Mr. Tambourine Man / Turn! Turn! Turn!
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Album Summary
This double LP is a 1976 compilation released by CBS/Columbia, bringing together the essential recordings from The Byrds' first two studio albums — the original 1965 'Mr. Tambourine Man' sessions and the 1965-1966 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' recordings — produced by the legendary Terry Melcher. Coming out at a time when the world was rediscovering the roots of the American rock revolution, this package gave a whole new generation the chance to hear where it all began, with Roger McGuinn's ringing twelve-string Rickenbacker and those soaring harmonies that changed everything. Columbia was wise enough to know that these tracks — born in the studios of Hollywood during one of the most electric moments in pop history — deserved to be heard together, bundled up and handed to the children of the seventies like a gift straight from the source.
Reception
- As a retrospective compilation, the album was embraced by critics as an essential document of mid-sixties folk-rock, with reviewers consistently praising the clarity and vitality of the original Melcher-produced recordings.
- The collection served a strong catalog sales function for CBS, capitalizing on renewed public interest in the roots of rock and the ongoing reverence for the Byrds' foundational sound.
- Critical consensus held that tracks like 'Mr. Tambourine Man,' 'Turn! Turn! Turn!,' and 'Chimes Of Freedom' remained as vital and resonant in 1976 as they had been a decade earlier.
Significance
- This compilation stands as a monument to the birth of folk-rock, capturing the precise moment when The Byrds fused Bob Dylan's poetic vision and Pete Seeger's social conscience with the electric urgency of British Invasion rock, and in doing so, rewrote the rules of American popular music.
- The presence of multiple Dylan compositions — including 'Mr. Tambourine Man,' 'All I Really Want To Do,' 'Chimes Of Freedom,' 'Spanish Harlem Incident,' and 'The Times They Are A-Changin'' — alongside Pete Seeger's adaptation 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' makes this collection a powerful testament to how the Byrds served as the great translators between the folk world and the rock mainstream.
- Tracks like 'He Was A Friend Of Mine,' 'The Bells Of Rhymney,' and 'Lay Down Your Weary Tune' reveal the deeper, more somber textures beneath the Byrds' jangly surface, underscoring why their influence stretched far beyond pop charts and deep into the soul of American roots music for decades to come.
Tracklist
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A1 Mr. Tambourine Man 123
2:20
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A2 I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better 134
2:31
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A3 Spanish Harlem Incident 121
1:58
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A4 You Won't Have To Cry 124
2:07
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A5 Here Without You 119
2:36
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A6 The Bells Of Rhymney 122
3:30
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B1 All I Really Want To Do 123
2:02
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B2 I Knew I'd Want You 87
2:14
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B3 It's No Use 147
2:23
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B4 Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe 106
2:46
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B5 Chimes Of Freedom 127
3:50
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B6 We'll Meet Again 113
2:07
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C1 Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season) 124
3:34
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C2 It Won't Be Wrong 123
1:58
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C3 Set You Free This Time 98
2:49
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C4 Lay Down Your Weary Tune 95
3:30
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C5 He Was A Friend Of Mine 79
2:30
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D1 The World Turns All Around Her 134
2:12
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D2 Satisfied Mind 80
2:21
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D3 If You're Gone 160
2:45
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D4 The Times They Are A-Changin' 123
2:17
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D5 Wait And See 137
2:19
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D6 Oh! Susannah 171
3:00
Artist Details
The Byrds were a visionary group out of Los Angeles, California, who came together in 1964 and proceeded to rewrite the rulebook by fusing the jangly twelve-string Rickenbacker sound with the poetic sensibility of Bob Dylan and the British Invasion, essentially birthing what the world would come to know as folk rock. With timeless cuts like "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" these cats didn't just make music — they shaped the entire sonic landscape of the mid-to-late sixties and laid the groundwork for country rock, psychedelia, and beyond. The Byrds' influence runs so deep that you can hear their echo in just about every guitar-driven act that followed, making them one of the most quietly powerful forces in the whole history of American popular music.
