Mr. Tambourine Man

Mr. Tambourine Man didn't prove that the new wave of coffehouse folkies could hit the top of the pops: others had already managed that. But unlike the hopelessly earnest likes of Peter, Paul and Mary, The Byrds proved that folk singers could have hits while still being cool. Indeed, with its gloriously lazy rhythm and Jim McGuinn's disinterested drawl, their version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" arguably out-cools Bob Dylan himself. This debut presents the L.A. scenesters in their purest form, their original stated intent being a fusion of A Hard Day's Night-era Beatles with the collegiate folk revival. It worked in both directions: George Harrison himself credited this LP's take on Pete Seeger's "The Bells of Rhymney" as the direct inspiration for his own "If I Needed Someone." Aside from the trio of Dylan covers ("Chimes of Freedom" and "Spanish Harlem Incident" completing the set), the album's secret star is rhythm guitarist Gene Clark, whose songwriting kept the Byrds from falling into the trap of imitation. Clark originals "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" and "Here Without You" are among the album's finest, and the urgent Clark-McGuinn co-write "It's No Use" ties the album to the punky energy of the nascent garage-rock scene and points to their psychedelic future. But it still comes down to cool, a quality that Mr. Tambourine Man -- right down to the dripping-with-cynicism take on Vera Lynn's World War II sentimental favorite "We'll Meet Again" that closes the LP -- has in spades.