The Byrds Albums in Order: 12 Studio Albums, 1965 to 1973
The Byrds albums in order run to 12 studio albums between 1965 and 1973, from Mr. Tambourine Man to Byrds. My map draws each album as a station and every credited musician as a named line, and by the seventh album only one of the original five is still credited.
That collapse and recovery is the reason I drew the map the way I did. The turnover reads at a glance instead of sitting buried in twelve sets of sleeve notes. Kevin Kelley has the shortest line on the sheet: he played drums on Sweetheart of the Rodeo in 1968 and appears nowhere else on my grid.
The 12 Byrds studio albums in order, with release years
- Mr. Tambourine Man (1965)
- Turn! Turn! Turn! (1965)
- Fifth Dimension (1966)
- Younger Than Yesterday (1967)
- The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968)
- Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)
- Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde (1969)
- Ballad of Easy Rider (1969)
- (Untitled) (1970)
- Byrdmaniax (1971)
- Farther Along (1971)
- Byrds (1973)
Live albums and compilations are left off, which is the rule across the range. (Untitled) in 1970 is the one release that needs a note: it was issued as that year's Byrds album with a live half, and the credits I have drawn from it are the ones on its studio half.
How Many of the Original Five Played on Each Byrds Album
Jim McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke are all credited on Mr. Tambourine Man. Four years later, on Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, one of them is left. This is the count I worked from when I drew the map.
| Album | Original five credited | Who else arrives |
|---|---|---|
| Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) | 5 of 5 | Hal Blaine, Jerry Cole, Larry Knechtel and Leon Russell on tracks one and eight |
| Turn! Turn! Turn! (1965) | 5 of 5 | Terry Melcher on organ for "He Was a Friend of Mine" |
| Fifth Dimension (1966) | 5 of 5, Gene Clark on two songs only | Michael Clarke picks up harmonica on "Captain Soul" |
| Younger Than Yesterday (1967) | 4 of 5 | Clarence White, Hugh Masekela, Cecil Barnard and Van Dyke Parks |
| The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968) | 5 of 5, heavily qualified | Hal Blaine on two tracks, Jay Migliori on saxophone, a string and brass cast |
| Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968) | 2 of 5 | Gram Parsons and Kevin Kelley, with Clarence White on electric guitar |
| Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde (1969) | 1 of 5 | Clarence White, Gene Parsons and John York become the band |
| Ballad of Easy Rider (1969) | 1 of 5 | Terry Melcher sings backing vocal on "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" |
| (Untitled) (1970) | 1 of 5 | Skip Battin replaces John York, Gram Parsons sings on "All the Things" |
| Byrdmaniax (1971) | 1 of 5 | Larry Knechtel returns after six years on piano and organ |
| Farther Along (1971) | 1 of 5 | Skip Battin adds piano, Gene Parsons adds pedal steel guitar |
| Byrds (1973) | 5 of 5 | All five originals back, none of the 1969 to 1971 line-up present |
Five Albums Where Roger McGuinn Is the Only Original Left
From Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde in 1969 through Ballad of Easy Rider, (Untitled), Byrdmaniax and Farther Along in 1971, McGuinn is the only one of the founding five credited on the record. That is five consecutive albums carried by one original line.
On the print it reads as a wide band of track where four lines have dropped away and one carries on alone. Then Byrds in 1973 brings all five back at once, and none of the men who held the band together through 1969 to 1971 is on it.
It is the single clearest thing the map does that a numbered discography cannot. A list tells you the running order. The drawing tells you the band was a different band in the middle of it.
Clarence White Guests on Two Songs in 1967 and Stays for Eight Albums
Clarence White first appears as a guest, playing guitar on "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name" on Younger Than Yesterday in 1967. He then plays on The Notorious Byrd Brothers and Sweetheart of the Rodeo, joins properly for Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, and stays through Ballad of Easy Rider, (Untitled), Byrdmaniax and Farther Along.
That is eight consecutive albums of credits, a longer unbroken run than any of the original five except McGuinn managed. White was killed by a drunk driver in July 1973 at the age of 29, and he is not on the reunion album released that year. Gram Parsons died two months later.
Three Drummers Are Credited on The Notorious Byrd Brothers
Michael Clarke's 1968 credit is not simply "drums". It is drums on six named tracks: "Artificial Energy", "Draft Morning", "Old John Robertson", "Tribal Gathering", "Dolphin's Smile" and "Universal Mind Decoder". Jim Gordon covers five more, including "Goin' Back" and "Wasn't Born to Follow", and Hal Blaine takes "Get to You" and "Change Is Now".
Crosby and Hillman are itemised the same way on that record, song by song rather than album wide. Hillman plays electric bass on everything except "Old John Robertson", where he switches to guitar, and mandolin on "Draft Morning".
It is the clearest evidence anywhere on the map that the band was coming apart while the tape was rolling.
Gene Clark Returns as a "Possible" Backing Vocal
Gene Clark is a full member on the first two albums. On Fifth Dimension in 1966 he is reduced to vocals on "Eight Miles High" and "Why", including the alternate RCA versions of both, with tambourine on one of them. He is absent from Younger Than Yesterday altogether.
On The Notorious Byrd Brothers his entry reads "possible backing vocal" on the master of "Goin' Back" and on "Space Odyssey". I have left that hedge in rather than tidying it into a firm credit.
Sixties session paperwork is far patchier than anything from the 1980s onwards, and where the documentation is uncertain I would rather show the uncertainty than invent a clean answer. Clark's line then stops until 1973, when he comes back for the reunion on guitar, harmonica, tambourine and vocals.
Larry Knechtel's Two Credits Sit Six Years Apart
The hired hands outlast the members. Larry Knechtel plays electric bass on tracks one and eight of Mr. Tambourine Man in 1965, alongside Hal Blaine, Jerry Cole and Leon Russell. He reappears six years later on Byrdmaniax, playing piano on five tracks and organ on two.
Nothing sits between those two credits. On the map it is a line that calls at the first station, vanishes for eight albums, and calls once more near the end, which is a shape I have only found a handful of times across the whole range.
Which Credits Get a Line, and Which Do Not
The test I apply is whether the credits show someone actually playing. Arranging for other players to play does not clear it.
Terry Melcher clears that bar four separate times: organ on "He Was a Friend of Mine", a backing vocal on "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" on Ballad of Easy Rider, piano on "All the Things" and "Truck Stop Girl" on (Untitled), and piano again on Byrdmaniax.
Allen Stanton does not qualify. His only credit on the whole grid is the string section arrangement on "Wild Mountain Thyme" and "John Riley", and arranging strings is not playing an instrument. It is the same rule on every map I draw.
Choosing a Size, and Who the Print Suits as a Present
Every one is a Giclée on 230gsm premium acid-free matte fine art paper, archival, in landscape. The three inch formats are separate sizes rather than conversions of the metric ones.
- A3, 420 x 297 mm, unframed or in a black wood frame
- A2, 594 x 420 mm, unframed or in a black wood frame
- A1, 841 x 594 mm, unframed or in a black wood frame
- 16 x 12 in, 24 x 18 in and 36 x 24 in
For someone who came to the band through Mr. Tambourine Man and the hits, A2 is plenty. Go A1 for the fan who will genuinely read the names, because the Nashville cast on Sweetheart and the string and brass cast on Notorious sit in the smallest type on the sheet, and that is where the reading time lives.
The Byrds Discography Tube Map Art Print
Twelve studio albums from 1965 to 1973, every credited musician as a named line. Giclée on 230gsm archival matte paper. A3, A2 or A1, unframed or in a black wood frame.
See the Byrds discography art printRelated Music Maps
Two that connect through shared credits rather than genre. Fleetwood Mac albums in order is the other great study in a band swapping members and surviving it, and famous musicians who played on one album is the Kevin Kelley pattern repeated across the range.
On the prints themselves, the Beach Boys discography map shares several of the same Los Angeles session players, Hal Blaine and Leon Russell among them, and the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers map picks up the jangle a decade on. The full range is in the music wall art prints collection.
Questions I Get Asked About the Byrds Map
How many studio albums did The Byrds make?
Twelve, from Mr. Tambourine Man in 1965 through to Byrds in 1973, and all twelve are stations on the map.
Did all five original Byrds play on Sweetheart of the Rodeo?
No. Only Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman are on it from the original five, joined by Gram Parsons and Kevin Kelley, with Clarence White on electric guitar.
Did Gram Parsons record with the Byrds again after 1968?
Once, in a small way. He is credited with a backing vocal on "All the Things" on (Untitled) in 1970, the same song Terry Melcher plays piano on. It is his only later credit on the grid.
Which album brings in the most outside players?
The Notorious Byrd Brothers, by a wide margin. Beyond the five members it carries more than twenty further names, including a cello section, a brass section, two extra drummers and the Firesign Theatre supplying the sound effects on "Draft Morning".
What is not on the Byrds map?
Live albums and compilations are left off, so the map covers the studio albums only. (Untitled) in 1970 is included because it was released as that year's Byrds album, and the credits drawn from it are the ones on its studio half. Anything released after the artwork was finished is not on the print.
Did the original five ever get back in a studio together?
Yes, on Byrds in 1973, where McGuinn, Clark, Crosby, Hillman and Michael Clarke are all credited. None of the 1969 to 1971 line-up appears on it.
Twelve albums, nine years, and one original line still running at the end of it.
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