THE BYRDS – YOUNGER THAN YESTERDAY LP – Nr MINT A2/B1 UK ORIG MONO

The Byrds – Younger Than Yesterday
(CBS Records  1967  BPG62988  MONO)
Matrix No’s: A2/B1 – UK Pressing
331/3 on side 1 – 33 on side 2 labels

EJ Day Front Laminated Sleeve in Excellent+ condition
– some discolouration & “36/8” in top left corner on back cover – also has white strip of tape along spine edge
Original CBS Inner Sleeve has splits

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality apart from the odd light pop/crackle)

The Byrds were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the sole consistent member. Although their time as one of the most popular groups in the world only lasted for a short period in the mid-1960s, the Byrds are considered by critics to be among the most influential rock acts of their era. Their signature blend of clear harmony singing and McGuinn’s jangly 12-string Rickenbacker guitarsound was “absorbed into the vocabulary of rock” and has continued to be influential.

Younger Than Yesterday is the fourth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released on February 6, 1967 on Columbia Records. It saw the band continuing to integrate elements of psychedelic rock into their music, a process they had begun on their previous album, Fifth Dimension. In addition, the album captured the band and record producer Gary Usher experimenting with new musical textures, including brass instruments, reverse tape effects and an electronic oscillator.

The album also marked the emergence of the band’s bass player Chris Hillman as a talented songwriter and vocalist. Prior to Younger Than Yesterday, Hillman had only received one shared writing credit with The Byrds, but this album saw him credited as the sole composer of four songs and a co-writer of “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”. Byrds expert Tim Connors has noted that two of Hillman’s compositions on Younger Than Yesterday exhibited country and western influences and thus can be seen as early indicators of the country rock experimentation that would feature—to a greater or lesser degree—on all of The Byrds’ subsequent albums.

Upon release, the album peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and reached number 37 on the UK Albums Chart. It was preceded by the “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” single in January 1967, which reached the Top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100. Two additional singles taken from the album, “My Back Pages” and “Have You Seen Her Face”, were also moderately successful on the Billboard singles chart. However, none of the singles taken from the album charted in the United Kingdom. Music critics Richie Unterberger and David Fricke have both noted that although it was largely overlooked by the public at the time of its release, the album’s critical standing has improved over the years and today Younger Than Yesterday is considered one of The Byrds’ best albums. The title of Younger Than Yesterday is derived from the lyrics of “My Back Pages”, a song written by Bob Dylan, which was covered on the album.

Track listing

Side 1

Side 2