Product Description

Released in April 1967, months before the Summer Of Love, YOUNGER THAN YESTERDAY was proof that The Byrds had already graduated from their fascination with the psychedelic "scene". "Eight Miles High" may have introduced the general public to the counter culture's interests and fascinations, but this song cycle found The Byrds reluctant to rest their faith in either the growing movement they helped bring together, orthe art form that was the movement's voice.
The sonic lessons they'd learned still infused many of the tracks. Tape-loops created the splendourous backdrop of "Mind Gardens", the Eastern modes used on "Eight Miles High" reappeared on the re-recorded "Why", and "C.T.A.-102" seemed less a song than an excuse to use the studio as a laboratory for new sounds. But a new direction was emerging. "So You Want To Be A Rock 'N' Roll Star", a tongue-in-cheek treatise on fame, and Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages", the best known tracks here, both hinted at a reevaluation of previously settled matters. David Crosby's folky, Eastern-tinged "Everybody's Been Burned" may have been written well before he joined the group, but itis a dark declaration on moderation, trust and responsibility, that comfortably fits within the context of the era. AndChris Hillman's country-minded contributions not only grounded The Byrds with a salt-of-the-earth feel missing from therest of the album, but hinted at the Nashville sound where they and many of their psychedelic brethren would soon end up. Now, as then, YOUNGER THAN YESTERDAY seems like the precursor to a generation's truer awakening.

Track Listing

1. So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star
2. Have You Seen Her Face
3. CTA 102
4. Renaissance Fair
5. Time Between
6. Everybody's Been Burned
7. Thoughts And Words
8. Mind Gardens
9. My Back Pages
10. Girl With No Name
11. Why
12. It Happens Each Day
13. Don't Make Waves
14. My Back Pages (2)
15. Lady Friend
16. Old John Robertson
17. Mind Gardens (2)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33578 in Music
• Released on: 1996-05-06
• Number of discs: 1

From Amazon.com
Four of the five original Byrds were aboard for this folk-rock landmark. Within months of its release in the summer of 1967, David Crosby would move on and the group would enter a permanent period of flux. Younger Than Yesterday, however, finds songwriters Crosby, Roger McGuinn, and Chris Hillman prodding one another with varied but complementary triumphs. "My Back Pages" is one of their best Dylan covers (and the Byrds had plenty of them), while "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" (written as a jab at the Monkees) represents two minutes of compressed pop cynicism that's as valid today as it was when it hit the airwaves. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews

Younger than anyday!
I've had copies of this album since the first month it came out.. in mono vinyl, stereo vinyl (several times), and most of the CDs that have come out here and in the US. In fact I have collected all of their material since the first album arrived back in 1965.

The Byrds were so lucky that all of their incarnations brought forward new challenges, and with Jim/Roger at the helm they always delivered, right up the the last recording lineup with Skip, Gene and Clarence. Every lineup was masterful, although the final lineup was the one that was so powerful live (I'm a great Clarence White fan).
Coming back to Younger Than Yesterday, it was (and still is) a groundbreaking album, with so many new ideas and effects that it stood apart from all of its excellent predecessors. I can only comment on one guy here who gave it 1 star as he believed that the remastering made many of the lead guitar parts too quiet. I can't say that I've ever noticed that, he based his comments on vinyl (I think), so maybe he was relating it to the mono version - the twelve string lead guitar on "Everybody's been burned" was re-recorded for the stereo version and to my ears isn't as good..? Else I can't hear any difference with all the versions that I've grown up with (and this is merely a remaster not a reMIX).

This is a great album, go buy... as I would say to ANY Byrds album!

The most accomplished Byrds album
This is probably The Byrds most consistent and accomplished albums. It is only let down by 2 tracks, which I will mention later. Chris Hillman's songs are a revelation - catchy single Have You Seen Her Face along with 3 really strong album tracks Thoughts And Words, Time Between and Girl With No Name. Other highlights include the single So You Want To Be A Rock N Roll Star, Crosby's Everybody Has Been Burned and Renaissance Fair. Now the 2 dodgy tracks - the b-side of Eight Miles High, Why, has been re-recorded and re-released and tagged onto the end of the 11 tracks - it was never the strongest of tracks, so why-oh-why did The Byrds decide to put it on this album? Also, Crosby's Mind Gardens is too off-the-wall and justs sounds like a dirge. They would have been better off replacing these 2 tracks with the excellent Crosby compositions Lady Friend and It Happens Each Day, both added on here as Bonus Tracks.

Warning!
Sorry to add a note of caution. I'm a huge fan of this record and was looking forward to a CD copy rather than my battering old vinyl LP. I've played it on three different CD players now (all of them fairly high-quality players), but it still sounds truly terrible: in the remastering, they've somehow remixed McGuinn's twelve-string lead guitar right back, so far that it's barely audible, even on eg My Back Pages and Everybody's Been Burned, where the guitar part is the main hook. In other tracks the lead guitar disappears entirely for some bars, then faintly remerges behind the bass. Maybe I've just bought a dud pressing, but I don't think so, with the vocal tracks etc sounding crystal-clear. Be warned!