The Byrds "Younger Than Yesterday" LP original 1967 1st Press EX/VG

	£		20
	$		27

This is my own copy of this LP ( the 3rd Byrds' album), bought in 1967. It is a first pressing and I understand that the "33" mark on the disc label (as opposed to thirty-three and a third) denotes a very early version of a CBS LP pressing in the UK. It is a stereo recording.
This album did not receive high recognition in it's time and in those days, I much preferred the  the 4th album, "The Notorious Byrds Brothers". However, on re-listening I now feel (as do the critics) that this 3rd album was very good and it has lasted well musically and has quite a cultural significance. 
In those days, there tended to be two markets for bands' recordings, the pop singles market and the album market. The Byrds had a huge "singles" fanbase who did not necessarily buy or follow albums. The Byrds never did too much to appeal directly to very young pop fans. Compared with the Beatles, whose singles, until "Strawberry Fields", were written and produced to hook both youngsters and mums and dads. The Byrds, with their Dylan covers went straight into complex lyrics with more adult themes and went into more experimental stuff on their LPs, both in Fifth Dimension (2nd album) and this. Yet the jangly guitar sound and close high harmonies on the singles were a great draw to young people, without them necessarily thinking too much about the meanings of the songs.
These bands were bouncing ideas off each others work across continents and the Beatles were shaped by Dylan and by the Byrds electric renditions of Dylan and in turn the  the Byrds were no doubt influenced by Rubber Soul and Revolver by the Beatles and works by other bands in the USA and UK in the "pop", "folk protest" and R 'n' B movements. This is all leading up to and shaping in it's own way the upcoming "Summer of Love" and '68 student protest and foreshadowing the further development of the genres, Folk-Rock, Psychedelia and Country Rock. Culturally therefore a bit of a must for pop historians.
Musically and lyrically I think it's lasted well too. It's shot through with ideas by these young people of different ways of living in different ages and in different lifestyles - in effect a throwing off of the old culture (a nod to "The Times they are A'Changing). Songs about taking ideas from the past (Renaissance Fair); the future, and the possibility of extra-terrestrial life, (CTA-102), where a central over-dub sounds like an audio premonition of an R2D2 on board the Millennium Falcon; and the inner spirit (Mind Gardens). Actually I found the latter, clumsy and pretentious then and I'm relieved on re-listening to find that it is truly as awful as ever. That aside though the rest of it is pretty good stuff and I've ensured that I have made a digital copy of the LP before passing it on to the next owner via eBay.
As to the condition of the record. The disc sounds great  - it plays through with absolutely no jumps, skips, clicks or sticks. The sound is clear with no background noise apparent apart perhaps from a little fizzing at the intro to side 2.  It looks as though I slipped with the stylus once because  there is a light line across part of one side but this does not appear to result in any noise. The vinyl surface is clean with slight paper scuffs evident in sunlight and there are a few spider traces round the central holes and a little blemish on the side 1 label (perhaps a historic greasy finger!). For the quality of the sound and playback, I think it deserves an excellent rating , minus one for the stylus line and the mark on the label.
As to the sleeve. It has a clean front picture and the sides are sound if a little compressed from 49 years of standing upright against other LPs. There is a ring impression from the disc. There is a little fraying at the edge at the bottom from the weight of the disc pressing down leaving half an inch of white  just showing - this can be seen in the main picture. The back of the cover is plain card with printing and has attracted a bit of grey/brown staining over the years and a fox-mark in the top right corner. Apart from these 3 little defects, the outer sleeve is in very good condition. A nice example of an E J Day London-printed sleeve.
The inner sleeve has got a little squashed over the years. It's quite a tight fit to get the disc into the outer sleeve and I guess that was the cause. I have stuck on internal paper strengtheners to a tear at the front and to the beginnings of a slit at the bottom. I have much better CBS inners on other LPs but this is the correct one for this 1967 disc so I thought it better to sell it as original with the stabilised  sleeve. 
It will be mailed in a top quality LP mailer with the parts wrapped separately.  I wish I could attach a sound clip but there does not seem to be a way to do it on this sale template.