From Amazon.co.uk
The Notorious Byrd Brothers captures the Byrds between the seminal folk-rock glories of their better-known mid-1960s triumphs and the equally influential country-rock that would soon follow, but the album is no holding action: with one time Beach Boy associate Gary Usher producing and Roy Halee engineering, the band weaves its signature vocal harmonies and chiming guitars through a lusher, more impressionistic art-pop tapestry that stops just short of post-
Sgt. Pepper's cliché, employing phased vocals, sound effects, Moog synthesiser, and horns. Thematically, the project pits utopian innocence ("Tribal Gathering", "Dolphins Smile") against a new wariness ("Artificial Energy", a cautionary look at amphetamines, and the Vietnam vignette of "Draft Morning"). In a field of well-paced, inventive songs, the zenith is the silken, wistful "Goin' Back", Carole King's poignant meditation on childhood and innocence.
--Sam Sutherland
