I never seriously understood either yours or Nathan's arguments against Younger Than Yesterday. The grounds by which both of you attack the album seem perfectly applicable to the Byrds in general: if you find "Thoughts and Words" disjointed (how can you make this argument when you give Fifth Dimension an A, having songs even more disjointed) or songs like "Time Between" or "The Girl With No Name" to be filler, I could say that about a very sizable chunk of their discography, most notable Turn Turn Turn and Notorious. If you find "My Back Pages" to be recitations, then I do not see seriously see such a big gap between this and the others Byrds covers of Dylan songs: the instrumentation is as pretty as usual and it was a theme that fit with the Byrds catalog (like "Goin' Back").
The truth is (or at least how I see it) is that the band always had a bit of a songwriting problem in shaping their sound into songs that do not collapse into (beautiful) mush, and their praised Dylan covers honestly were fairly humorless, passively internalized, and had a very stiff interpretation of his style not unlike the other stiff folkies of the revival. On those grounds, I think it is *very* hard to make an argument that this is weaker than the other albums, and it also to me makes it very hard to believe either of your points about the Byrds being the single greatest American band (though, in agreement about VU, Muscle Shoals, and Family Stone being the great American bands of the era): even if you don't like style of the Doors, for example, the aesthetic they crafted was more natural, versatile, and visceral than the Byrds, which is why they survived the mid 60s and the Byrds did not.
Lots to respond to here! I'll just say that I don't think there's nearly as much filler on Notorious as YTY, and that, though 5D is disjointed, its highs are simply too marvelous for me to care too much, which I don't think is nearly as true of YTY, where its 2 best songs for me amount to only 4 minutes' material.
"their praised Dylan covers honestly were fairly humorless, passively internalized, and had a very stiff interpretation of his style not unlike the other stiff folkies of the revival." Yeah, would agree.
Part of why I think the Byrds were the best of their era wasn't necessarily proven out in their albumcraft--all of theirs are problematic--but just how much they changed in those years, which is something I don't get out of the Doors, VU (even though all 4 albums are dramatically different) or Aretha Franklin's run, or even Sly (whose two best albums are better than anything the Byrds ever did).
I'll respin the second half of YTY this week for you.
Agree, a really great and thorough read. Lucky I got to see the Byrds twice. I took quite a few people with me the first time and recently heard it changed their musical lives.
My favorite songs on many of those albums are the ones you say are worst. “CTA 102,” “I See You,” etc. And your favorite song on Notorious, Artificial Energy,” is it’s one jarring note.
I don't know what you mean by Artificial Energy being my favorite song on NBB. It's far from it. When I say it “peaks early,” i mean the energy of the album, not the quality. I wrote lots of praise for “Change is Now” in that paragraph - that's probably my favorite.
Anyway, you are the first time I've seen anyone praise “CTA 102,” a one minute excuse to play around with sound effects that's frustratingly jarring in the sequencing of the album.
Great reads says this diehard Byrds fan who agrees with much of your scathing honesty. 👏👏👏👏
Appreciate you saying that!
I never seriously understood either yours or Nathan's arguments against Younger Than Yesterday. The grounds by which both of you attack the album seem perfectly applicable to the Byrds in general: if you find "Thoughts and Words" disjointed (how can you make this argument when you give Fifth Dimension an A, having songs even more disjointed) or songs like "Time Between" or "The Girl With No Name" to be filler, I could say that about a very sizable chunk of their discography, most notable Turn Turn Turn and Notorious. If you find "My Back Pages" to be recitations, then I do not see seriously see such a big gap between this and the others Byrds covers of Dylan songs: the instrumentation is as pretty as usual and it was a theme that fit with the Byrds catalog (like "Goin' Back").
The truth is (or at least how I see it) is that the band always had a bit of a songwriting problem in shaping their sound into songs that do not collapse into (beautiful) mush, and their praised Dylan covers honestly were fairly humorless, passively internalized, and had a very stiff interpretation of his style not unlike the other stiff folkies of the revival. On those grounds, I think it is *very* hard to make an argument that this is weaker than the other albums, and it also to me makes it very hard to believe either of your points about the Byrds being the single greatest American band (though, in agreement about VU, Muscle Shoals, and Family Stone being the great American bands of the era): even if you don't like style of the Doors, for example, the aesthetic they crafted was more natural, versatile, and visceral than the Byrds, which is why they survived the mid 60s and the Byrds did not.
Lots to respond to here! I'll just say that I don't think there's nearly as much filler on Notorious as YTY, and that, though 5D is disjointed, its highs are simply too marvelous for me to care too much, which I don't think is nearly as true of YTY, where its 2 best songs for me amount to only 4 minutes' material.
"their praised Dylan covers honestly were fairly humorless, passively internalized, and had a very stiff interpretation of his style not unlike the other stiff folkies of the revival." Yeah, would agree.
Part of why I think the Byrds were the best of their era wasn't necessarily proven out in their albumcraft--all of theirs are problematic--but just how much they changed in those years, which is something I don't get out of the Doors, VU (even though all 4 albums are dramatically different) or Aretha Franklin's run, or even Sly (whose two best albums are better than anything the Byrds ever did).
I'll respin the second half of YTY this week for you.
Agree, a really great and thorough read. Lucky I got to see the Byrds twice. I took quite a few people with me the first time and recently heard it changed their musical lives.
very lucky to have seen them twice!
My favorite songs on many of those albums are the ones you say are worst. “CTA 102,” “I See You,” etc. And your favorite song on Notorious, Artificial Energy,” is it’s one jarring note.
I don't know what you mean by Artificial Energy being my favorite song on NBB. It's far from it. When I say it “peaks early,” i mean the energy of the album, not the quality. I wrote lots of praise for “Change is Now” in that paragraph - that's probably my favorite.
Anyway, you are the first time I've seen anyone praise “CTA 102,” a one minute excuse to play around with sound effects that's frustratingly jarring in the sequencing of the album.