2003CC: The Byrds
- Mr. Tambourine Man (65): *****
- The Byrds' Greatest Hits (67): *****
- The Byrds [Box Set] (90): *****
- Younger Than Yesterday (67): *****
- The Nortorious Byrd Brothers (68): *****
- Sweetheart of the Rodeo (68): **** 1/2
- Original Singles, Vol. 1 (1965-1967) (80): ****
- Full Flyte (1965-1970) (98): ****
- 20 Essential Tracks From the Boxed Set (91): *** 1/2
- Untitled (70): *** 1/2
- Turn! Turn! Turn! (65): *** 1/2
- Fifth Dimension (66): *** 1/2
- The Byrds Play Dylan (80): *** 1/2
- Byrd Parts (98): *** 1/2
- The Preflyte Sessions (01): ***
- Ballad of Easy Rider (69): ***
- Super Hits (98): ***
- Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde (69): ** 1/2
- Live at the Fillmore West February 1969 (00): **
- Farther Along (71): **
- The Best of the Byrds: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (72): **
- Byrdmaniax (71): * 1/2
- The Byrds (00): * 1/2
- The Byrds (73): 1/2
This is a new entry in an up-dated series I'm calling the New Critical Consensus. Several people have requested updates of the older series, and since critical opinions shift, I am revamping the entire system. I am averaging the opinions of several excellent music critics to produce a list of each artist's albums. Rather than using a number system, which was perhaps a bit clunky, I will now be using a five-star system. The albums will be listed in a recommended purchasing order, so new fans will have an idea of where the best place to start buying an artist's work is.
These are not my opinions, although, since I have chosen the critics used (and I'm using many), my taste will perhaps seep through a bit.
Terribly nerdy, I know, but maybe this will help people only now beginning to dabble into certain artists' bodies of work.
Scale:
***** - Masterpiece
**** 1/2 - Classic
**** - Great
*** 1/2 - Good
*** - Above Average
** 1/2 - Average
** - Below Average
* 1/2 - Bad
* - Terrible
1/2 - One of the worst albums ever
That reminds me of a nearly unrelated tangent. A They Might Be Giants song called "Weep Day" contains the following bizarre lyrics:
"Every man is made of two opinions / Every woman has a second half / And it's samba time for Tambo and / Weep Day for Urine Man"
How did these lyrics come about? The liner notes explain:
"The germ for Weep Day was the hyphenated reference to a song on the back of a Bob Dylan record jacket which read 'Mr. Tambo-urine Man' [with "urine Man" on the next line]. Flansburgh drew disturbing likenesses of both Mr. Tambo and Urine Man and Linnell dreamed up their antithetical relationship and set it to music."
I found that amusing, even though it's not the Byrds' "Mr. Tambo-urine Man"...
Terrific! Thanks!
I had heard the song, but never would have guessed its origin. Fantastic!
shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs