Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic album from pop's finest year, June 19, 2004
1967 was a vintage year for pop music and this album, one of the finest Byrds albums, reinforces my belief about just how much great music was released in that year, although all the tracks were actually recorded in 1966.. It was not especially successful at the time of its release, failing to make the top twenty of the American album charts, but it has aged well and may be better appreciated now than in 1967. The album is notable for the emergence of Chris Hillman as a songwriter as well as great songs written or co-written by Roger McGuinn and David Crosby. The other notable feature is that this was the last album before the group went through a period of high staff turnover. Four of the original five were together for this album, the only absentee being Gene Clark. David Crosby was to depart during the recording of the next album after this and others followed later. The album opens with So you want to be a rock'n'roll star (about the Monkees, whose music has stood the test of time, confounding their critics) - this song was a top thirty hit in America. It was the only hit although another single (Have you seen her) was released, which is probably why the album was not originally very successful. Bob Dylan only contributed one song (My back pages) although two versions of it are included here. The other songs were all written or co-written by members of the Byrds. Of the remaining songs, I particularly like Everybody's been burned, Renaissance fair, Time between and Lady friend, but this is a great album from start to finish. If you enjoy their music enough to want more than just a hits collection, this is a good place to start collecting their original albums.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As good as it gets ?, June 7, 2000
Recorded in late 1966, released in early 1967 and lost beneath the "Summer Of Love" praise heaped on "Sgt. Pepper" and the first commercially successful albums from the "new wave" of West Coast groups, "Younger Than Yesterday" deserved, and still deserves, much more critical acclaim.Put simply, this is one of the best and most cohesive records from a period of profound musical change. With the exception of David Crosby's rambling hippy talk on "Mind Gardens" and the bizarre "alien speak" at the end of "CTA 102", every song is tightly structured, superbly played and infused with the sheer enthusiasm of the mid 60's music scene. Driven along by "Roger" McGuinn's innovative use of the 12 string guitar and Chris Hillman's "lead guitar" bass, the group's highly distinctive arrangements provide a solid backdrop for their exquisitely controlled harmonies, and... over 30 years later... "So You Want to be a Rock & Roll Star", "My Back Pages", "Everybody's Been Burned" and "Renaissance Fair" (the ultimate hippy record with its jazz based structure, ecstatic lyrics and superb bass lines) still stand out as quite wonderful music. And, unlike many "remastered" editions, several of the bonus tracks on this version add genuine value. Crosby's "It Happens Each Day" is equally as good as, and totally compatible with the other tracks on the album and raises the question of why it, rather than his messy "Mind Gardens", wasn't included. "Lady Friend" - arguably the best Crosby/Byrds track ever produced - is rescued from its previous life as a largely forgotten single and "Don't Make Waves", the simple but catchy B side to "Lady Friend", gets a further outing. As good as anything released in 1967 and a great deal better than most of the records that received considerably more attention at the time, "Younger Than Yesterday" and its flawed but brilliant successor - "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" - capture innovative, harmony based West Coast music at its creative peak.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Was So Much Younger Then, I'm Older Than Dirt Now!!!, January 17, 2004
Get together a group of twenty Byrds fans, chances are you'll have twenty different ideas about which one of their classic albums was the best. Was it the neo-Beatles fresh excitement of Mr. Tambourine Man?? The sci-fi dominant sound of 5D? Or perhaps the country-rock twang of that groundbreaking phenomenon known as Sweetheart of the Rodeo??? If you were to ask my opinion (go ahead, ask!), the Byrds best album is a tossup between two classics: The often-overlooked, always underrated slab of sci-fi fuzztone country hard rock known as Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde, or Younger Than Yesterday, the masterpiece you see before you. By 1967, the Byrds songwriting skills and musical direction were at their peak, even after the loss of such a seminal talent as Gene Clark. Younger is a thoroughly appealing mix of sci-fi, mystic wonder, post-Beatles enthusiasm, and just enough cynicism to give the whole thing some perspective. "So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star" rolls along at ninety miles a minute and features guest performances by trumpeter Hugh Masekela and percussionist Big Black (not to mention real Byrds-screams from fans lifted from a British concert date!) As David Crosby once said, it comes across as "a little cynical," but also like a lot of fun. "Have You Seen Her Face" features a fresh, Beatlesque feel and super guitar from soon-to-be-fulltime-Byrd Clarence White. "CTA-102" is pure, enjoyably danceable nonsense, complete with space aliens, while "Renaissance Fair" is the Cros at his most positive as he takes in one of those time-flashback-type hippie events. "Time Between" is one of the first (and best) Byrdsongs featuring Chris Hillman (plus more great Clarence White guitar), while "Everybody's Been Burned" is simply Crosby at his introspective best. But where, oh where do you ask, is Roger McGuinn, the heart and soul of this little sewing circle? Why, merely cutting one of the finest Dylan covers ever put to vinyl. "My Back Pages," like much of McGuinn's best work, has a timeless, transcendant feel, courtesy in no small part to his fabulous electric 12-string Rickenbacher guitar. Fantastic!! All this plus five bonus cuts (the standout for me is "Old John Robertson," a wonderful little vignette about an ageing movie cowboy) will be sure to put you in Byrd heaven. So get Younger Than Yesterday ASAP. All of us OTD types (Older Than Dirt, of course) are just waiting for you to put it on so we can all boogie in our walkers together!!!
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Roger McGuinn shares his favorite music with Amazon customers. See all artists' picks on our Music You Should Hear page.
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