Fly back to the main Byrds page so that you may become younger than yesterday Older Than Tomorrow Overall Album Score: 9.1 out of 10 The Byrds were pretty much finished making waves in the industry with the release of Younger Than Yesterday unless you count their later 1968 country-western album Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Their previous album Fifth Dimension was a ton more innovative and influential than this follow-up, but as far as evaluating the musical quality of each album, they're pretty much the same. Maybe Younger Than Yesterday is even more entertaining. The album begins with one of its best songs, "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star." It is the perfect combination of Latin music and the already established jangly Byrds-style. The melody is even catchier than they usually pull off, which contributes greatly to its priceless status. It might not be too groundbreaking or artistically interesting, but it's a dang fun song! Also, David Crosby delivers the beautiful and unique ballad "Renaissance Fair," and the only complaint I have about that one is it's far too short! "My Back Pages" proves to be one of this group's finest Bob Dylan covers, and it's probably the catchiest tune of the whole album. That's great vintage Byrds music right there. And the final highlight I'll mention here is the "Thoughts and Words." The guitar tone they work up there is rather off-beat but odd and enchanting. The biggest complaint there is they have to end that sound and actually have a chorus! "Mind Gardens" is usually considered a major misfire, and I can do nothing but agree with that assessment. I don't think that Indian-tinged ditty is so dismally horrible, but it's weak and it has no melody. That sort of makes it stand out like a sore thumb among its much more tuneful bretheren. It's pretty obvious that this is one of The Byrds' greatest albums. It's probably not quite as great as its more revolutionary predecessor Fifth Dimension that helped launched the psychedelic movement --- but this follow-up is more diverse and fun to listen to. This is a classic band at their peak --- and it doesn't get better than listening to a great band at their peak, my friends!!! Overall Album Score: 9.1 out of 10 (Easily one of my favorite Byrds albums, and the only reason for that is because the songs KICK BUTT.) Average Song Score: 8.9 (Imperfect? Who cares! There are more great songs here than you can shake your smelly fist at!!) Album Tilt: 9.5 (This is a wildly diverse and extremely enjoyable album.) Artist Rating: 9.0 (They're not trying to do anything revolutionary, but they *are* still interested in writing great music and being creative.) Track Reviews So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star 10/10 They open with album with a great song that has some Latin leanings. The melody is great and catchy, but that's not all! They incorporate some appropriately festive horn arrangements. They insert some screaming sound-effects of teenagers in the audience for good effect. Their vocal harmonies sound pretty fab here, and the instrumental playing is wonderful. Nothing too groundbreaking considering this is essentially normal riff-rock, but it's very fun. Have You Seen Her Face 9/10 This track is less fun, but it remains a stellar Byrds tune. This is a song very much like they already pioneered. It's a rocking track with their usual blend of jangly guitar tones. I like the melody more than most Byrds songs it seems though! CTA-102 8.5/10 This psychedelic track starts out normally enough, but then these guys go crazy with the synthesizers in the middle of this track. One instrument might not even be a synthesizer, but a dentist's drill. You know for an incredibly goofy song, this is pretty entertaining. Usually those wild sound effects sound much more aimless and usless than they do here. The melody is OK but you don't even notice it past the sound effects. They stop the song when it's only half over, and they bring it back amidst space-ship sound effects and we hear an alien or something talking. Yeah... drugs... Renaissance Fair 10/10 A freaking masterpiece!! The melody is perfect, but what really grabs me is that medieval instrumental fill they do. That's a very distinct sound that gives this song its character. My only complaint is this isn't even two minutes long. What gives?? Time Between 8/10 This is also less than two minutes long, but it's not quite as wonderful as the previous track. This one seems to point at country-rock, which The Byrds would explore deeply by 1968. For now, we have this upbeat ditty with some nice country-esque guitar piddling. Everybody's Been Burned 9.5/10 This is an absolutely pretty and atmospheric ballad, and it's the most beautiful composition on the album. No real surprise that this is one of David Crosby's songs... He can write haunting melodies and harmonies when he really puts his mind to it. This'll stick with you for some time!! Thoughts and Words 9/10 Those guitars are strange at the beginning. Up until the rather usual chorus pipes up, this is one of the more weirder and enchanting songs from the album. The guitar sounds are so brilliant! I wish they would have just kept up with that sound. Bringing in that funny backwards noise wasn't such a grand idea, unfortunately. All in all this is a great song though. Mind Gardens 7/10 This strange song with pretty obvious Indian ties. David Crosby sings out of tune, but it's a non-melody anyway so it hardly even mattered. The guitar sounds weird, and I'm not exactly sure why. Again, those reverse sounds don't do it much favors... Mh. I was trying to like this, and I would have been ready to compliment it for seeming to gain inertia as it moved along --- but then the reverse sound screwed up that. My Back Pages 9.5/10 And now a much-appreciated Bob Dylan cover. No surprise that this is also one of the most melodic and instantly catchy songs from the effort. The instrumentation is straight-ahead more or less except a particularly echoey guitar sound makes it interesting. The Girl With No Name 8.5/10 Again with the short songs! Eh, this one doesn't seem to do a whole lot anyway. This is more of that typical, jangly Byrds music that's quite fun to hear. The melody is quite catchy, though. Why 8.5/10 Because I said so! This melody isn't their best, but who cares? The song is still pretty engaging and I like their layered vocal harmonies especially here. They bring in a nice guitar solo in the middle. All in all, it's a decent, conclusive ending! BONUS TRACKS: "It Happens Each Day" isn't too exciting, but I like the laid back atmosphere and melody. The chord progression is pretty engaging and I like the guitar playing (though a tad sloppier sounding than what they usually do). It needed a good jolt of electricity, though. "Don't Make Waves" makes a pretty decent listen, but the melody doesn't manage to move mountains. There's nothing particularly special about this to set it apart from anything in the album. This is just another version "My Back Pages," the Dylan cover that already appeared in the album. This one's good, too. This version of "Mind Gardens" sounds less strange than the album version, but there are no vocals and just the instrumentals. It's really not so bad to listen to... especially when you don't have that annoying reversed sound getting in your way. The melody of "Lady Friend" is a little clunky, but this is an interesting song regardless. The instrumentation is ultra-flooded and busy --- the most interesting bits come in the horn arrangements. This might have been worked on a bit more, but who knows what this track was really for... And the fun-fest comes to a close with the "Old John Robertson," a return in a big way to Mr. Tambourine Man-era Byrds. This would later appear on The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Leave your comments about this album here and go to HEAVEN!

All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. He is a Civil War veteran.