May 5, 2015 Playlist

"Fifth Dimension" by The Byrds (1966)
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
The Byrds  "Fifth Dimension"  1966 (USA)
This is truly one of the seminal albums of the sixties, and a pioneering work from the birth of the psychedelic style. The Byrds' third album is the first one where the group actually plays all their own instruments - the first two records featured most of the same studio musicians who made The Monkees and Sonny & Cher into hit-making machines - though all of The Byrds sang on those records and Jim "Roger" McGuinn was allowed to play his famously jangly 12-string guitar. The original premise of The Byrds was"a group that sounds like The Beatles and plays heavy modern folk songs like Bob Dylan", a calculation which paid off with a pair of memorable #1 hit singles (the title tracks of their two previous LPs, Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn Turn Turn), making The Byrds into one of the vanguard American groups, thus implicitly in competition with The Beatles and all the leading lights from Britain. And so Fifth Dimension is the group's first overtly ecclectic album, answering the latest sounds from the UK by adding a dollop of jazz and raga to their folk rock and turning all the instruments up louder than ever before. The key track is "Eight Miles High", released a few months ahead of the album and banned from some radio stations because it was perceived to be about drugs (it was actually inspired by Gene Clark's fear of flying, which caused him to quit the group during the sessions for 5D): McGuinn plays Coltrane-style melodies on distorted 12-string while the group's ghostly harmonies are wrapped around a mysterious song of alienation and paranoia. The album generated two more minor hits in the countrified SciFi novelty tune "Mr. Spaceman" and the title track "5D (Fifth Dimension)" which was inspired by Einstein's theory of relativity; other key tracks include future King-of-the-Hippies David Crosby's "What's Happening?!?!" (more paranoia) and another classic raga rocker "I See You" (covered by Yes on their debut album).
(N) = New Release
 
Artist Song Album Year Country
MC5High SchoolBack In The USA 1970
USA
The Count FiveTeeny Bopper, Teeny BopperA-side 7" single (bonus track on some reissues of Psychotic Reaction)1967
USA
The Jackson FiveI Want You BackA-side 7" single (Greatest Hits LP) 1970
USA
The Five AmericansI See The LightI See The Light1966
USA
The Third BardoI'm Five Years Ahead Of My TimeA-side 7" single (Nuggets CD box set)1967
USA
The DoorsFive To OneWaiting For The Sun 1968
USA
 
 
5-Track & Glass Goblins3 Til Dawn3 Moments Til Dawn (split EP with Mark Cantlin II)2011
USA
The People Brothers Band LettersMiddle Of The In Between (N)2015 (self release)USA
Wire Joust & JostleWire (N)2015 (Pink Flag)UK
Czarbles HetNausea Trois EP (N)2015 (self release)USA
Speedy Ortiz GingerFoil Deer (N)2015 (Carpark)USA
Death ResurrectionN.E.W. (N)2015 (Tryangle/Drag City)USA
   
 
The Dave Brubeck QuartetTake FiveTime Out1959
USA
The Don Ellis OrchestraIndian LadyElectric Bath1967
USA
   
 
The ByrdsEight Miles HighFifth Dimension
 CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK 		1966
USA
The ByrdsWhy (original version)B-side 7" single (The Original Singles 1965-1967 LP) 1966
USA
The ByrdsI See YouFifth Dimension
 CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK 		1966
USA
The Byrds5D (Fifth Dimension)Fifth Dimension
 CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK 		1966
USA
The 5th DimensionDimension 5ivePortrait 1970
USA
The BeatlesWithin You Without YouSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band1967
UK
Gene Clark Home Run KingTwo Sides To Every Story (N - reissue)1977 (2015 High Moon)USA
   
 
Jethro TullLiving In The PastA-side 7" single (Living In The Past compilation LP)1969
UK
YesSound ChaserRelayer1974
UK
RushYYZ (live)Exit...Stage Left1981
Canada
 
  
Emerson Lake & PalmerTarkusTarkus1971
UK
 
  
Six Organs Of Admittance The Ram
Hexadic (N)2015 (Drag City)USA
Six Organs Of AdmittanceHomeSchool Of The Flower2005
USA
Robert WyattChelsa'68rec. 1968, rel. 2013
UK
StereolabTransona FiveMars Audiac Quintet1994
UK/France
Throbbing GristleFive Knuckle ShuffleB-side 7" single (bonus track on D.O.A. The Third And Final Report CD)1979
UK
 
  
The Flaming LipsFive Stop Mother Superior RainIn A Priest Driven Ambulance1990
USA
      
   
   
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