Younger Than Yesterday

The Byrds made the album in eleven days with the producer Gary Usher, after Allen Stanton left Columbia. It was the first Byrds album recorded entirely without Gene Clark. Chris Hillman emerged as a songwriter and lead vocalist, and McGuinn and Crosby continued to develop their writing. Crosby contributed Renaissance Fair, written with McGuinn, Everybody's Been Burned, Mind Gardens and Why, a new take of a song that had already appeared as the B-side of Eight Miles High. Everybody's Been Burned was written in 1962.

Crosby pushed hard for Mind Gardens, which McGuinn derided as having no rhythm, meter or rhyme. The album peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and number 37 in the United Kingdom. Writers Richie Unterberger and David Fricke have both remarked that its critical standing has improved over the years. Crosby's disputes with the band over material would lead to his dismissal during the sessions for the next album.