July 1965 US Debut Album by THE BYRDS on Columbia Records in Stereo
Remastered by VIC ANESINI Inside
"The Complete Columbia Albums Collection" 13-Album/15-CD Box Set
"…Feel A Whole
Lot Better…"
Talk
about a monster. 13 albums across 15 CDs (2 are Deluxe Edition doubles), more
unreleased tracks than you can shake a wobbly stick at, a chunky 40-page
booklet that literally gives track-by-track annotation, dinky facsimile 5"
Mini LP Repro Card Sleeve Artwork and blindingly good remastered sound. And all of it for under
twenty five quid! Throw in their stunning 1965 debut LP "Mr. Tambourine Man" in all its
groundbreaking jangling guitar-sound glory too - and it's a no-brainer.
Even
the first 10 CDs reflect the 360 STEREO Sound red Columbia labels that came
with original American LPs, while the last three are the plain red variant –
nice attention to detail. And apart from the very downward slope of the early
Seventies sets, the music is pretty much sublime throughout. So here are the
musical highs and lows of these American feathery troubadours…
UK
released November 2011 – "The Complete Columbia Albums Collection" by THE BYRDS
on Sony/Columbia/Legacy 88697873802 (Barcode is the same) is a 15CD Box Set
with a 40-Page Booklet. The Debut Album is Disc 1 (in Stereo) and breaks down as follows:
Disc
1 "Mr. Tambourine Man" in a single sleeve (45:40 minutes):
1.
Mr. Tambourine Man [Side 1]
2.
I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better
3.
Spanish Harlem Incident
4.
You Won't Have To Cry
5.
Here Without You
6.
The Bells Of Rhymney
7.
All I Really Want To Do [Side 2]
8.
I Knew I'd Want You
9.
It's No Use
10.
Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe
11.
Chimes Of Freedom
12.
We'll Meet Again
Tracks
1 to 12 are the debut LP "Mr. Tambourine Man" – released June 1965 in the USA
on Columbia CL 2372 (Mono) and CS 9172 (Stereo) and August 1965 in the UK on
CBS Records BPG 62571 (Mono) and CBS S BPG 62571 (Stereo). The Stereo Mix is
Used and Stereo Album Artwork for the repro 5" Mini LP sleeve. Producer by TERRY
MELCHER - the LP peaked at No. 6 in the USA and No. 7 in the UK and is widely
acknowledged to have started what was coined at the time as Folk-Rock.
BONUS
TRACKS (1996 CD):
13.
She Has A Way (Previously Unissued Version with Alternate Vocal Track/Take 2)
14.
I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better (Previously Unissued Version with Alternate Lead
Guitar Overdub)
15.
It's No Use (Previously Unissued Version with Alternate Lead Guitar Overdub)
16.
You Won't Have To Cry Way (Previously Unissued Version with Alternate Vocal
Track/Take 2)
17.
All I Really Want To Do – Mono 7" Single Version (A-side of USA 45 on Columbia
4-43332)
18.
You And Me Way (Previously Unissued Instrumental Backing Track/Take 13)
Like
the Simon & Garfunkel and Elvis Presley catalogues – The Byrds have had the
magic touch of master remaster/remix engineer VIC ANESINI. I've sung his
praises many times before (Hall & Oates, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Santana,
Carole King, Mott The Hoople, Jayhawks to name but a few) – and yet again – the
STEREO quality on these recordings is gorgeous. This Box Set uses the same
tracks as the High-Fidelity "360
Sound" CD Remaster that appeared in 1996.
In
a book about musical beginnings, you have to say that "Mr.
Tambourine Man" must be
considered to be up there in the top ten of all time great debut albums. The
Byrds were also more than that sound
- the look, the mixtures of Folk and Rock, the brilliant re-interpretation of
Dylan songs nestling alongside their own obvious cache of great writers in
McGuinn and Clark (and David Crosby, if they had let him). Arriving like a
melodic comet in 1965, this band exuded an attitude too that influenced so many
rising forces in that halcyon decade – even The Beatles. Any group that sported
Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke as a
starting out line-up was always going to be sensational.
The debut album was preceded
by two killer 45s; the opener being "Mr. Tambourine Man" b/w "I Knew I'd
Want You" in April 1965. Columbia
4-43271 went to No. 1 on the US and UK Pop Charts (May 1965 UK on CBS Records
201765) and established the Byrds
Rickenbacker Sound too. That amazing first seven-inch single was followed 15
June 1965 (a week before the LP on 21 June 1965) by a true double-header
45-single masterpiece - "All I Really Want To Do" b/w "I'll Feel A
Whole Lot Better". Columbia 4-43332
made No. 40 in the USA, but broke Top Ten at No. 4 in Blighty. It was also one
of those rare occasions where you could argue that the Gene Clark original on
the flipside ("I'll Feel A
Whole Lot Better") was arguably
better than the A.
Across its 12-cuts, Bob
Dylan is present (albeit in songwriting form) for four - "Mr. Tambourine
Man", "Spanish Harlem Incident", "All I Really Want To Do"
and "Chimes Of Freedom". Other cover versions include Pete Seeger in "The
Bells Of Rhymney", Jackie DeShannon for "Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe"
and that Traditional occasion-closer over on Side 2 "We'll Meet Again" ending the album. Gene Clark provided three of the five originals - "I'll Feel A
Whole Lot Better", "Here
Without You" and the debut single B-side "I Knew I'd Want
You". The two co-writes by Gene Clark
with Roger McGuinn are "You Won't Have To Cry" and "It's No Use". Then a sessionman, Shelter Records star Leon
Russell apparently plays un-credited piano on "Mr. Tambourine Man" and
"I
Knew I'd Want You" (legendary
drummer Hal Blaine is on those sessions too, as is Bassist Larry Knechtel who
would go on to be in Bread with David Gates).
But what a purchase like
this does is to allow newbees and fans alike to deep dive those lesser-trodden
LP paths – wonderful moments like "Here Without You", "It's No Use" and even the strange joy in the emotional two-fingers of "I'll Feel A
Whole Lot Better". The extras too
are not superfluous puffed-up fodder (dig that Clark song "She Has A Way") – but genuinely interesting and worthy
additions. The Byrds really were such a great band.
"I
opened my heart to the whole universe…and found it was loving…" - founder Roger McGuinn sang on
their third album "5D (Fifth Dimension)" in 1966 - a year after their explosive start.
Well,
open your soft machine to this groovy Byrds Clamshell beauty and I'm sure
you'll be feeling the extraterrstrial love too - a full 55-years after the event and for decades more
after…
