#THE BYRDS MEMBERS FREE#

There were two more Dylan songs ( Lay Down Your Weary Tune and The Times They Are A Changin’), two excellent McGuinn efforts ( He Was A Friend Of Mine, It Won’t Be Wrong) and three new Gene Clark songs ( Set You Free This Time, World Turns All Around Her and Wait And See). The title track of their second album, Turn Turn Turn (1966) – an inspired reworking of Pete Seeger‘s biblical folk tune – was their second #1 single. Lots of new drugs and words like ‘psychedelic’ were floating about, and The Byrds’ music was the perfect soundtrack. Meanwhile, in the audience, there were all sorts of strange-looking young people. Clark, standing in the middle with a tambourine, looked dark, brooding but nervous. Crosby had an enormous green suede cloak. McGuinn wore funny little granny sunglasses and a strange, crooked smile. With their backs to the audience, they would start by tuning up, an almost endless process. On stage, they affected a studied West Coast cool. The single and album were huge hits and, in Los Angeles, the group began a residency at Ciro’s nightclub on Sunset Strip, a glamorous Hollywood hangout in the 1940s which had recently been reopened. The roots of The Byrds lie in folk, country, bluegrass, blues – even jazz. The fact that none of the original members came from a rock background was crucial to creating that sound. The critics called their sound ‘ folk rock‘ and the label stuck. Featuring a few more Dylan covers ( Spanish Harlem Incident, All I Really Want To Do, Chimes Of Freedom) and some stunning Gene Clark originals ( Feel A Whole Lot Better, I Knew I’d Want You), the set was unlike any other group’s but was accessible and instantly appealing.

The Byrds’ debut album, also titled Mr Tambourine Man (1965), was every bit as good as the single. It opened the door for a new wave of American bands such as Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, Love and Jimi Hendrix, and had an immediate impact on the work of The Beatles ( Rubber Soul, Revolver) and Dylan himself. The marriage of Dylan’s lyrics to The Byrds’ hypnotic, chiming swirl of 12-string guitar and voices was a breakthrough in rock. They also got some canny management who secured them a recording deal with CBS and, as their first single, suggested a cover of Bob Dylan‘s Mr Tambourine Man. The early Byrds set out to provide the missing link between Bob Dylan and The Beatles and succeeded with a sound that was all their own. No matter that The Byrds were falling over themselves to ape British fashions – with Chris Hillman flattening his curls in pursuit of a Beatles/Brian Jones hairdo – their first hits effortlessly achieved the difficult trick of satisfying the teen audience and suggesting that here was a band with its own artistic agenda.

Reportedly, he didn’t recognise some of his own songs in their electrified versions. Everything else came from LA session players, including drummer Hal Blaine and bassist Larry Knechtel of Phil Spector’s Wrecking Crew.īut the rest of the Byrds soon caught up, and as the song was breaking, a curious Bob Dylan checked out the band at Ciro’s, a Los Angeles club. The only Byrd to play on the band’s first hit was Roger McGuinn, whose chiming 12-string Rickenbacker guitar became folk rock’s defining sound. The Byrds’ place in rock history was assured from the release of their first single, the majestic Mr Tambourine Man, which in its two minutes and 16 seconds offered the first authoritative American riposte to the British Invasion. They eventually got a rhythm section – drummer Michael Clarke and bassist Chris Hillman – and changed their name to The Byrds (after a brief spell as The Beefeaters) – the spelling an homage to The Beatles. In 1964, Jim (later Roger) McGuinn, David Crosby and Gene Clark began playing folk music in coffee houses around Los Angeles, calling themselves The Jet Set.

The byrds members