The only clinker, a 'singles version' of 'Lay, Lady, Lay' from 1969, complete with an out-of-tune gospel choir back up, is mercifully brief. From the original Byrds line-up of McGuinn, Clark, Crosby, and Hillman, through the super-guitar-slinger period with Clarence White, Dylan's material is well-served by the Byrd's renditions. It's virtually impossible to keep yourself from singing harmony on along with David Crosby on the chorus.Ĭovering material from as early as 1965 through 1971 (with one bonus reunion cut from 1990) all the various personnel configurations of the Byrds are well represented on this compilation CD. From the opening electric twelve-string guitar lick on 'All I want to Do' it's abundantly clear why these Byrd's versions were so popular.

They weren't the only group to cover his songs, mainstream folkies Peter Paul and Mary had the first hit with 'Blowin' in the Wind.' But the Byrds were the earliest to recast his material into raucous rock and roll. All versions of the book are available for presale at The standard edition retails for $125 and is limited to only 3000 copies worldwide.If it wasn't for the Byrds Bob Dylan might never have become the musical icon he is today. Printed in Italy on 200 gsm premium art paper, all versions feature quality thread-sewn binding and a luxurious quarter-bound casing. Each is an oversized 10.5 x 13 inch large-format presentation with more than 500 photographs across 400 pages. The Byrds: 1964-1967 is available in four editions. I just remember him saying, “Millbrook’s off.” So, we didn’t get along for a while after that.ĭavid : It’s funny because now I don’t have any memory of that whatsoever!Ĭhris : Maybe this was the beginning of the end. We were going to go there, but David was the liaison between Leary and us. And then David said, “Millbrook’s off!” Timothy Leary had a sort of acid commune in north upstate New York, in a town called Millbrook. He said, “Are you so jealous of Simon and Garfunkel that you’re acting like that?” We just got into it with each other. Roger : It was just this little exchange, but David got mad. Then David says, “I can’t believe you treated Paul Simon like that.”

I don’t know what happened, but Paul leaves. I think Jim Dickson tipped us off that Dylan might come, but we didn’t rehearse or anything.Ĭhris : David thought Roger was not being polite to Paul Simon. I have no idea why we were wearing matching shirts, but, yeah, Bob Dylan gets up and sings “Tambourine Man” with us, which was cool. He said, “Wow, you can dance to it.” It was a revelation.Ĭhris : That was a great night when Dylan came down. Tambourine Man.” He and Bobby Neuwirth came to our rehearsals at World Pacific, and they listened to it. There’s another picture from that night on the back of our first album. Bob just came up and started jamming with us. Finally, Bob turned to me and said, “We should get out of here.” I remember he and I going out to a coffee house on Sunset Strip and having to leave. Tambourine Man” single, Bob Dylan showed up at Ciro’s, the Hollywood club that launched the Byrds, and ended up onstage with them.ĭavid : Dylan came down a lot. On March 26, 1965, shortly before the release of the “Mr. Jim Dickson Archive, courtesy Henry Diltz Photography (The book follows the group as it gradually goes from a quintet to a quartet to a trio, and leaves off before Gram Parsons’ arrival in 1968, which launched a whole new chapter of the Byrds.)

20 - which is a comprehensive oral history and a gorgeous coffee-table photo book all in one: The editors basically licensed virtually every known photo of the group from the era, sat down with surviving founding members Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Chris Hillman and got them to share their memories of the moments, the band, the era, each other and lots more. Well, fans are getting the Byrds history they’ve always dreamed of with BMG Books’ stunning “The Byrds: 1964-67” - out Sept. Anyone who clicked on this article knows that the Byrds are one of the greatest and most influential rock groups of all time: They weren’t only influenced by the Beatles, they influenced them they showed the world that Bob Dylan songs could rock and via their own songs like “Eight Miles High,” “So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star,” “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better” and “Time Between,” they paved the way for countless artists that followed, from jangle-pop to psychedelia to country rock.

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