1. Artificial Energy
2. Goin' Back*
3. Natural Harmony
4. Draft Morning*
5. Wasn't Born to Follow*
6. Get to You
7. Change Is Now
8. Old John Robertson
9. Tribal Gathering
10. Dolphin Smile
11. Space Odyssey
A+
One of the nice things about doing this project is that bands start to come and go like old friends. I'll have wandered off through months of time and dozens of albums, and then suddenly I'll run into the Byrds again and it's all like "Hey, man! How you doing? What you been up to?". As it turns out, what they've been up to is producing one of the best albums I've heard in ages. I knew they had it in them, but up until now the Byrds' albums have all promised more than they've delivered. The Notorious Byrd Brothers fulfils that promise - opener "Artificial Energy" is the closest thing to a bad song here, and really the only reason for that is that its up-beat, brassy production and galloping pace are at odds with the gentle, beautiful mood of the rest of the album. (It's also a pretty dark song, about a guy taking too much speed and winding up in gaol after killing a gay guy).
The rest of this album flows gently from one song to another, with the tracks often literally blending in to one and other. The musical style is hard to pin down, because this album is just so experimental. Blues, folk, country, jazz and electronica all mixed together, with some songs wandering through multiple styles throughout their course. What holds it all together is the dark, delicate mood and the Byrds' glorious harmonies. It also helps that the band were firing on all cylinders here. By the end of this album only Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman were left in the group. Thankfully, Crosby stuck around long enough to contribute the astonishing "Draft Morning", a song about an ordinary guy getting sent off to fight in Vietnam and trying to come to terms with the horror of what he's being forced to do. (It's not a folky dirge, though - there are swooping melodies and a chaotic mid-section that features combat sound effects). The group also produced two beautiful renditions of Carole King compositions - The introspective "Goin' Back", a song about trying to reconcile youthful innocence with the pressures of the adult world, and the gorgous "Wasn't Born to Follow", which seems to be quietly political in its presentation of a pastoral alternative to modern life. And yes, I know Carole King is uncool. I don't care. I grew up listening to her so I like her anyway.
The back half of the album can't match the sheer quality of side one, but it's still lovely. And I particularly like that McGuinn included another of his little sci-fi mini-epics - the great "Space Odyssey", which is a moog-heavy reimagining of Arthur C. Clarke's classic short story "The Sentinel", which formed the basis for the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Kubrik film of the same name. I haven't smoked pot in a very long time, but this album is really tailor made for countercultural weirdos to get high and groove to.
Thankfully, like all the best drug music, this album is also great while sober. It's a sort of window into a strange and beautiful world that might never even have existed - a time of love-ins and happenings and people making daisy chains, reacting against the shitshow that was the mid-20th century by just trying to live a happy life to the fullest, away from all that crap. I have a love-hate relationship with hippie crap, but the Byrds were smart, and they were actually talented, and the Notorious Byrd Brothers is a really great album. I look forward to Sweetheart of the Rodeo, which apparently annoyed so many people and is therefore probably awesome.
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