Released: 14/08/26
The Byrds’ The Notorious Byrd Brothers bridges their celebrated mid-’60s folk-rock and the country-rock that would follow. Produced by Gary Usher and engineered by Roy Halee, it combines trademark harmonies and chiming guitars with lush art-pop textures, including phased vocals, Moog, sound effects and horns. Its songs balance utopian innocence with growing unease, from ‘Tribal Gathering’ and ‘Dolphin’s Smile’ to the Vietnam-era ‘Draft Morning’ and amphetamine warning ‘Artificial Energy’. The wistful ‘Goin’ Back’ provides its emotional centre.