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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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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
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...
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
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.
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.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This has to be one of the finest Byrds albums. The original line up without Gene Clark.It must be worth the purchase price just to listen to Wild Mountain Thyme, Eight Miles High, and the Lear Jet Song (such a fantastic track).
Most Recent Customer Reviews
.....and when we touch down
Tour-de-Force. That's how I'd classify "Eight Miles High". This time the sounds that Jim McGuinn heard in his head were John Coltrane and Indian raga. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Dangerous Dave
An unlisted surprise
This 1996 Sony edition of Fifth Dimension contains additional material, tacked on to the last track (17). Read more
Published 24 months ago by A. Simons
Fifth dimension psych.
Great catchy tunes of the fifth dimension. Need to sing along to on your Byrds trip. 1960s man. Far out!
Published on 5 Nov 2009 by James A. Murray
From 1966 Another Top Notch Album From The Byrds.
Mr Tambourine Man and Turn Turn Turn got The Byrds off to a flying start with Folk Rock to the fore. Read more
Published on 30 April 2009 by J. Thompson
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... Read more
Published on 18 Aug 2001 by Jan Freidun Taravosh
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. Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2000 by owen_a_davies@hotmail.com
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