Playlist: The Very Best Of The Byrds [Digipak]

Performer: The Byrds
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Legacy Recordings Playlist series finds the label working with the artist to produce the perfect career retrospective with an eye on both hit singles and fan-favorite album tracks. The eco-friendly set includes 100% post-consumer recycled packaging and a disc painstakingly assembled to include the artist's most definitive songs. Since the Byrds have no single greatest-hits disc that adequately covers their folk-rock, psychedelic, and country-rock eras, PLAYLIST: THE VERY BEST OF THE BYRDS admirably does the job. This collection includes early standards such as "Mr. Tambourine Man" with deep cuts like "Spanish Harlem Incident," while essential non-hits like the deeply psychedelic "Change is Now" and the Gram Parsons-penned "100 Years From Now" represent the band at their critical best. This is hardly the very best of the Byrds, although there are certainly some of the group's best songs here, including the iconic cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" that introduced Dylan, folk-rock and the Byrds to the world in one sharp, jangling shot, as well as Gene Clark's "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better," the John Coltrane-inspired "Eight Miles High," another brilliant Dylan cover, "My Back Pages," and Roger McGuinn's mythic and mystic "Chestnut Mare," but this band recorded so many great tracks that what's here just seems to barely scratch the surface. ~ Steve Leggett

Adding ringing electric guitars to Bob Dylan songs, the Byrds helped invent folk-rock, as well as becoming early proponents of psychedelia and popularizing country-rock with the help of alt-country saint Gram Parsons. Led by Roger McGuinn and his distinctive Rickenbacker guitar sound, the mid-1960s lineup--also featuring David Crosby, Gene Clark, and Chris Hillman--achieved fame with their unique take on Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man." Personnel changes resulted in a core band of only McGuinn and Hillman, but the short-lived addition of Parsons allowed for the creation of the landmark SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO album. Ultimately, McGuinn assumed full control of the Byrds legacy, and their harmonies and jangly guitars have influenced countless younger bands.

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