We never talk about them.
And I ain't meaning no Wrens, neither!

They are just one of those great bands that we tend to overlook. And, according to the pick only one (each) thread, several of us don't even know.

This needs to be remedied.

They basically invented Jangle Pop, influenced slews of great bands, and went through several incarnarions, from folk rock to pop to country. They also spawned some amazing songwriters, from Gene Clark, to Roger McGuinn, to Gram Parsons, to Chris Hillman.

Love that band.

Who else has a case of the Byrds Flu?

Big fan but then I love the sound of a Rickenbacker more than anything else on this planet.

Ditto.

They put the "Uck!" in "Suck".

It's a 3-way tie for my favorite album of theirs:

or

or maybe...


No matter.
All three are damn-near perfect.

I am sad for you.

Rickenbacker fact

The Rickenbacker guitar was named after Eddie Rickenbacker, America's top scoring air ace of World War I. He was related to one of the designers.

I've been sitting on that one for ages!

Love the 'rickey' but when they decided to trade it in for a pedal steel guitar they shined.
'Sweetheart of The Rodeo' belongs in EVERY record collection.
Not to say the early records aren't fantastic, I just prefer the later material. Gene Clark was the real 'diamond' in that bunch.

Agreed.
And yet, he was NOT on any of their records past Fifth Dimension (and barely on that), including the country music years.

Todd is correct and I prolly should have pointed that out.

If you're a fan of 'Sweetheart' you should definitely check out this beauty from 1968. Specially priced 2-fer. Good shite Maynard.

~8P

so which of these would be best for a first-timer?

For a first-timer, I'd go with the first one: Mr. Tambourine Man, as it has the most familiar material
-I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better
-Mr. Tambourine Man
-Here Without You

Younger Than Yesterday has a slightly harder/more psychadelic edge.
-So You Wanna Be a Rock n' Roll Star
-Have You Seen Her Face
-My Back Pages

And Sweetheart Of the Rodeo is almost an entirely different band. It's basically a pure country album. And a brilliant one, at that.
-Hickory Wind
-You're Still On My Mind
-Nothing Was Delivered

So... depends on your mood, I guess.

i only own these two...but i love em both. maybe i should look into more....

also, the flying burrito brothers are goodness too.

yep...this made my listmania.

I only have The Fantastic Expedition Of..., not the 2-fer.
And it is amazing.

Been getting into this a bit lately (thanks dude)

Sweetheart of the Rodeo is on my desert island albums list; An all timer for sure.

Two of my very favorites, ever. I bought Younger Than Yesterday for a girlfriend of mine but she never got it. So good and I can’t believe I haven’t finished up my collection yet.

I'm listening to this right now, or at least an expanded and remastered version of it that I downloaded last night. I'm surprised how many songs I know, probably via television and movies. This is all pretty interesting stuff, to be sure. What I like best about some of these 60s bands? All the songs are 3 min or less. Brevity can be a powerful thing.

Favourite song so far is Ballad of an Easy Rider. Favourite cover is probably My Back Pages.

Sweetheart of the Rodeo is tops, I'm also a big fan of the "Untitiled" record (the first Byrds I owned). I was rocking out to "My Back Pages" on Sunday.

I remember some interview with Joey Ramone years ago and he rattled off what he thought were the 5 groups with the most distinctive sound in rock history. The Byrds were one of the 5.

It's funny because there was a thread on ILM where you named some of the best 3-album run for each decade and I picked (pick after most of the usual were already selected):

60's: The Byrds - Younger Than Yesterday, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, Sweetheart of the Rodeo

70's: T. Rex – Electric Warrior, The Slider, Tanx

80's: The Cure – Seventeen Seconds, Faith, Pornography

90's: Spiritualized – Lazer Guided Melodies, Pure Phase, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space*

2000's: The Delgados – The Great Eastern, Hate, Universal Audio

*Could of put the Boo Radleys, anywhere from Giant Steps thru Kingsize but coming from me that was too obvious.

-- BeeOK October 28th, 2005