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Fifth Dimension (album)
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Fifth Dimension

Studio album by The Byrds
Released July 18, 1966
Recorded January 25, 1966 & April 29ÐMay 25, 1966

Length 29:59
Label Columbia/Legacy

Producer(s) Allen Stanton


Fifth Dimension is the third album by the American rock band The Byrds, which was released in the summer of 1966 on Columbia Records, catalogue item CL 2549 in mono, CS 9349 in stereo. The album stayed on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart for 28 weeks, peaking at #24; it also reached #27 in the UK. "Eight Miles High," a preceding single from March 14 and the third of the group's seminal sixties classics at 45 rpm, peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. Two additional singles pulled from the album, "5D (Fifth Dimension)" and "Mr. Spaceman," peaked at #44 and #36 respectively.


Overview

"Eight Miles High," with its fusion of Coltrane-influenced attack in the guitar solo and raga structure from Indian classical music, was pivotal in transmuting folk-rock into the new form of psychedelia. Guitarist Roger McGuinn had laboriously incorporated Coltrane's modal style of playing into his guitar technique, a startling accomplishment. With or without its innovative qualities, many radio stations refused to play the record, believing the title a reference to drugs, although the lyrics in actuality pertained to an approximation of airliner cruising altitude and the group's visit to London while on tour.

Written mostly by Gene Clark, after an evening of carousing with Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones in that ancient hamlet, the song was Clark's last hurrah with the Byrds, as he left the band shortly after recording this single and its b-side, "Why," its Indian influences even more prominent. The official story on Clark's departure has always been fear of flying, although other reasons have been brought forward at various times. The band had also split from producer Terry Melcher, who had guided them through their two classic folk-rock albums of 1965, Columbia staff producer Allen Stanton being assigned in lieu of any other preference by the band for this album.

Given these truncations, the album contained four covers and two instrumentals as the rest of the band scrambled to compensate for the loss of their main songwriter. McGuinn and David Crosby stepped into the breach, McGuinn penning the other two singles and Crosby initiating his penchant for abstract songs asking irresoluble questions with "What's Happening?!?!," a trait continued through his career with Crosby, Stills & Nash and on his own. The song "Hey Joe" would enjoy a brief vogue in versions by Love, the garage band The Leaves, and as the premiere single by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The two traditional tunes, "John Riley" and "Wild Mountain Thyme" received overdubs of somewhat muddily recorded string sections, such corrected to an extent with the remastered edition of 1996. Clark even returned to blast some harmonica on "Captain Soul," the instrumental credited to the remaining four members of the band.

A highly influential album, the jarring raga-esque sensibilities so different from the band's previous output and testament to the rapidity with which pop music evolved in the mid-1960s.

Fifth Dimension was remixed and remastered at 20-bit resolution as part of the Columbia/Legacy Byrds series, reissued in an expanded form on April 30, 1996, with six bonus tracks, including the b-side "Why" and the early versions of it and "Eight Miles High" recorded at RCA Victor studios on December 22, 1965. The final track extends to include a hidden interview for radio stations, formatted with gaps between the answers of McGuinn and Crosby, whereby the local disc jockey would insert himself reading stock questions sent along with their pre-recorded responses.


Personnel

Roger McGuinn, vocals, guitars
David Crosby, vocals, guitars
Chris Hillman, vocals, bass
Michael Clarke, drums

Additional personnel
Gene Clark, vocals, harmonica, tambourine
Van Dyke Parks, keyboards

Track listing

"5D (Fifth Dimension)" (McGuinn) Ð 2:33
"Wild Mountain Thyme" (traditional, arranged McGuinn/Hillman/Clarke/Crosby) Ð 2:30
"Mr. Spaceman" (McGuinn) Ð 2:09
"I See You" (McGuinn/Crosby) Ð 2:38
"What's Happening?!?!" (Crosby) Ð 2:35
"I Come and Stand at Every Door" (Nazim Hikmet) Ð 3:03
"Eight Miles High" (Clark/McGuinn/Crosby) Ð 3:34
"Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go)" (Billy Roberts) Ð 2:17
"Captain Soul" (McGuinn/Hillman/Clarke/Crosby) Ð 2:53
"John Riley" (Bob Gibson/Ricky Neff) Ð 2:57
"2-4-2 Fox Trot (The Lear Jet Song)" (McGuinn) Ð 2:12

1996 Reissue Bonus Tracks
"Why" (McGuinn/Crosby) Ð 2:59 (b-side single)
"I Know My Rider (I Know You Rider)" (traditional, arranged McGuinn/Clark/Crosby) Ð 2:43
"Psychodrama City" (Crosby) Ð 3:23
"Eight Miles High" (Clark/McGuinn/Crosby) Ð 3:19 (alternate RCA version)
"Why" (McGuinn/Crosby) Ð 2:40 (alternate RCA version)
"John Riley" (Gibson/Neff) Ð 16:53 (instrumental - includes hidden dj "interview" with Crosby & McGuinn)

Release history

Date Label Format Country Catalog Notes
July 18, 1966 Columbia LP US CL 2549 Original mono release.
CS 9349 Original stereo release.
1989 Columbia CD US CK 9349
April 30, 1996 Columbia/Legacy CD US CK 64847 Reissue containing six bonus tracks and a stereo remix of the entire album.
May 6, 1996 UK COL 4837072