Fifth Dimension
Having already pioneered folk-rock via their electrified versions of Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger songs such as "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn Turn Turn," the Byrds helped midwife yet another new musical form in 1966 on this, their third album. Influenced by Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, Jim McGuinn's atonal 12-string guitar on the suitably titled "Eight Miles High" was a psychedelic omen of things to come. Pointing in other new directions, too, are the prescient country-rock tune, "Mr. Spaceman," string-aided updates of folk evergreens "Wild Mountain Thyme" and "John Riley," and David Crosby's fusion-y "I See You" and "What's Happening?!?!" On this album, plenty.--Billy Altman