The Byrds - Fifth Dimension
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Music CD Cover
Artist: The ByrdsEdition: Music CD
Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1996-04-30
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- 5D (Fifth Dimension)
- Wild Mountain Thyme
- Mr. Spaceman
- I See You
- What's Happening?!?!
- I Come And Stand At Every Door
- Eight Miles High
- Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go)
- Captain Soul
- John Riley
- 2-4-2 Fox Trot (The Lear Jet Song)
- Why (Single Version)
- I Know My Rider (I Know You Rider)
- Psychodrama City
- Eight Miles High (Alternate/RCA Studios Version)
- Why (Alternate/RCA Studios Version)
- John Riley (Instumental Version 1)
Free Music Notes for Fifth Dimension
Free Music Review: Ahead of Their Tyme
Hit: 5 Stars
In 1966, The Byrds certainly were ahead of their time. After their folk-rock masterpiece "Mr. Tambourine Man", and the almost religious acceptance of "Turn, Turn, Turn", what could they do but EXPERIMENT? And this they did. "Eight Miles High", a classic among rock classics, was too good to ignore and practically beyond criticism, but the other tracks on "Fifth Dimension" were viewed with skepticism even by me, an avid Byrd-watcher. It's not that I disliked the other tracks, but they didn't continue the Byrds' traditional sound. I realize now, of course, that this was the whole point.
The album includes a variety of styles. The title song "5D", is hard to classify musically. The best I can come up with is to call it a cross between a swaying old pub drinking song and a Dylanesque ballad, like "Lay Down Your Weary Tune". The lyrics are more definable: abstract, spiritual, very mid-60's. "Wild Mountain Thyme" and "John Riley" are string-laden ballads from the old school of folk. "Mr. Spaceman", with its country leanings, sounded odd at the time, but 6 months later The Lovin' Spoonful had a big hit with "Nashville Cats" and nobody thought a thing of it. The prevailing sound on the album, McGuinn and Crosby harmonies with heavily punctuated, erratic psychedelic guitar, is evident on "Eight Miles High", "Hey Joe", "I See You", "What's Happening", "I Know My Rider", "Psychodrama City" and "Why". "Hey Joe" may not be as impressive as the Jimi Hendrix version which appeared a year later, but it does rock, and David Crosby's vocal is a major turn-on. (I think he was underrated as a Byrd member.) "I See You" describes a mysterious, elusive woman. This theme was revisited in 1967 in "My Eyes Have Seen You" from The Doors' "Strange Days" album. Shift gears again to "I Come and Stand at Every Door"' a lament sung by a victim of Hiroshima who can't get any older than 7, but can't rest either. And the chant-like "Lear Jet Song" is for me a commercial for the arrival of the modern age. Goodbye, apple pie; hello, mind expansion.
Two of the bonus tracks strike me as especially interesting. "Eight Miles High" has a lot of the sharp edges smoothed down. Thank goodness The Byrds decided to push the boundaries and go with the "spikier" version. "Psychodrama City", once you get to the vocal, reminds me to some extent of a "talkin' blues" number. The only track that seems irrelevant is the instrumental version of "John Riley", but don't pass over it, because following it is an interview with Jim McGuinn and David Crosby that is definitely worth listening to.
I always felt that The Byrds were exceptional. For a while, just a little while, I liked them better than The Beatles. But they didn't last. They imploded. I'm just glad that I discovered this CD. The improved, remastered sound and my own more open mind have combined to let me love it, finally.
Fifth Dimension Poster
Having already pioneered folk-rock via their electrified versions of Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger songs such as "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn Turn Turn," the Byrds helped midwife yet another new musical form in 1966 on this, their third album. Influenced by Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, Jim McGuinn's atonal 12-string guitar on the suitably titled "Eight Miles High" was a psychedelic omen of things to come. Pointing in other new directions, too, are the prescient country-rock tune, "Mr. Spaceman," string-aided updates of folk evergreens "Wild Mountain Thyme" and "John Riley," and David Crosby's fusion-y "I See You" and "What's Happening?!?!" On this album, plenty. --Billy AltmanPop Music CDs
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