Fifth Dimension (1966)

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". However, it was the first Byrds album not to include any songs written by Bob Dylan, whose material had previously been a mainstay of the band's repertoire.

The album peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and reached number 27 on the UK Albums Chart. 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. Upon release, Fifth Dimension was widely regarded as the band's most experimental album to date and is today considered by critics to be influential in originating the musical genre of psychedelic rock.

Background

On December 22, 1965, shortly after the release of their second album Turn! Turn! Turn!, the Byrds entered RCA Studios in Los Angeles to record "Eight Miles High" and "Why", two new songs that they had recently composed. 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. As a result, the band were forced to re-record both songs in their entirety at Columbia Studios, Hollywood, and it was these re-recordings that would see release on the "Eight Miles High" single and the Fifth Dimension album.

The re-recordings of "Eight Miles High" and "Why" were produced by Allen Stanton, Columbia's West Coast Vice President, who had recently been assigned to the band following the Byrds' decision to dispense with their previous producer, Terry Melcher. 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. Within a month of the band's second album being released, Dickson—with the full support of the Byrds—approached Columbia and insisted that Melcher be replaced. However, any hopes that Dickson had of being allowed to produce the band himself were dashed when the record label chose Allen Stanton as the Byrds new producer. This decision was the result of Columbia studio regulations specifying that only an in-house Columbia employee could produce records by the label's acts. Stanton would work as the Byrds' producer for the duration of the Fifth Dimension recording sessions, but would leave Columbia for A&M Records shortly after the release of the album.

Following the re-recording of "Eight Miles High" in January 1966, and just prior to its release as a single in March of that year, the band's principal songwriter, Gene Clark, left the band. At the time, the official story regarding Clark's departure was that his fear of flying was preventing him from fulfilling his obligations with the group. 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.