Part Three: Fifth Dimension (1966)
Fifth Dimension marked the beginning of major changes for the Byrds. Internal conflict that would follow the band around forever started with the exit of Gene Clark. His absence was attributed to a fear of flying, which he described on the album's first single, "Eight Miles High." Backed with another Clark composition, "Why," "Eight Miles High" is seen as the first record of the psychedelic era. Psychedelia is present all over Fifth Dimension (whose cover shows the band now as a quartet) from the avant garde instrumentation to the quirky lyrics. This would be the start of the amazing genre-hopping that would define nearlu the rest of the Byrds' career. With Clark out, McGuin began to assume more frontman-like duties, taking the lead on the album's other two singles - "Mr. Spaceman" and "5D (Fifth Dimension)." Both songs depart from the love letters and social commentary of the band's early lyrics. "5D" is pure pop alternative with McGuin proclaiming, "And I saw the great blunder my teachers had made/ Scientific delirium madness." On "Mr. Spaceman," McGuin begs alien visitors to take him away - all with a happy tune. Decades later, Radiohead would echo this with much darker sentiment on the equally brilliant, "Subterranean Homesick Alien."Darker and more disjointed than the band's previous efforts, it did chart nearly as well as its predecessors. That being said, it was the Byrds willingness to take chances as well as follow/start/reinvent trends that has endeared them to me for some time now. As McGuin began to assume leadership duties, the Byrds would become his playground to experiment with the styles that were beginning to define the era. While attempting to break new ground, McGuin also never lost sight of the roots of American rock music, and would continue include covers of traditional songs.
"Eight Miles High" (still a five piece at this point)
I spoke before about getting lost in my own head, or in fact retreating there. While I intend to follow the direction this story has taken, I become afraid about certain misconceptions. I would rather write this story in a disjointed fashion jumping from various points in my life - as I would not want certain events to seem more important than others. I don't consider my parent's divorce to be all that significant in retrospect. In fact, now it seems totally normal that my mom did just about everything on her own. I don't link that one event with leading my to retreat into my own imagination, as I think I was sad almost from the beginning. As early as I can remember, I was acting out movies in the backyard and recording tapes where I played radio DJ. As I got older this just manifested into more involved projects which served as a nice distraction from what was really going on in my life. As stated earlier, I didn't really relate to my peers and subsequently wasn't close with two many of them. I had crushes that never panned out and friendships that died quickly, all fueling the various creative projects that swam around in my head.
When I was 16 I had a very vivid dream where an offbeat science fiction plot played out. I've never been able to take the idea outside of my head - but nearly ten years later, it continues to stick with me. Trying to set that down in a screenplay was just one endeavor - I attempted to write the history of rock and roll, I tried to start a rock/electronic/experimental hybrid, and eventually there was my failed and somewhat bitter 17-minute short, The Door which was also based on a dream. In that one, I found myself running from someone who eventually caught up with me. When he did so, "Woke Up this Morning," the theme song from The Sopranos began playing and I asked, "what do they [the lyrics] mean - 'woke up this morning, everything you had was gone.'" "It means," he told me, "that when you wake up, everything that you have will be gone." "What do you mean?" I asked. "I'm already awake." "Not like that," he said. "When you wake up - when you find yourself, then everything that you have will be gone." I woke up at that point, thus beginning a period that could only be described in the most cheesy of senses as one in which I attempted to find myself. This journey would take me beyond old vinyl records to artist memoirs, new cds, avant garde films, concerts, and Pitzer College - where the self discovery would actually take place.
4 comments:
Beatifully written and beautifully asimulated (sp?) to your life. I think from what you've written this album treads a very similar path to your own emotional realisations.
It's a top album and you know that I love it, but I like how you've associated the troubled undercurrents of the making of this album were vital to it being so good and I think you compared it to some dark times in your life making you a better person.
The journey doesn't stop either Will, and when you're this big time Hollywood Director you'll still come and say Hi to your English mate.
Anyway, when are you reviewing my favourite Byrds album ?
I've always loved Eight Miles High, but didn't realize that it stemmed from an actual fear of flying. Fascinating.
I have to echo what Ben said and tell you how I love how you've related how the Byrds' masterpieces were forged from difficulty to your own development through an isolated adolescence. So many of the most brilliant and talented people I know had less than happy experiences growing up and felt isolated from their peers. I think that living inside your own head forces you to develop a much richer vision of what can be.
Lovely.
That was a pleasure to read. Being informative and also sharing personal reflections is hard to do in one piece, and yet again, you've done it Will.
As someone's whose dreams often make it into what she's writing, its nice to hear someone else describe their experience. You should post some of your old stuff (films that is). I just recently watched the first film I made from highschool - doesn't sound nearly as interesting as the one you described - but it was interesting to see the progression.
I really appreciate such thoughtful comments.
Ben - Well, I don't envision ever being a big time Hollywood director, but I do hope that we someday meet. As for your favorite, I am going chronologically (for the Byrds, but not me) so it shall be I think three entries from now.
Barbara - Thank you oh so much,
Allison - I do hope to post some of my old videos real soon.
Thanks all and I do hope that I get to meet all of you someday,
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