Mr. Tambourine Man (album)

Mr. Tambourine Man
Studio album by
the Byrds
ReleasedJune 21, 1965 (1965-06-21)
RecordedJanuary 20, March 8 – April 22, 1965
StudioColumbia, Hollywood
Genre
Length31:35
LabelColumbia
ProducerTerry Melcher
The Byrds chronology
Mr. Tambourine Man
(1965) 		Turn! Turn! Turn!
(1965)
Singles from Mr. Tambourine Man
  1. "Mr. Tambourine Man" / "I Knew I'd Want You"
    Released: April 12, 1965
  2. "All I Really Want to Do" / "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better"
    Released: June 14, 1965
Alternate cover
Cover of the 1974 Embassy Records reissue[nb 1]

Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Byrds, released on June 21, 1965, by Columbia Records.[1] The album is characterized by the Byrds' signature sound of Jim McGuinn's[nb 2] 12-string Rickenbacker guitar and the band's complex harmony singing.[2] The material on the album mostly consists of cover versions of folk songs, primarily composed by Bob Dylan, and originals written or co-written by singer Gene Clark.[3] Along with the Dylan-penned single of the same name, Mr. Tambourine Man established the band as an internationally successful act[4] and is widely regarded by critics as representing the first effective American challenge to the chart dominance of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands during the mid-1960s.[3][5]

The album was also influential in popularizing the musical subgenre known as folk rock, by melding intelligent lyrical content with electric guitars and a rock backbeat.[4][2] The term "folk rock" was first coined by the American music press to describe the Byrds' sound in mid-1965, around the same time that the Mr. Tambourine Man album was released.[6] The band's hybrid of a British Invasion beat, jangly guitar playing, and poetic or socially conscious lyrics influenced a number of acts in the mid-1960s and has also been influential on successive generations of musicians.[3][7][8]

The album peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and reached number 7 in the United Kingdom. It is the band's most successful album on either chart.[9][10] The "Mr. Tambourine Man" single was released ahead of the album in April 1965 and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.[10][11] A second single, "All I Really Want to Do", also a Dylan cover, was moderately successful in the U.S., but fared better in the UK, where it reached the top ten.[10][11]


Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Rogan, Johnny (1998). The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited (2nd ed.). Rogan House. p. 545. ISBN 0-9529540-1-X.
  2. ^ a b Unterberger, Richie. "Mr. Tambourine Man album review". AllMusic. Rovi Corp. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
  3. ^ a b c Unterberger, Richie. "The Byrds Biography". AllMusic. Rovi Corp. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
  4. ^ a b Rogan, Johnny (1996). Mr. Tambourine Man (CD booklet). The Byrds. New York City: Columbia/Legacy. pp. 11–15.
  5. ^ Fricke, David (1996). "The Chimes of Freedom". Mr. Tambourine Man (CD booklet). The Byrds. New York City: Columbia/Legacy. pp. 7–9.
  6. ^ Rogan, Johnny (1998). The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited (2nd ed.). Rogan House. pp. 81–87. ISBN 0-9529540-1-X.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference folkrock was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Levith, Will (21 May 2013). "10 Acts That Owe The Byrds A Round". Diffuser.fm. Townsquare Media. Retrieved 2017-11-16.
  9. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Pop Albums 1955-2001. Record Research Inc. p. 121. ISBN 0-89820-147-0.
  10. ^ a b c Brown, Tony (2000). The Complete Book Of The British Charts. London: Omnibus Press. p. 130. ISBN 0-7119-7670-8.
  11. ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (2008). Top Pop Singles 1955-2006. Record Research Inc. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-89820-172-7.