*RTH* The Byrds - Eight miles high

**Dave Evans** 10.03.12 8:40

[10-03-2012]
Nog meer uit de verzoekhoek Smile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH6UnvSlahc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bMjUU972So&feature=related

De groep is in 1964 opgericht in Los Angeles door zanger en gitarist Jim McGuinn (later veranderde hij zijn naam in Roger McGuinn), David Crosby en Gene Clark. Later voegden Chris Hillman en Michael Clarke zich bij de groep.

The Byrds wilden, vanwege de "Britse invasie", een Amerikaanse tegenhanger vormen van The Beatles en The Rolling Stones. De muziek kenmerkt zich door verschillende stromingen die samengebracht worden, vooral folk en rock, hetgeen folkrock opleverde. Veel van de nummers die de band uitbracht waren dan ook oorspronkelijk van folkartiesten als Bob Dylan. De sound van The Byrds is voornamelijk geïnspireerd door de verfijnde samenzang en de typische 12-snarige gitaarsound van de Britse groep The Searchers.

Later ging de groep meer zijn eigen weg, met als absoluut hoogtepunt het album "The Notorious Byrd Brothers". Het daaropvolgende album, getiteld "Sweethearts Of The Rodeo", was sterk country getint en werd aanvankelijk slechts matig ontvangen. Pas in de jaren daarna werd duidelijk dat de groep hiermee in feite de grondlegger is geweest van het country-rock genre.

Door de vele personeelswisselingen verloor de band gaandeweg veel van zijn glans. De originele bezetting kwam in 1973 nog eenmaal bij elkaar voor een album dat simpelweg de titel "Byrds" meekreeg. Enig vervolg werd hier verder niet aan gegeven.

Dutchzaphod 10.03.12 9:25

Heerlijk jeugdsentiment. Ik ga hier geen lang verhaal van maken. Ik ga gewoon nog een keer luisteren. O ja, een cijfer. 9

Gast 10.03.12 10:30

Zie boven maar dan gelardeerd met een 10

Led-Zep 10.03.12 10:52

Een klassieker.

Een 10.

MrJohn 10.03.12 11:01

Tja The Byrds, iconen uit de sixties, aan de wieg staand van andere illustere bands. Epische muziek !

Een vette 10

Chevy 10.03.12 12:29

Ik geef zelden een 10 (slechts aan een handvol nummers). Des te beter mijn 9. Vaak genoemd als één van de eerste psychedelische nummers. Nu is dat niet mijn favoriete muziektak, maar dit nummer blijft weergaloos.

Zoek ook eens de bijna 20-minuten durende versie op van Golden Earring. Cool

Frodo 10.03.12 13:34

Fijn nummer. Hoewel het laagste cijfer tot dusver, is een 8 ook een mooi cijfer.

**sowhat** 10.03.12 13:54

Saai oppervlakkig riedeltje: 4

Mirrr 11.03.12 12:56

Ja lekker dit, heel veel uit the sixties sowieso wel heel erg wel mijn ding, dus een 8 Very Happy

Jan... 12.03.12 10:33

Ik begrijp de historische waarde van dit nummer wel, want de eerste psychedelische plaat ever. Alleen, ik vind het niet mooi naar te luisteren, het mist de grandeur van een Strawberry Fields. Beetje zinloos gepiel (ik hou niet van het Byrds-gitaartje) en ik vind het ongeinspireerd en toevallig klinken.
Dus ik ga met SW mee en geef een 4.

Joyce 12.03.12 13:37

Er gaat natuurlijk helemaal niks boven die idd hele lange uitvoering van de Earring..dikke 10!! Razz

( Over 2 weken mag ik weer naar een concert van hun)

Maar goed, de Byrds zijn ook legendarisch..en dus een 8

Hier nog even de versie van de Earring.....vooral het instrumentale gedeelte is weergaloos...

Gast 12.03.12 20:33

Een 9!

LarryMullen 12.03.12 20:41

Eén van m'n favoriete genres, folkrock, doet me aardig aan R.E.M. denken dit nummer (qua muziek, uiteraard.. Smile

)

7!

**sokratikos** 13.03.12 1:04

Heerlijk psychedelisch folkrock-nr. Het toeval wilde dat ik net een paar compilatie-albums ontdekte genaamd Nuggets - original artyfacts from the first psychedelic era (1965-1968). Dus Eight Miles High is niet het eerste nr in het genre, maar van de eerste nrs uit de vroegste beginperiode van de psychedelica wel 1 van de bekendste. Leuk om te ontdekken dat ik niet de enige vv-er ben die de geweldige versie van Golden Earring nog hoger rankt - die stond op no 865 in mn 1e Musische 1000, het origineel stond er niet in. De RTH nog steeds een dikke 8

Hieronder voor de liefhebber nog het Wiki-verhaal over Eight Miles High van de Byrds, waaruit als muzikale invloeden van het nr naar voren komen: Ravi Shankar en John Coltrane

The song's obscure lyrics are, for the most part, about the group's flight to London in August 1965 and their accompanying English tour, as illustrated by the opening couplet: "Eight miles high and when you touch down, you'll find that it's stranger than known." Although commercial airliners fly at an altitude of six to seven miles, it was felt that "eight miles high" sounded more poetic than six and also recalled The Beatles' song "Eight Days a Week".

According to Clark, the lyrics were primarily his creation, with a minor contribution being David Crosby's line "Rain grey town, known for its sound", a reference to London being home to the British Invasion that was dominating the U.S. charts at the time. Other lyrics found in the song that explicitly refer to The Byrds' stay in England include the couplet "Nowhere is there warmth to be found/Among those afraid of losing their ground", which is a reference to the hostile reaction of the UK music press and to the English group The Birds serving the band with a copyright infringement writ, due to the similarities in name. In addition, the couplet "Round the squares, huddled in storms/Some laughing, some just shapeless forms" describes the fans who waited for the band outside their hotels, while the line "Sidewalk scenes and black limousines" refers to the excited crowds that jostled the band as they exited their chauffeur driven cars. Ian McLagan of the Small Faces has claimed that Crosby once told him that the line "In places, small faces abound" was a reference to that band

Although the basic idea for the song had been discussed during the band's flight to England, it didn't actually begin to take shape until The Byrds' November 1965 tour of the U.S. In order to alleviate the boredom of travelling from show to show during the tour, Crosby had brought along cassette recordings of Ravi Shankar's music and the John Coltrane albums Impressions and Africa/Brass, which were on constant rotation on the tour bus. The influence of these recordings on the band would manifest itself in the music of "Eight Miles High" and its B-side "Why".

Clark began writing the song's lyrics on November 24, 1965, when he scribbled down some rough ideas for later development, following a discussion with guitarist Brian Jones, prior to The Byrds making a concert appearance supporting The Rolling Stones. Over the following days, Clark expanded this fragment into a full poem, eventually setting the words to music and giving them a melody. Clark then showed the song to McGuinn and Crosby, with the former suggesting that they arrange it to incorporate the influence of John Coltrane. Since Clark's death, however, McGuinn has contended that it was he who conceived the initial idea of writing a song about an airplane ride and that he and Crosby both contributed lyrics to Clark's unfinished draft. In his book, Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of The Byrds' Gene Clark, author John Einarson disputes this claim and ponders whether McGuinn's story would be the same were Clark still alive.

The Byrds posing with a sitar at the "Eight Miles High" press conference in March 1966.
The influence of Coltrane's saxophone playing and in particular his song "India" from Impressions can be clearly heard in "Eight Miles High", most noticeably in McGuinn's reoccurring twelve-string guitar solo. In addition to this striking guitar motif, the song is also highlighted by Chris Hillman's driving bass line, Crosby's chunky rhythm guitar playing and the band's ethereal harmonies. In a 1966 promotional interview, which was added to the expanded CD reissue of the Fifth Dimension album, Crosby said that the song's ending made him "feel like a plane landing." The song also exhibits the influence of Ravi Shankar, particularly in the droning quality of the song's vocal melody and in McGuinn's guitar playing. However, the song does not feature the sound of the sitar, despite The Byrds having appeared brandishing the instrument at a contemporary press conference held to promote "Eight Miles High".

Earlier versions of "Eight Miles High" and "Why" were recorded at RCA Studios in Los Angeles on December 22, 1965 but Columbia Records refused to release them because they had not been recorded at a Columbia owned studio. McGuinn has since stated that he believes the original RCA version of "Eight Miles High" to be more spontaneous sounding than the better known Columbia release. This opinion was echoed by Crosby who commented "It was a stunner, it was better, it was stronger. It had more flow to it. It was the way we wanted it to be." These earlier versions of "Eight Miles High" and "Why" initially saw release on the 1987 album Never Before and were also included on the 1996 Columbia/Legacy CD reissue of Fifth Dimension.

"Eight Miles High" was issued on March 14, 1966 in the U.S. and May 29, 1966 in the UK, reaching #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #24 on the UK Singles Chart. Upon its release, the band faced allegations of advocating the use of recreational drugs from Bill Gavin's Record Report, a weekly newsletter circulated to U.S. radio stations. This resulted in a nationwide radio ban within a week of the report being published, a factor which contributed to the single's failure to break into the Billboard Top 10. The Byrds and their publicist Derek Taylor countered by strenuously denying that the song was drug related, with Taylor issuing an indignant press release unequivocally stating that the song was about the band's trip to England and not drug use. However, by the early 1980s, both Crosby and Clark were prepared to admit that the song was not entirely as innocent as they had originally declared, with the former stating "Of course it was a drug song! We were stoned when we wrote it." Clark was less blunt, explaining in interview that "it was about a lot of things. It was about the airplane trip to England, it was about drugs, it was about all that. A piece of poetry of that nature is not limited to having it have to be just about airplanes or having it have to be just about drugs. It was inclusive because during those days the new experimenting with all the drugs was a very vogue thing to do."

The song's use of Indian and free form jazz influences, along with its impressionistic lyrics, were immediately influential on the emerging genre of psychedelic rock. The song was also responsible for the naming of the musical subgenre raga rock, when journalist Sally Kempton, in her review of the single for The Village Voice, first used the term to describe the record's experimental fusion of eastern and western music. However, although Kempton was the first person to use the term "raga rock" in print, she had actually borrowed it from the promotional press material that accompanied the "Eight Miles High" single release. In his 1968 Pop Chronicles interview, McGuinn denied that the song was in fact "raga rock". The experimental nature of the song placed The Byrds firmly at the forefront of the burgeoning psychedelic movement, along with The Yardbirds, The Beatles, Donovan and The Rolling Stones, who were all exploring similar musical territory concurrently.

Contemporary reviews for the single were almost universally positive, with Billboard magazine describing the song as a "Big beat rhythm rocker with soft lyric ballad vocal and off-beat instrumental backing." Record World magazine also praised the song, commenting "It's an eerie tune with lyrics bound to hypnotize. Will climb heights." In the UK, Music Echo described the song as "wild and oriental but still beaty". The publication also suggested that with the release of "Eight Miles High" The Byrds had jumped ahead of The Beatles in terms of creativity, stating "[By] getting their single out now they've beaten The Beatles to the punch, for Paul [McCartney] admitted recently that the Liverpool foursome are working on a similar sound for their new album and single." In recent years, Richie Unterberger, writing for the Allmusic website, has described "Eight Miles High" as "one of the greatest singles of the '60s."

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Eight Miles High" at #150 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and in March 2005, Q magazine placed the song at #50 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

Ries 13.03.12 9:00

Na het epistel van bovenstaande hou ik het kort Very Happy

Prachtig toonbeeld van de klassemuziek die in de jaren 60 werd gefabriceerd. Een 8 meer dan waard!

Paul 14.03.12 1:25

Ik heb even moeten wennen aan de psychdelische sound toendertijd. Maar het gaat nog steeds goed met me
Een 7.

Kasper 16.03.12 12:55

Begin is heel standaard, zingen is niet bijzonder en van de 'solo' krijg ik jeuk. Niet mijn ding! 3

**Timmus** 16.03.12 19:20

Stijgt met gemak boven de middelmaat van de jaren '60 uit, maar geweldig vind ik het ook niet. Twijfel tussen een 8 en een 7, het wordt het laatste.

Gast 16.03.12 22:07

Richie39 schreef:Na het epistel van bovenstaande hou ik het kort Prachtig toonbeeld van de klassemuziek die in de jaren 60 werd gefabriceerd. Een 8 meer dan waard!

Ben ik het helemaal met Richie eens! The Byrds hebben mijns inziens bijna alleen maar goede nummers gemaakt! Wel ben ik het met Sokra en Joyce eens dat de 'versie' van The Golden Earing stiekem nog beter is! Ook een 8 van mij!

Vleertje 21.03.12 20:43

Fijne plaat klassieker een 8.

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