"Mr. Tambourine Man" by THE BYRDS – June 1965 US Debut LP on Columbia Records in Mono and Stereo (Stereo Mix Used for CD) - Inside "The Complete Columbia Albums Collection" featuring Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke with Guests Leon Russell, Hal Blaine and Larry Knechtel (November 2011 UK Sony/Legacy 13-Album 15CD Clamshell Box Set of Vic Anesini Stereo Remasters in Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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

 

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"…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…