Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Byrds, released on June 21, 1965, by Columbia Records. The album is characterized by the Byrds' signature sound of Jim McGuinn's 12-string Rickenbacker guitar and the band's harmonies. The material on the album consists of cover versions of folk songs, primarily composed by Bob Dylan, and originals written or co-written by singer Gene Clark. Along with the Dylan-penned single of the same name, Mr. Tambourine Man established the band as an internationally successful act and is widely regarded by critics as representing the first effective American challenge to the chart dominance of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands during the mid-1960s.

The album was influential in popularizing the musical subgenre known as folk rock, by melding sophisticated lyrical content with electric guitars and a rock backbeat. The band's hybrid of a British Invasion beat, jangly guitar playing, and poetic or socially conscious lyrics influenced a number of acts in the mid-1960s and has also been influential on later musicians.

The album peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and number 7 on the UK Albums Chart. It is the band's most successful album on either chart. The "Mr. Tambourine Man" single was released ahead of the album in April 1965 and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. A second single, "All I Really Want to Do", also a Dylan cover, was moderately successful in the U.S., but fared better in the UK, where it reached the top ten. So too had singer and songwriter Gene Clark and the band's rhythm guitarist David Crosby.

Clark and McGuinn first met in early 1964 at The Troubadour folk club in Los Angeles and formed a duo, playing Beatles' covers, Beatlesque renditions of traditional folk songs, and some self-penned material. The duo soon added Crosby to the line-up and named themselves the Jet Set. They changed their name to the Byrds over Thanksgiving that year. Record producer Terry Melcher felt that the band hadn't completely gelled yet musically, so he brought in a group of L.A. session musicians, later known as the Wrecking Crew, to provide the musical backing on the single. As a result, McGuinn was the only Byrd to play on "Mr. Tambourine Man" and its Clark-penned B-side, "I Knew I'd Want You". reaching number 1 on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart.

Although the band's musicianship improved following the recording of their debut single, it was assumed by both Columbia and the band's management that their entire debut album would be recorded with session musicians. Recording was completed on April 22, 1965.

Music

For the most part, Mr. Tambourine Man consisted of two types of songs: band originals, primarily penned by Clark, who was the group's main songwriter during its first eighteen months of existence, and covers of then-modern folk songs, composed primarily by Dylan. The album opens with the Dylan-penned title track, which had been a big international hit for the group, prior to the album's release. Band biographer Johnny Rogan has stated that the two most distinctive features of the Byrds' rendition of "Mr. Tambourine Man" are the vocal harmonies of Clark, McGuinn, and Crosby, and McGuinn's jangling twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar playing (which complemented the phrase "jingle jangle morning" found in the song's lyric).

Another Dylan cover, "All I Really Want to Do", was the first song to be recorded for the album, following the "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "I Knew I'd Want You" session.

Of the band originals, three were penned solely by Clark. The first of these, "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better", has been described by Rogan as an uptempo song, with pounding tambourine, jangling Rickenbacker, and criss-crossing vocals, featuring Clark singing lead, while McGuinn and Crosby provided backing vocals.

Clark's melancholy, mid-tempo ballad "Here Without You" details a bittersweet trip through the city during which every landmark and physical object reminds the singer of an absent lover, while the aforementioned "I Knew I'd Want You" is a Beatlesque minor key 6/8 time| shuffle recounting the first flushes of romance. Although "I Knew I'd Want You" had been recorded as the intended B-side of the Byrds' debut single, Rogan has pointed out that, had the band failed to secure permission to release their version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" from Dylan and his manager Albert Grossman, "I Knew I'd Want You" might well have been issued as the group's first Columbia A-side. According to author Christopher Hjort, it has become an acknowledged classic since its release. The back cover featured liner notes, written in the form of an open letter to a friend, by Columbia Records' publicist Billy James. In addition, the back cover also featured a black and white photograph, taken by the Byrds' manager Jim Dickson, of the band on stage with Bob Dylan at Ciro's nightclub in L.A.

| rev2 = AllMusic

| rev2Score = The UK publication Music Echo was also enthusiastic about the album's contents, concluding that the record was "an album which easily lives up to the promise of their great knock-out singles". This release of the album was issued on April 30, 1996, and had six bonus tracks: the outtakes "She Has a Way" and "You and Me", three alternate versions of songs found on the original album, and the single version of "All I Really Want to Do".

The reason for remixing some of the album was explained by Bob Irwin (who produced these re-issues for compact disc) during an interview:

He further stated: