csberry

This is a bit of a mixed bag of late 60's folk/rock and psychedelia which records The Byrds in transition. While their subsequent albums focused on a folk/country sound, The Notorious Byrd Brothers finds the band experimenting in several directions...and not just in the direction of their next sound. This starts with the swinging, horn-blaring “Artificial Energy” - a song about being on speed. “Goin Back” is an ethereal song that is a fog of vocal harmonies and a jangly 12-string. Moog synths are present in several tracks (most obviously in “Dolphin's Smile” and “Space Odyssey”) as it was the hip, new technology that intrigued the band some. Finally, “Space Odyssey” clearly was written completely sober...uh, yeah.

It is the reverb-soaked harmonies that are consistent with each song. The listener can just bathe in the vocals here.

Most of the songs are less than three minutes long, so the album speeds by in about half an hour. This made me the songs I didn't care for easier to bear with my repeated listens but there were several songs that I kinda wished had been stretched out more. Along with that, the use of cross-fading and segues into adjacent songs helped to sew the album together when there is a shift in sound.

Songs I Knew I Liked: None

Songs I Now Like: “Draft Morning,” “Get to You,” and “Tribal Gathering”

Songs I Don't Want to Ever Hear Again: “Space Odyssey”