Average Rating: 3.94 Rating Variance: 0.69 Objectivity Score: 62% (Fairly Balanced)
Sort by: Rating | Release Date | Rating Date | Name5.0 classicThe Byrds The Notorious Byrd BrothersThe Byrds Younger Than YesterdayThe Byrds Mr. Tambourine Man4.5 superbJefferson Airplane Surrealistic PillowJefferson Airplane VolunteersThe Byrds Sweetheart of the RodeoThe Byrds Fifth DimensionThe Byrds Turn! Turn! Turn!4.0 excellentJefferson Airplane Bless Its Pointed Little HeadJefferson Airplane Crown of CreationThe Byrds The Byrds' Greatest HitsThe Byrds Ballad of Easy Rider3.5 greatJefferson Airplane Thirty Seconds Over WinterlandThis is a good latter-day life album, capturing the band's final lineup, with classic-era members Paul, Grace, Jorma and Jack joined by newer members like Papa John Creach on violin, Johnny Barbata on drums, and David Freiberg as a belated replacement for Martin Balin on vocals. There are different versions of this album with varying number of tracks, but they all focus mostly on newer, post-Balin material. I'm not a big fan of Bark and Long John Silver, the albums that most of this material comes from, but they pick out some of the best songs from those albums and play them more powerfully than the studio versions, so it's a good introduction to their early 70's work. Freiberg barely sings lead--his main role seems to be filling out the vocal harmonies, but having him in the mix helps them reduplicate their great 3-part harmonies, with Grace and Paul dominating. The instrumental mix is also quite powerful--Jorma and Jack rock as usual, and Creach's shrieking violin adds to the instrumental mix. Overall, this material still doesn't live up to their classic late 60's stuff, but the performances are still impressive. The Byrds Untitled3.0 goodThe Byrds Byrds2.5 averageJefferson Airplane Jefferson AirplaneKind of a weird, unfocused mish-mash, but it has some worthwhile moments. The biggest problem with this album is that it lack unity: the classic JA sounded like a unified band even when doing the various members' different styles of songs. This one sounds more like a collection of solo songs with the other members overdubbing. Jorma's guitar helps keep things together, but Jack's bass is sadly too quiet here, which makes it sound less like the classic JA than it would otherwise. During some moments, especially 'Planes,' the band's sound comes together, but those are the exceptions. Balin's stuff also sounds really lite--almost like Starship with Balin singing instead of Micky Thomas! Fortunately, Grace and Jorma's songs are pretty good, even if they sound more like solo efforts. Worthwhile if you're a big fan, but otherwise, go for their classic late 60's stuff. The Byrds Farther AlongThe Byrds Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde
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