byrdsongs, xix

The Notorious Byrd Brothers, recorded in sporadic episodes during the second half of 1967 and released in January of '68, is an incredibly heady LP, the Byrds' last as a pop band and, for me anyway, their very best.  Along with Smile and Revolver, Notorious is the definitive expression of what pop can be.  All three records are at the outer limits of a creative threshold, arriving at a potent intersection where artistic daring and mind expansion collide with the combustible social forces in play at the time.  All three records also appropriate elements of rock, attempting to make statements of conceptual depth and doing so with a more assertive, 'heavier' sound, and in this sense none of them can be viewed as pure pop records. This is especially so for Notorious... The passage from pop to rock reflects social devolution, but the rock aspects of Notorious don't at all diminish its power. Quite the contrary. Remember that Notorious is about a year later than Smile and Revolver, and perhaps this explains the urgency of its vibe.  The music feels like it's trying to hang on to a simpler world while knowing that time won't yield for anyone or anything. Every time I hear it, I find myself wanting to hang on as well, which makes the listening experience that much more poignant because I have the benefit, so to speak, of knowing what happened next... It's a tragedy that Smile never saw the light of day and that Notorious was a commercial flop.  Revolver is of course another story... The Byrds were fraying amidst the making of Notorious.  First Crosby was fired and then Michael Clarke left the band, reducing the group for a short while to McGuinn, Hillman and some session players, including Clarence White, Jim Gordon, and Hal Blaine.  In spite of his departure, Notorious features some excellent Crosby songs, including Dolphin's Smile, Tribal Gathering and, most of all, Draft Morning, which I've posted for today.  Listen for Hillman's chilling mandolin in the verse, along with his heavier than heavy bass playing and the Sgt. Pepper-style horns/mellotron in the song's spectacular bridge. All of these are elements of rock, and I'm ok with them.  The first flushes of rock simply mean that the music has a slightly harder sound. Notorious never gives itself over completely to the heaviness. I give producer Gary Usher credit for this. He's the real hero of Notorious, managing to make the record sound huge without ever making it feel swollen. It's just perfect, for one last time...