Fifth Dimension

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Having already pioneered folk-rock via their electrified versions of Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger songs such as "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn Turn Turn", the Byrds helped midwife yet another new musical form in 1966 on this, their third album. Influenced by Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, Jim McGuinn's atonal 12-string guitar on the suitably titled "Eight Miles High" was a psychedelic omen of things to come. Pointing in other new directions, too, are the prescient country-rock tune, "Mr. Spaceman", string-aided updates of folk evergreens "Wild Mountain Thyme" and "John Riley", and David Crosby's fusion-y "I See You" and "What's Happening?!?!" On this album, plenty. --Billy Altman

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Description
This is the album on which The Byrds truly exploded. They had already introduced the mainstream to a young folk singer named Bob Dylan by taking an electrified "Mr. Tambourine Man" to #1. They introduced California folk-rock to the masses,breaking ground for the likes of the Mamas & Papas and the Turtles. With FIFTH DIMENSION, The Byrds planted the seeds of psychedelia--and not just the San Francisco kind--in pop culture. The gray, dark trip of the Velvet Underground and the fuzzed-out minimalist boogie of such garage heroes as Count Five and the 13th Floor Elevators can also be found withinthese grooves. FIFTH DIMENSION recognised that musical higher consciousness had to be manifested in a dark side as wellas a brighter one.
Gene Clark's departure from the band prior to these recording sessions, and the decision not to cover any Bob Dylan songs, streamlined the Byrds' sound and made the group's vision clear. "Eight Miles High", a highly-charged sonic release, evokes both VU's "Heroin" and John Coltrane's jazz explosions. The higher consciousness of "Eight Miles High", the harmony-driven stomp of "2-4-2 Fox Trot", and the CCR-meets-Stax boogie of "Captain Soul", all drenchedin heavy guitar distortion, were unlike anything the pop world had heard. For the next three years, sounds inspired by FIFTH DIMENSION would make up the soundtrack of a cultural revolution.

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Customer reviews

review by: Nick date: 2006-06-29 rating:
A True Masterpiece
This really is one of those albums that changed everything. Before Sgt Peppers, before Piper at the Gates of Dawn there was Fifth Dimension. If you've heard "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Mr Tambourine Man" you could be mistaken for thinking the Byrds were purely a light folk, sing-along pop group. This album does have moments like that, most notably the title track, "Wild Mountain Tyne" and "John Riley", but there's much more besides. "Mr Space Man" provides the first hint that we're into uncharted territory. It's funny, and as the title suggests, a little spacey. Then "I See You" kicks in, and you know you're listening to a first-rate psychedelic album. The thing is with the Byrds, no matter how weird they get they always manage to keep it tuneful and accessible. This is especially true of "Eight Miles High" and "Why", both improvisation-based experimental pieces that still somehow manage retain the trade-mark Byrds harmonies. Beautiful and strange. I love it. And the RCA bonus tracks, well... what can I say. Some of the best music ever recorded, in my humble opinion. But don't take my word for it, read some of these other reviews...

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review by: date: 2003-06-07 rating:
Pivotal & brave...
Sitting in between "Mr Tambourine Man" & "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (albums through which the Byrds asserted and consolidated their position as international pop stars) and "Younger Than Yesterday" (an album which firmly established them as a "new-wave"/"progressive" West Coast band), "Fifth Dimension" captures them in major transition mode.

With its curious mix of smooth folk-pop ("Wild Mountain Thyme" & "John Riley"), straight R&B ("Hey Joe" & "Captain Soul"), new and now dated recording techniques ("2-4-2 Foxtrot"), political commentary ("I Come And Stand At Every Door"), drug references ("What's Happening! " and "5D") and brilliant innovation ("Eight Miles High" and "I See You"), this record perfectly captures the diverse influences swirling around the music scene in early 1966. And... while the end result now appears unfocused it clearly reflects the problem facing creative pop groups of the time: how to assimilate these new, untested and rapidly developing influences into any form of cohesive, commercially viable whole.

The Beatles did it much better with "Revolver" but the Byrds came an admirable second with "Fifth Dimension": more flawed, less polished and much less satisfying but, at the time, equally important in that it showed that a group previously filed under "mainstream pop" was no longer bound by its past or the expectations of its record buying public. Alongside Revolver's "Tomorrow Never Knows", "Love To You" and "I Want To Tell You", Fifth Dimension's "Eight Miles High" and the wonderful "I See You" sent a clear message that the music world was in the process of radical change. The impact of these tracks on fans expecting more of the same - i.e. tuneful, properly structured three minute pop songs - was serious confusion but, the impact on their musical peers was enormous. If the Beatles and the Byrds - two of the most popular groups in the world at the time - could get away with putting such radically new music on mass market albums, then so could they. Within a year the musical landscape had changed forever but, what followed in the UK and the USA owed a great deal to the bravery of both groups in pushing their music into new and potentially far less popular areas.

As such, "Fifth Dimension" stands out as a pivotal record... not as good as their subsequent West Coast masterpieces - "Younger Than Yesterday" & "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" - but braver and in many ways much more important.

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review by: freidun date: 2001-08-18 rating:
byrds rockin and rollin
this album with the 4 byrds mquinn hillman and crosby and micheal clark is very good (like the byrds always are) gene clarke left before they started working on the album but he is till playing tamburine and singing on the very rocking track eight miles high and is also playing harmonica on the blues/rock n roll instrumental captain soul its a very good cd and it has a little bit more raw style thanthe first albums mr tambourine man and turn turn turn but it has some very touching songs aswell the secound song on cd is a ballad with very nice romantic lyrics and good vocals even has with a bit of string orcestra in it it is a very good cd i think mr space man has a touch of coury and i see you i rockin(but has strange lyrics) and crosbys whats happening features very good flowing music with good guitar and beat (12 string guitar of course)


review by: date: 2000-03-02 rating:
An album ahead of its time
From start to finish this is a true masterpiece, with gorgeous harmonies and advanced subject matter for its time.

This truely shows how Crosby and McGuinn were maturing as songwriters.

The remastered version also contains Crosby and McGuinn answering questions to a sixties radio show on the release of this album.

No collection is complete without it!

It also contains the best unreleased version of Why.

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