The Byrds and I (Part Three)
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Part Three: Fifth Dimension (1966)
Fifth Dimension marked the beginning of major changes for the Byrds. Internal conflict that would follow the band around forever started with the exit of Gene Clark. His absence was attributed to a fear of flying, which he described on the album's first single, "Eight Miles High." Backed with another Clark composition, "Why," "Eight Miles High" is seen as the first record of the psychedelic era. Psychedelia is present all over Fifth Dimension (whose cover shows the band now as a quartet) from the avant garde instrumentation to the quirky lyrics. This would be the start of the amazing genre-hopping that would define nearly the rest of the Byrds' career. With Clark out, McGuin began to assume more frontman-like duties, taking the lead on the album's other two singles - "Mr. Spaceman" and "5D (Fifth Dimension)." Both songs depart from the love letters and social commentary of the band's early lyrics. "5D" is pure pop alternative with McGuin proclaiming, "And I saw the great blunder my teachers had made/ Scientific delirium madness." On "Mr. Spaceman," McGuin begs alien visitors to take him away - all with a happy tune. Decades later, Radiohead would echo this with much darker sentiment on the equally brilliant, "Subterranean Homesick Alien."Darker and more disjointed than the band's previous efforts, it did chart nearly as well as its predecessors. That being said, it was the Byrds willingness to take chances as well as follow/start/reinvent trends that has endeared them to me for some time now. As McGuin began to assume leadership duties, the Byrds would become his playground to experiment with the styles that were beginning to define the era. While attempting to break new ground, McGuin also never lost sight of the roots of American rock music, and would continue include covers of traditional songs. I spoke before about getting lost in my own head, or in fact retreating there. While I intend to follow the direction this story has taken, I become afraid about certain misconceptions. I would rather write this story in a disjointed fashion jumping from various points in my life - as I would not want certain events to seem more important than others. I don't consider my parent's divorce to be all that significant in retrospect. In fact, now it seems totally normal that my mom did just about everything on her own. I don't link that one event with leading my to retreat into my own imagination, as I think I was sad almost from the beginning. As early as I can remember, I was acting out movies in the backyard and recording tapes where I played radio DJ. As I got older this just manifested into more involved projects which served as a nice distraction from what was really going on in my life. As stated earlier, I didn't really relate to my peers and subsequently wasn't close with two many of them. I had crushes that never panned out and friendships that died quickly, all fueling the various creative projects that swam around in my head.When I was 16 I had a very vivid dream where an offbeat science fiction plot played out. I've never been able to take the idea outside of my head - but nearly ten years later, it continues to stick with me. Trying to set that down in a screenplay was just one endeavor - I attempted to write the history of rock and roll, I tried to start a rock/electronic/experimental hybrid, and eventually there was my failed and somewhat bitter 17-minute short, The Door which was also based on a dream. In that one, I found myself running from someone who eventually caught up with me. When he did so, "Woke Up this Morning," the theme song from The Sopranos began playing and I asked, "what do they [the lyrics] mean - 'woke up this morning, everything you had was gone.'" "It means," he told me, "that when you wake up, everything that you have will be gone." "What do you mean?" I asked. "I'm already awake." "Not like that," he said. "When you wake up - when you find yourself, then everything that you have will be gone." I woke up at that point, thus beginning a period that could only be described in the most cheesy of senses as one in which I attempted to find myself. This journey would take me beyond old vinyl records to artist memoirs, new cds, avant garde films, concerts, and Pitzer College - where the self discovery would actually take place.
Fifth Dimension marked the beginning of major changes for the Byrds. Internal conflict that would follow the band around forever started with the exit of Gene Clark. His absence was attributed to a fear of flying, which he described on the album's first single, "Eight Miles High." Backed with another Clark composition, "Why," "Eight Miles High" is seen as the first record of the psychedelic era. Psychedelia is present all over Fifth Dimension (whose cover shows the band now as a quartet) from the avant garde instrumentation to the quirky lyrics. This would be the start of the amazing genre-hopping that would define nearly the rest of the Byrds' career. With Clark out, McGuin began to assume more frontman-like duties, taking the lead on the album's other two singles - "Mr. Spaceman" and "5D (Fifth Dimension)." Both songs depart from the love letters and social commentary of the band's early lyrics. "5D" is pure pop alternative with McGuin proclaiming, "And I saw the great blunder my teachers had made/ Scientific delirium madness." On "Mr. Spaceman," McGuin begs alien visitors to take him away - all with a happy tune. Decades later, Radiohead would echo this with much darker sentiment on the equally brilliant, "Subterranean Homesick Alien."Darker and more disjointed than the band's previous efforts, it did chart nearly as well as its predecessors. That being said, it was the Byrds willingness to take chances as well as follow/start/reinvent trends that has endeared them to me for some time now. As McGuin began to assume leadership duties, the Byrds would become his playground to experiment with the styles that were beginning to define the era. While attempting to break new ground, McGuin also never lost sight of the roots of American rock music, and would continue include covers of traditional songs. I spoke before about getting lost in my own head, or in fact retreating there. While I intend to follow the direction this story has taken, I become afraid about certain misconceptions. I would rather write this story in a disjointed fashion jumping from various points in my life - as I would not want certain events to seem more important than others. I don't consider my parent's divorce to be all that significant in retrospect. In fact, now it seems totally normal that my mom did just about everything on her own. I don't link that one event with leading my to retreat into my own imagination, as I think I was sad almost from the beginning. As early as I can remember, I was acting out movies in the backyard and recording tapes where I played radio DJ. As I got older this just manifested into more involved projects which served as a nice distraction from what was really going on in my life. As stated earlier, I didn't really relate to my peers and subsequently wasn't close with two many of them. I had crushes that never panned out and friendships that died quickly, all fueling the various creative projects that swam around in my head.When I was 16 I had a very vivid dream where an offbeat science fiction plot played out. I've never been able to take the idea outside of my head - but nearly ten years later, it continues to stick with me. Trying to set that down in a screenplay was just one endeavor - I attempted to write the history of rock and roll, I tried to start a rock/electronic/experimental hybrid, and eventually there was my failed and somewhat bitter 17-minute short, The Door which was also based on a dream. In that one, I found myself running from someone who eventually caught up with me. When he did so, "Woke Up this Morning," the theme song from The Sopranos began playing and I asked, "what do they [the lyrics] mean - 'woke up this morning, everything you had was gone.'" "It means," he told me, "that when you wake up, everything that you have will be gone." "What do you mean?" I asked. "I'm already awake." "Not like that," he said. "When you wake up - when you find yourself, then everything that you have will be gone." I woke up at that point, thus beginning a period that could only be described in the most cheesy of senses as one in which I attempted to find myself. This journey would take me beyond old vinyl records to artist memoirs, new cds, avant garde films, concerts, and Pitzer College - where the self discovery would actually take place.
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