This unassuming introduction to the Byrds may well be the best single-disc survey of their history, managing to chart the twists and turns of their stylistic changes without including patently weaker material for the sheer sake of the story. The big hits are here, obviously, like "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Eight Miles High," but so are two gorgeous Gene Clark-penned B-sides, "She Don't Care About Time" and "The World Turns All Around Her," and David Crosby's magnificent pop gem, "Lady Friend," which should have been a huge hit but inexplicably wasn't. Even the autumnal Byrds, with only Roger McGuinn left from the original band, are represented here with strong songs ("Gunga Din," "Chestnut Mare," and the almost too maudlin "Bugler"), although it's obvious that the bright, fresh vital sound of the early- and mid-period band was long gone by this time. It isn't easy to make the flat-sounding latter-era Byrds sound passable next to the brilliant early material, but this anthology does it as gracefully as possible.
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