one can only compare to the beach boys but from the way that david and roger seem to caress their guitars inot creating some of the most lovely textured guitar work I can think of. Get to you, and the fantastic dolphin's smile are highlights, but surely the albums greatest treasure is the beautful goin' back.
The outtakes show what terrible choices the byrds often made (the ommision of triad is criminal) but are probably best listened to separately from the rest of the album.
Check the hidden track at the end of the cd to hear some of the arguing that I mentioned earlier, it's excruciating.