Fact #113699
When:
Short story:
The Byrds record 5D (Fifth Dimension), Wild Mountain Thyme and John Riley, at Columbia Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Full article:
Roger McGuinn (The Byrds] : In mechanical terms, The Fifth Dimension album was just some more recording sessions, but the music had become enhanced by our exposure to John Coltrane and Ravi Shankar, and we made a conscious decision to get out of the folk-rock box into new areas. We didn't want to be categorised in one musical genre.
Technically, though, it was the same approach to recording. We'd just go in and record what we had.
It was around this time that we lost Gene Clark . He refused to fly to a tv show in New York. He just got off the plane in LA, and that was it. Crosby was also getting a little bit antsy during the making of 5D. He was worried that he wasn't getting enough of his own songs on the album, so there was tension building there.
It wasn't a band with a leader and a bunch of backing musicians. There were so many strong personalities and talent in the group, but some people have pointed out that those were the very tensions that created an edge to the music.
Van Dyke Parks (session organist on 5D) : It didn't occur to me to collaborate on songs with The Byrds. Being a studio musician was fine with me. There was alot to learn in the studio, with the rising sophistication of technology. I wanted to concentrate on that. As a matter of record, David Crosby asked me at one time to join his new group (The Byrds], and I thought better of it. Fame seemed to bring associated problems, and I wanted no part of it. I also felt (in my early twenties) that it was unseemly to want to be screamed at by adoring fans. Back in the sixties, there were many ways to contribute to a social revolution. I felt I was doing the right thing by staying in L.A., doing studio work.
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Technically, though, it was the same approach to recording. We'd just go in and record what we had.
It was around this time that we lost Gene Clark . He refused to fly to a tv show in New York. He just got off the plane in LA, and that was it. Crosby was also getting a little bit antsy during the making of 5D. He was worried that he wasn't getting enough of his own songs on the album, so there was tension building there.
It wasn't a band with a leader and a bunch of backing musicians. There were so many strong personalities and talent in the group, but some people have pointed out that those were the very tensions that created an edge to the music.
Van Dyke Parks (session organist on 5D) : It didn't occur to me to collaborate on songs with The Byrds. Being a studio musician was fine with me. There was alot to learn in the studio, with the rising sophistication of technology. I wanted to concentrate on that. As a matter of record, David Crosby asked me at one time to join his new group (The Byrds], and I thought better of it. Fame seemed to bring associated problems, and I wanted no part of it. I also felt (in my early twenties) that it was unseemly to want to be screamed at by adoring fans. Back in the sixties, there were many ways to contribute to a social revolution. I felt I was doing the right thing by staying in L.A., doing studio work.