Then there’s their take on the Stephen Foster tune “Oh! Susannah,” a song from my grade school days, creating an atmosphere of racism and injustice rolled into a seemingly harmless ditty. And therein lies part of the dilemma for me, that being their embracing of artists such a Porter Wagoner and his song “Satisfied Mind,” as he represented that lower class country audience who were standing in the way of progress, segregation, equality and totally supported the conflict in Viet Nam. For some reason, The Byrds had gained a great deal of attention without having actually done anything of note, with this album picking up exactly where Mr. In short, The Byrds were nearly out of step with the musical changes that were filling the airways, the album reach only #20 on the charts, due entirely to their covering of two Dylan numbers. Even with each song laced with pop oriented country-esque vocals and instrumentations, it never really moved anyone. What The Byrds did have going for them was a signature sound, produced in part by McGuinn’s jangly twelve string Rickenbacker, dynamic textures and great harmonies, along with Gene Clark’s ever rolling drum pattern that wove in, out, over and under each song flawlessly.Īll of the material on the album was rather middle of the road, nothing unconventional, other than the spiritual nature of the songs and their delivery, delivered at a time when faith in anything was being challenged by the younger generation, so hearing this sort of music, even so melodically done, harkened back to the values of our parents … the establishment. It’s not a very good album, it’s not a very comfortable album, it’s not an album to get stoned to, it’s certainly not an album that would make for a pleasant lysergic adventure, and it’s not an album that defines anything other than an American band during the mid 60’s struggling to find themselves, a band who certainly looked ultra hip, had a great name and were at war with each other nearly from day one.
Tambourine Man had one foot deeply rooted in folk and another slightly in rock n’ roll’, where in 1965 they delivered Turn! Turn! Turn!, an album fully steeped in the more folkish side of folk-rock, at a time when The Beatles released their dynamic album Rubber Soul and The Rolling Stones had just dropped Aftermath on the world … yet The Byrds where still defining themselves as some sort of Johnny-come-lately version of Bob Dylan. A band on their way to somewhere … yet never arrived anywhere.
0 kommentar(er)
