The Byrds Why

Before turning rock ‘n’ roll on its ear in the spring of ‘65, the Byrds spent countless hours creating and refining their unique sound at LA’s World Pacific Studios. Hear history literally in the making as McGuinn, Crosby, Clark, Hillman and Clarke record newborn, spine-tingling versions of classics-to-be like “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “You Won’t Have To Cry,” “I Knew I'd Want You” and “Here Without You” as well as lost gems such as “The Reason Why,” “Tomorrow Is A Long Ways Away” and “You Showed Me” (later a smash for the Turtles). This is the most comprehensive collection of the Byrds' pre-Columbia recordings ever assembled. The 2-CD (and double High-Definition Vinyl gatefold LP set) Preflyte Sessions set is filled with 40 World Pacific Studio recordings circa 1964 and '65; tracks include all cuts found on the original Together-label Preflyte album, plus unissued and alternate versions from both the acoustic and electric Byrds' sessions, early David Crosby demo recordings, and the rare pre-Byrds Jet Set recording of "The Only Girl I Adore."

The Byrds were one of the most progressive and exciting band in '60s rock, with no peers outside the Stones-Beatles-Beach Boys triumvirate. This box set, which collects their original Columbia albums, represents over 90-percent of their career, basically everything they released, all 12 albums (aside from their 1973 reunion album recorded for Asylum). This material was frequently astonishing at the time, and still is, ranging from their debut single "Mr. Tambourine Man" through the bracing folk-rock of their first two LPs, growing psychedelia and experimentation during 1966 and 1967, then a sudden detour into country-rock and mellow pop for the rest of the '60s…

A blip in the Byrds' discography that could easily be missed, as all of the songs from these pre-Mr. Tambourine Man sessions are also found on the much more widely available In the Beginning. Byrds fans really need to track this down, though, because six of the 11 cuts are actually entirely different versions than the ones that appear on In the Beginning, and in some cases the differences are substantial…

Four of the five original members of The Byrds appear on Younger Than Yesterday, their fourth album recorded in 1966 and released in 1967. Time has shown it to be among the most durable of the band's albums. David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, and Chris Hillman come into their own as songwriters and Michael Clarke continued to mature into an impressive drummer. The album successfully expands their musical styles into several different directions yet remains a focused set blending folk-rock, heavy psychedelia, jazz influences and early indicators of the country rock direction the band later pursued.
While there's a somber, brooding tone that hangs over many of the songs, the album has a fresh playful quality capturing new musical textures, including reverse tape effects and brass instruments…

Forrest Gump (1994) is one of the most successful films ever made, winning Tom Hanks his second successive Best Actor Oscar (he won the previous year for Philadelphia) as well as claiming the Best Picture Oscar and many other awards and nominations, including several for music. A unique fable of American life from the 1950s to the 80s, the film blends comedy, drama, war, romance and groundbreaking special effects into a social and political portrait of the passing years, all seen through the eyes of the intellectually challenged but immensely likeable Forrest Gump. The soundtrack is a double album featuring 31 classic pop tunes plus a suite from Alan Silvestri's rich orchestral music, represented more completely on the companion score album.

When the four-CD Byrds set was first released in 1990, it was something of a landmark in Columbia Records' history on several counts. For starters, it was the first box set ever released by Columbia Records' pop division (as opposed to its jazz division) devoted to a noncurrent act (that is, they'd already issued boxes on Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, but both of them were active artists), and there had been boxes of sorts on Miles Davis and some other jazz figures, but their place in music history was already a given, whereas the Byrds, to Columbia Records' management and a lot of mainstream critics and even most listeners not attuned to their history, were "nothing" but a defunct rock act…

There was a time in the 1960s when US Top 40 radio and record sales were dominated by British invasion bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stone, The Kinks and The Who. The US had a few answers, but none more potent, or competent, than The Byrds, who had a string of incredible singles and classic albums, and were able to evolve with the times, from folk rock, through psychedelic rock before finally settling into the country rock genre…