The BYRDS...8 Miles High

[Seymouro]

A band that was very dependent on Bob Dylan for material and had David Crosby as a member, has to be considered somewhat of an underachiever in that hotbed of creativity, the mid 1960's..

Yet still, I maintain mad love for "Turn, Turn, Turn", "Mr. Tambourine Man" and numerous others including "All I Really Want To Do (Is Baby be Friends With You)" which was released about simultaneously with Cher's version of the same. Her version totally eclipsed the Byrds' rendition on the "charts" (the Byrds' version was still outstanding).

Roger McGuinn was the front man and most times lead guitarist (even with Crosby present), and he launched somewhat of a fashion statement with his patented rectangular glasses.

The band finally reached its zenith in 1968 with "8 Miles High", which was incorrectly perceived in many circles as a song about drugs, when it actually was describing the band's flight via DC8 to London.

I still love McGuinn's style. It sounds to me like, for no other way of offering description, like "guitars merged with bagpipes"...

You think?

You judge...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCT9naHt2oo

[Big Jer]

Another great song choice. Your music collection must look a lot like mine!

Always loved the sound of his guitar as well. Roger actually found his signature sound by accident. Their sound engineer liked to use compressors to protect the equipment from loud rock 'n roll, but Roger really liked the extra sustain that resulted. Without compression, he thought his Rick sounded 'thuddy'...

[JimT]

The Byrds are one of my alltime favorite bands...from their folk rock start to the country era of "Sweetheart of the Rodeo".  Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, and Gram Parsons...what talent.

8 Miles High was my favorite Byrd's song.

I have been listening to Roger's solo works..."Back from Rio" and "Born to Rock and Roll".  So I looked him up on youtube and found him doing my favorite Byrd's song...accoustic...solo.  I hope it's appropriate to post this contemporary version as a continuation...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmE4tQAGV6E

Regards,
Jim

[Mark M]

Jim, that was excellent. I've seen McGuinn do stuff on tv in recent years but I've never seen him pick like he's doing on this one... solo yet, much like the awesome vid of Jerry Douglas that Paul submitted the other day.

Seems that I heard somewhere that McGuinn was trying to emulate the Beatles sound when he began playing his trademark 12 string Richenbacher in order to get that jangly sound.

MM

[JoeMan]

Dave, thanks for flipping us a Byrds vid!  8 Miles High is one of my fav Byrds tunes if not my very fav...what a great tune, and it's actually been a long time since I've heard it.  Ya know...with the number of tunes with lyrical drug references, you're almost asking for it with a song by this name at that time...but I actually never thought about that.  

I also enjoyed that acoustic version very much!  Nicely done Dave and Jim!