I only have a greatest hits collection, but I LOVE it. What are the best studio albums?

np. Mr Spaceman

There are different eras that dudes like PopTodd and Billyg et all can speak to. I have and like the first one (with Tambourine Man, 8 Miles High, etc) Sweetheart of the Rodeo (a fucking country album) Ballad of Easy Rider (slower, but good) but my fave is Untitled/Unissued, which was relased in a 2 disc format. Songs like "Take a Whiff on Me" will come up in the BlooGAR cast at some point.

I've only got Mr. Tambourine Man and Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Neither have ever really done a lot for me, but I guess I like Sweetheart a little better of the two.

I've wondered if I should bother getting any more of their stuff. Maybe Younger Than Yesterday?

I used to have The Notorious Byrd Brothers and enjoyed it until a guy I worked with played their Very Best Of every single time I worked with him, multiple times per shift. I got so sick of them I couldn't listen to anything anymore.

Sweetheart of the Rodeo is a really good fucking country album though. If you like that sort of thing...

I'm a bit partial to Gene Clark's stuff (both with and after the Byrds), but have recently gone off the deep end with Parsons.

Thing is, I think the first two Flying Burrito Brothers and the two GP solo albums are way better. I have a really hard time listening to Sweetheart without wishing I was listening to those instead, but I guess other people don't feel that way.

I think I even prefer International Submarine Band to Sweetheart of the Rodeo so I get what you're saying. Its a very good record on its one merits but its not really Gram at his best or perhaps completely in charge.

As far as your earlier question, if you don't like the early recordings that much then you probably wouldn't go ga ga over Younger than Yesterday or anything else. Unless you just have a problem with Gene Clark's voice since he left the band before Younger than Yesterday. There's obviously a chance you'd like it but we all need to prioritize and I wouldn't make the Byrds a priority based on your opinion of the other records.

And for Paper, I think anything through Younger than Yesterday is very good. If I were you, I'd just go back and decide which songs on the GH are your favorites and look which period they are from. If nothing stands out that much then go chronologically.

I'm kinda with KPH in preferring the Gene Clark years with Mr. Tambourine man being the favorite although I like Gram Parsons & Flying Burrito Brothers more than any Byrds album, just to clarify.

Oddly enough, I think I prefer the ISB stuff to both Rodeo and the FBB material. Go figure...

I'm gonna have to snag the latter two you mention. I've always wanted to hear Ballad but never had the chance. I have Sweetheart but to be honest was never that blown away by it, relative to the praise. I snagged their greatest hits last year and was pretty impressed by it, yet never sought out more. My loss, I guess.

You will like Untitled Unissued, no doubt. I'll dig er up and shoot it to ya.

1. Turn Turn Turn
2. Mr. Tambourine Man
3. Younger Than Yesterday
4. Fifth Dimension
5. Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
6. The Notorious Byrd Brothers

Younger than Yesterday

If your collection is the original 'Greatest Hits' (or its expanded version) I would next get Notorious Byrd Brothers and then Sweetheart because the Greatest Hits compilation(s) cut off after Younger Than Yesterday. Thus no overlap. The 4 CD box set isn't bad value considering the original LPs are pretty short and the bonus cuts on the reissues are not all different songs and even with them the CDs aren't especially long. But the box came out 16 years ago (not sure if it's ever been remastered) and is pretty heavy on post-Sweetheart material which may or may not be a good thing.

THE BYRDS' CHRIS HILLMAN and ROGER MCGUINN have handpicked tracks for
"There Is a Season," a four-CD/one-DVD retrospective due out September
26th. The ninety-nine-song collection will include the hits "Turn! Turn!
Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season," "Mr. Tambourine Man" and
"Eight Miles High," as well as five previously unreleased live tracks. The
DVD will feature ten rare television performances from 1965-1967.

1. Younger Than Yesterday
1. Mr. Tambourine Man
1. Sweetheart Of the Rodeo
2. Turn Turn Turn
3. The Notorious Byrd Brothers
4. Fifth Dimension