Younger Than Yesterday (Original Recording Reissued, Original Recording Remastered)

by

The Byrds

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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.