#245: The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man (1965)

Zack: Behold, the band that makes everyone say, “Wait, they have how many albums on this list?” The fact that The Byrds have five albums deemed to be among the 1001 best is such a head-turner that we forgot all about them until I realized that we should be listening to one every 200 albums or so and we were about 240 albums in. So here is our first foray into a band deemed to be as sonically significant as Led Zeppelin, The Who and Radiohead, and I thought it was about as campy as Hitchcock’s movie sounds on paper. It was that semi-folk rock sound that tends to dominate classic rock radio stations more than it should and that we’re bumped into a few times before here. I typically find this sound to be unimpressive, and this wasn’t really a change. Mr. Tambourine Man had its moments, but it was, for the most part, just sort of boring. Hopefully The Byrds change it up somewhere down the line, because four more version of this would be hard to stomach.

Favorite Tracks: I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better; It’s No Use; Mr. Tambourine Man

Emily: Zack told me that I had to pick a Byrds album in this batch. In fact, he even listed them under 2 categories to make sure I didn't forget. Even though they have 5 albums on the list, I guess I've just skipped over them every time we've decided to listen to folk. Having listened to their debut, I'll probably end up skipping over them again later on. The band had seen A Hard Day's Night and decided they wanted to sound like the Beatles, so they bought similar instruments and worked with that mid-'60s pop-rock sound, adding some folk in as well. They came up with a pleasant enough collection of songs made for radio play, but Mr. Tambourine Man is nothing remarkable. If you want a mid-'60s Beatles sound, just listen to the real thing instead.

Favorite Tracks: Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe; I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better; Here Without You