Fifth Dimension is the third studio album by the American rock band the Byrds, released on July 18, 1966, by Columbia Records. Most of the album was recorded following the February 1966 departure of the band's principal songwriter Gene Clark. In an attempt to compensate for Clark's absence, guitarists Jim McGuinn and David Crosby increased their songwriting output. In spite of this, the loss of Clark resulted in an album with four cover versions and an instrumental, which critics have described as "wildly uneven" and "awkward and scattered". Two preceding singles, "Eight Miles High" and "5D (Fifth Dimension)", were included on the album, with the former just missing the Top 10 of the Billboard singles chart. Additionally, a third single taken from the album, "Mr. Spaceman", managed to reach the U.S. Top 40. Both songs represented a creative leap forward for the band and were instrumental in developing the musical styles of psychedelic rock and raga rock. However, the band ran into trouble with their record company, Columbia Records, who refused to release either song because they had not been recorded at a Columbia-owned studio. Melcher had guided the Byrds through the recording of their first two folk rock albums, which had included the international hit singles "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!", both of which had reached number 1 in the U.S. charts. However, during sessions for the Turn! Turn! Turn! album, Melcher had found himself in conflict with the band's manager, Jim Dickson, who had aspirations to produce the Byrds himself. However, it has become known in the years since then that there were other stress related factors at work, as well as resentment within the band that his songwriting income had made him the wealthiest member of the Byrds. While the songs "Eight Miles High" and "Captain Soul" featured the participation of Clark, the remaining nine tracks on the Fifth Dimension album were recorded without him. Musically, the song was a fusion of John Coltrane-influenced guitar playing—courtesy of lead guitarist Jim McGuinn—and raga-based musical structure and vocals, inspired by the Indian classical music of Ravi Shankar. Written mostly by Clark in November 1965, while the Byrds were on tour in the U.S., the song was pivotal in transmuting folk rock into the new musical forms of psychedelia and raga rock. Although the song's lyrics actually pertained to the approximate cruising altitude of commercial airliners, and the group's first visit to London during their 1965 English tour, both Clark and rhythm guitarist David Crosby later admitted that the song was at least partly inspired by their own drug use. In spite of its tongue-in-cheek lyrics, both McGuinn and Crosby were serious about the possibility of communicating with extraterrestrial lifeforms via the medium of radio broadcast. The organ arrangement on "5D (Fifth Dimension)" was played by Van Dyke Parks. The song makes extensive use of aviation sound effects, including an in-cockpit recitation of a pilot's pre-takeoff checklist and the sound of a jet engine starting up. The song was introduced to the Byrds by Crosby, who also sang lead vocals on their recording of it.

The preceding "Eight Miles High" single was released on March 14, 1966 in the U.S., and April 29, 1966 in the UK, reaching number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 24 on the UK Singles Chart.

|rev5 = Entertainment Weekly

|rev5score = B

|rev7 = MusicHound

|rev7score = 3/5

|rev8 = NME

|rev8score = 8/10

In more recent years, Richie Unterberger, writing for the AllMusic website, has described Fifth Dimension as "wildly uneven", noting that the album's short-comings prevent it "from attaining truly classic status". In 2004, Rolling Stone called it "the Byrds' most underrated album" and especially admired "Eight Miles High" as "the band's highest of highs, blending Coltrane-influenced 12-string squiggles with eerie harmonies for a truly hypnotic sound". The author goes on to say that the album is a continuation of their folk rock sound, but clearly establishes the break away from "folk-rock into folk-rock-psychedelia". It was voted number 290 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). In 2003, David Keenan included Fifth Dimension in his The Best Albums Ever...Honest from the Scottish Sunday Herald.

CD reissues and Another Dimension

Fifth Dimension was remastered at 20-bit resolution and partially remixed as part of the Columbia/Legacy Byrds series. It was reissued in an expanded form on April 30, 1996, with six bonus tracks, including the RCA versions of "Why" and "Eight Miles High". The interview is open-ended and formatted with gaps between the group's answers, whereby a disc jockey could insert himself asking scripted questions, giving the illusion that the Byrds were being interviewed in person.

Track listing

Side one

Side two

1996 CD reissue bonus tracks

Notes

  • The album erroneously credits "John Riley" to Bob Gibson and Ricky Neff.

He further stated: