133. The Byrds — Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)

1. More Byrds? More Byrds. This is the fifth of their six albums to this point to land on this list, and…I’m a little tired of it. We’re 133 albums in, and 10 of them were either The Beatles or The Byrds. It feels a bit absurd to me; I don’t dislike The Byrds! But I don’t feel we’ve gotten a truly untouchable, perfect album from them yet, and most of what I’ve listened to falls into a similar trap — perfectly professional, acceptable, even strong albums that lack a clear perspective, undeniable flow, and irresistible singles.
2. With this album, the band goes full Country, though it’s widely cited as Country Rock. To me, Johnny Cash was more rock than this. The Byrds brought in Gram Parsons to contribute, and it has a straightforward country vibe as a result. The decision to shift from folk and psych rock into country does afford this album a sense of intentionality that was sometimes missing from their earlier work, but I also think it loses any individuality. This is a band doing cosplay; it sounds enough like the Byrds, but it also sounds generic enough that you could listen to it and not realize it’s The Byrds. Not my cup of tea.
3. The album was originally conceived to be a musical history of 20th Century American pop music, and boy, I actually would have loved to have heard that album. The Byrds have experimented with a variety of genres to this point, sounding like a band constantly in search of an identity (in part thanks to often shifting lineups), and to make that identity an all-encompassing view of Americana would actually work really well for this band. Unfortunately Parsons brought them back to straight country, and we never got that grand vision. A shame.
4. I honestly hope this is the final Byrds album we hear on this list, because five albums is frankly enough for me. This is one of their weaker ones, Rolling Stone be damned, and I’m ready for pop music to push forward with artists immersed in the music they’re making instead of pretending to be someone they’re not.

Next up: The Beatles throw the kitchen sink at the studio for their biggest, boldest, and perhaps best album.

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