Its the two year anniversary of this site being gifted to me by my [now wife] and I felt that was as good a reason as any to start the site running again! I really want to get things moving especially in my journey back series since theres so much music to get to. As the name suggests, this post will focus on debut albums of 2 bird based bands I constantly confuse in my head: The Byrds and The Yardbirds.
The Byrds, to my understanding, are the first true emergence of folk rock. They established this very easily by forming a rock band and then covering a bunch of Dylan songs. You cant go wrong covering Dylan songs for a folk rock band, especially since Dylan himself was beginning to experiment with rock and roll at this point. It should also be mentioned that band features David Crosby on guitars! Obviously I’ll be looking forward to more of him in the late 60’s. The album sounds about how you would expect it to: Like the Beatles doing multipart harmony covers of Dylan songs. I should point out that the sounding like the Beatles part was intentional with the band even purchasing instruments played by the Beatles. What’s really funny here is while most people seem to steer towards the Dylan covers as the best music on the album, I’m all in favor of the few compositions put forth by Gene Clark. I think it’s probably because I’ve heard all the Dylan originals first and to now hear them sung in such a poppy harmonized way seems to lessen the impact of Dylan’s raw versions. Still theres a lot to love here!
1965 – Mr. Tambourine Man – Top Five Highlights
I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better – This song definitely reminds of the Beatles in that fun jingle jangle guitar and 3 part harmonies sense but theres nothing wrong with that! I loved A Hard Day’s Night.
Here Without You – I love the opening of this song! That guitar gets me every time! I like the beginning of each verse, something about those deep sad harmonies is just so wonderful. You can feel the melancholy but for some reason you want to be part of it.
The Bells of Rhymney – This song is a Pete Seeger cover but since Ive never heard the original version, I really liked this version. I think I just like the sad ones.
I Knew I’d Want You – Thats right! Another minor key harmonies track. This song appeared as a B-side for the “Mr. Tambourine Man” single released before the debut album. These two tracks were actually recorded by session musicians and therefore have a crisper sound to them.
It’s No Use – Once again its the opening guitar part that gets me into the song. In general, a song that can grab my attention in the opening seconds will keep me waiting for more interesting things to happen. I like the faster pace of this one and its dancy up and down nature. Plus: GUITARS!
When I listen to these albums, I dont read up on the song writers and such until after I’ve given the albums a few spins so it was really great when I found that my four favorite songs on the album were originals by the band. Definitely excited for the sequel!
Now onto a different form of bird altogether: The Yardbirds!
Here is another wild Rhythm and Blues british bands in the vein of The Rolling Stones. The Yardbirds are famous for kickstarting the careers of Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. On For Your Love both Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton can be heard playing some MEAN blues guitar and the constant riffing stops them from sounding like Rolling Stones clones. The best example appears on the non-stop rocking guitar fest that is “I’m Not Talking” and “I Ain’t Done Nothing” both featuring Jeff Beck. I also happen to really like vocalist Keith Relf!
1965 – For Your Love – Top Highlights
For Your Love – The intro to the song is really cool and once Keith started the verses in a kind of call and response with the repetitive “For Your Love” chorus, I was sold.
I’m Not Talking – Seriously the guitar riff and solo work here is just top notch stuff. The guitar just never lets you rest and that a very very good thing.
I Ain’t Done Nothing – The guitar and drums duo that constantly hammers into your brain (you can hear it at the 1:21 second mark) combined with the call and response guitar and harmonica is enough to make any blues rocker happy!
Overall I was very happy with both The Byrds and the Yardbirds. I’m excited to hear more original compositions from the Byrds and maybe a little bit of uniqueness while I’m hoping that the Yardbirds continue to rock out but dont forget the importance of melody since a lot of the songs lack the typical verse chorus structure in favor of a more free flowing vibe that can make it hard to differentiate some of the lesser liked tracks on the album. Theres still a lot of albums left in 1965 but I hope to move things a long at a bit of a brisker pace so that we can get to more music faster! Thanks again for reading/commenting/sharing/liking!
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