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Fifth Dimension

The first album after Gene Clark's departure: Eight Miles High, Mr. Spaceman and the title song 5D.
The Byrds, 1966

Released
18 July 1966
Recorded
24 January to 25 May 1966
Studio
Columbia Studios, Hollywood
Label
Columbia
Producer
Allen Stanton
Length
29:59

Allen Stanton replaced Terry Melcher as producer. Clark had left in February 1966, and he appears on only two tracks, playing tambourine and harmonica on Captain Soul. Van Dyke Parks played organ on 5D, and Stanton arranged strings for Wild Mountain Thyme and John Riley. Columbia refused to release the RCA recordings of Eight Miles High and Why, because they were not made in a Columbia studio, so both were recorded again.

The album reached number 24 in the United States and number 27 in Britain. Eight Miles High was a single, as were 5D and Mr. Spaceman. Hit Parader called it the third and best album from the Byrds, while Jon Landau in Crawdaddy! thought it not up to the standards of the first two. Unterberger of AllMusic found it wildly uneven, and Rolling Stone in 2004 called it the band's most underrated album.

Track listing

  1. 5D (Fifth Dimension)2:33
  2. Wild Mountain Thyme2:30
  3. Mr. Spaceman2:09
  4. I See You2:38
  5. What's Happening?!?!2:35
  6. I Come and Stand at Every Door3:03
  7. Eight Miles High3:34
  8. Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go)2:17
  9. Captain Soul2:53
  10. John Riley2:57
  11. 2-4-2 Fox Trot (The Lear Jet Song)2:12

Personnel

More from The Byrds

Mr. Tambourine Man (1965), Turn! Turn! Turn! (1965), Younger Than Yesterday (1967), The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968), Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968), (Untitled) (1970), Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971 (2008)

Sources

  1. Fifth Dimension (album), Wikipedia
  2. Eight Miles High, Wikipedia