Hughesy's assessment: If it mightn't sound so groundbreaking fifty years on, but The Byrds take on one of Dylan's first post-protest masterpieces has worked its way into the fabric of rock history, so The Reasonable Listener wouldn't expect it to.
When The Byrds single appeared on the market in April 1965 the pieces in the jigsaw that produced the mid-sixties Great Leap Forward were still falling into place. They still weren't quite there when the album followed three months later, but The Byrds' fusion of existing elements laid out a path that many followed follow.
The blend of folkie harmonies that were straight out of folkie coffee shop hootenannies, McGuinn's jangling twelve string and material that drew on the notional voice of a generation, chunks of the existing folk repertoire and teenage romanticism doesn't always work. You Don't Have To Cry, It's No Use and Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe mightn't have set the world on fire, but most mid-sixties albums were allocated their share of filler.
You may have heard the title track a million times, but there are a couple of minor masterpieces lurking within (Here Without You, She Has A Way), The harmonies sparkle and a close listen reveals plenty going on under the surface.
Not quite a masterpiece, but a sign of things to come. Significant.
Track listing: Mr. Tambourine Man; I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better; Spanish Harlem Incident; You Won't Have to Cry; Here Without You; The Bells of Rhymney; All I Really Want to Do; I Knew I'd Want You; It's No Use; Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe; Chimes of Freedom; We'll Meet Again
1996 CD reissue bonus tracks: She Has a Way; I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better [Alternate Version]; It's No Use [Alternate Version]; You Won't Have to Cry [Alternate Version]; All I Really Want to Do [Single Version]; You and Me
Classics: Mr. Tambourine Man;
Almost there: I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better; Spanish Harlem Incident; Here Without You; The Bells of Rhymney; All I Really Want to Do; Chimes of Freedom;
Worthwhile: You Won't Have to Cry; I Knew I'd Want You; It's No Use; Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe; We'll Meet Again