'The first group to bring folk/rock as a solid concept were The Byrds, who came from California and had themselves a worldwide number one hit with Dylan's Mr Tambourine Man.
Jim McGuinn, their lead singer, wore pince-nez and smiled strange crooked smiles over the top of them, squinting like some moth-eaten Dickensian lawyer, very devious and the rest of the group slouched in the background, staring straight ahead, stoned and uncaring, and none of them gave off any warmth, any signs of life at all.
Musically though they started out strong - Hey Mr Tambourine Man was brilliant and their first album was even better. They made odd, insidious noises, quite soft but sneaky, and McGuinn phrased sideways like a musical crab. They weren't exciting, they weren't meant to be but their sound crept in on you and nagged you, they made you itch.'
No comments:
Post a Comment