The Byrds Greatest Hits (1967)

Without question, the Byrds were one of the great bands of the '60s and one of the few American bands of their time to continually turn out inventive, compelling albums. As they were recording a series of fine records, they turned out a number of classic singles that unquestionably defined their era. The Byrds' Greatest Hits does an excellent job of chronicling the peak years of their popularity before they went country-rock on 1968's Sweetheart of the Rodeo…

Mr. Tambourine Man is the greatest hits album by the American rock band The Byrds, originally released as The Byrds' Greatest Hits. It is the first greatest hits album by the Byrds and was released in August 1967 on Columbia Records. It is the top-selling album in the Byrds' catalogue and reached number 6 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, but failed to chart in the UK. The album provides a summary of the Byrds' history during Gene Clark and David Crosby's tenure with the band and also functions as a survey of the group's hit singles from 1965 to 1967, a period when the band had its greatest amount of success on the singles chart.

While the all-killer no-filler single-disc The Byrds' Greatest Hits remains the best distillation of their classic songs, The Essential Byrds is a smartly assembled double dose, including all 14 of the 1965-1967 tracks on Greatest Hits, but expanding its reach into their entire Columbia output, going as far as the early '70s. Inevitably, that means that disc two – which goes, roughly, from mid-1967 to 1971 – isn't as good as the first half, and that the last four tracks in particular are by far the least impressive, tagged on mostly so that the release spans the Byrds' entire Columbia catalog. That's a small reservation considering that the two-fer adds many first-rate songs not on Greatest Hits, from non-hit singles like "Lady Friend" and "Goin' Back" to standout album cuts like "Renaissance Fair," "Natural Harmony," "Jesus Is Just Alright," and "Chestnut Mare." There are no surprises here; even the songs that eluded inclusion on albums for many years, like the early B-side "She Don't Care About Time" and "Lady Friend," have been commonly available in the CD era. And it's true that this misses some other fine album tracks that could have stood with pride alongside those selected, like "I Knew I'd Want You," "John Riley," and "Dolphin's Smile." Within the confines of the two-CD format, though, it's a very well-chosen career overview.

It goes without saying that The Best of the Byrds: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 doesn't have as many classic singles as the group's first hits collection, since the Byrds stopped being a singles band shortly after the release of Greatest Hits.

"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005. The lists presented were compiled based on votes from selected rock musicians, critics, and industry figures, and predominantly feature British and American music from the 1960s and 1970s. From 2007 onwards, the magazine published similarly titled lists in other countries around the world.

This double-CD set presents a real conundrum, on a lot of levels. For starters, on its face, 55 songs may well seem like overkill to the casual fan who only knows or remembers (or thinks they only remember) five or six big hits by Paul Revere & the Raiders. And there are more modest single-CD collections to be found on this band that seem less daunting. But as it turns out - for those who give this set a try - Paul Revere & the Raiders did have just enough hits, when coupled with a sufficient number of respected album tracks and B-sides, to sustain a double-CD set. And that goes double for anyone who likes plain old rock & roll - even when this band got ambitious and a little bit progressive and serious, they never lost sight of the value of a great beat and carefully placed vocal and instrumental hooks, and they were always fun…

A pop music band from California in the sunshine pop genre, The Association are known for their tight vocal harmony. In the 1960s the group had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts…

California Dreamin' reminds us that '60s pop paragons The Mamas & The Papas had an appealing new sound, made some terrific records, and left behind a legacy that lives on more than 35 years after they called it quits. This hour-long documentary, originally aired on PBS, has all the standard elements of the genre: interviews (including some from 2004 and '05 with surviving members Michelle Phillips and Denny Doherty, as well as 1986 recollections by John Phillips, who died in '01, and a few brief words from Cass Elliot, who passed away in '74), photos, home movies, and a generous helping of music clips…