Mr. Tambourine Man

This is my second Byrds album reviewed on this generator. This is their debut album, and should be more folk rock than psychadelica (which they had started experimenting with on the other album I reviewed by them (The Notorious Byrd Brothers)).

The first thing that catches your attention when listening to this record is Roger McGuinn's 12 string Rickenbacker guitar. It has such a jangly, rich sound to it. That coupled with the beautiful harmonies attained by the band makes for some beautiful, soft, easy listening music.

Bob Dylan wrote 4 of the 12 songs on the album. The rest were originals, mainly written by Gene Clark. The bands sound was like that of the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, or Buffalo Springfield (that early 60's hippie rock vibe). The term "folk rock" was first used to describe the Byrds, and the handle kind of stuck.

Overall, a great record today, and one that I will absolutely visit again.

Favourite songs: I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better, Spanish Harlem Incident, You Won't Have to Cry, Mr. Tambourine Man, "Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe", Chimes of Freedom

Least favourite songs: The Bells of Rhymney

4/5

pajaros

Boring and samey. Mostly well sung, just not interesting. The version of "We'll Meet Again" is perhaps the oddest single song on a pop album

Outside of the drum and bass tracks switching channels from song to song, I can hardly tell one track from the next. I got so bored with the album that by 'The Bells of Rhymney' I was yawning, and my eyelids were getting heavy. The only think that prevented me from fading off into sleep, was how annoyingly imbalanced the levels were on the guitar tracks. It was like I was stuck between two street performers that were competing for my donation by trying to drown each other out.

Then 'I Knew I'd Want You' started, and I heard the keys and thought things could get interesting. But, my hopes were dashed by about 20s in. From there I started scanning the remaining tracks and I didn't find anything to merit digging in much further. I really don't want to hear this album again.

Classics of 60s music, nothing really revelatory here

Good 60’s folk rock album, worthy inclusion on the list, but too many covers to really be considered an all time great album but enjoyable takes on the Dylan songs, similar scores to the Beatles early albums.

This has been my favorite of the Byrds albums so far that we've gotten going through the list. Good stuff, very similar to early Beatles. I liked it,

Cover-levyksi varsin hyvä. Vielä odotellaan aikaa, kun Dylan tosissaan aktivoituu biisintekijänä. 4/5 nautin

It's not that this is bad. The musicality and whatnot are all on point. I guess for me this has more to do with Bob Dylan. My love of Dylan is directly proportional to my dislike for The Byrds. You don't need to dress up Dylan's songs this way--or any way.

If I close my eyes while listening to this, it sort of transports me to feeling like I'm in a period piece movie about the mid 60s. Seems to perfectly capture the spirit of its time in America.