Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde - Release and Reception

Release and Reception

Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was released on March 5, 1969 in the United States (catalogue item CS 9755) and April 25, 1969 in the United Kingdom (catalogue item 63545 in mono, S 63545 in stereo). Like The Byrds' previous LP, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, the album was issued exclusively in stereo in America but appeared in both mono and stereo variations in the UK. Sales of Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde were poor in the U.S., causing it to stall at #153 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and giving the album the dubious honor of being the lowest charting album of the band's career, edging out the later Farther Along by just one place. The album fared better in the United Kingdom, however, where it reached #15 on the UK Albums Chart. The "Bad Night at the Whiskey" single was released ahead of the album on January 7, 1969 but it failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 or the UK Singles Chart.

The album's title, along with the back cover photo sequence, which featured the band changing from astronaut flight suits into cowboy garb, illustrated the schizophrenic nature of the album's material. The psychedelic rock of "Bad Night at the Whiskey" and "This Wheel's on Fire" sat alongside the Bakersfield-style country rock of "Nashville West" and "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man". Despite containing only ten tracks, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde is The Byrds' longest single album, clocking in at approximately thirty-five minutes in length. Only the double album (Untitled) is longer.

The album was released to generally positive reviews, with famed rock critic Robert Christgau declaring the album "first-rate Byrds, a high recommendation." Johanna Schrier, writing in The Village Voice, described the album as "smooth and strong like a blended whiskey", before suggesting that it was "Part kin to Sweetheart of the Rodeo, part the acid offspring of Notorious Byrd Brothers." In the UK, Record Mirror awarded the album four stars out of five, commenting "British devotes will dig this more than Sweetheart." Disc magazine were particularly enthusiastic in their praise of the album, stating " their best album since perhaps Younger Than Yesterday, perfectly illustrating the two completely disparate sides of the group: far-out electronic rock and hick, twangy country." In more recent times, critic Mark Deming has noted in his review for the Allmusic website that the album "proved there was still life left in the Byrds, but also suggested that they hadn't gotten back to full speed yet." Senior editor of Rolling Stone, David Fricke, has described the album as "the Great Forgotten Byrds Album", while also noting that it "seemed tame in its reliance on the familiar."

Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was remastered at 20-bit resolution as part of the Columbia/Legacy Byrds series. It was reissued in an expanded form on March 25, 1997 with five bonus tracks, including the outtake "Stanley's Song". Also included among the bonus tracks were alternate versions of "This Wheel's on Fire" and "Nashville West", as well as the band's cover of "Lay Lady Lay", which was issued as a single some months after the release of the album. However, in the version included here, "Lay Lady Lay" is lacking the female backing chorus that had originally appeared on the single release.

There has been some discussion amongst fans of The Byrds as to whether or not Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was remixed for its expanded reissue in 1997. Although the producer of the Columbia/Legacy Byrds' series, Bob Irwin, has stated that only the first four Byrds' albums underwent any remixing, some fans of the band maintain that Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde was also remixed, citing distinct differences between the 1997 reissue and the original album. Among the differences found on the reissue are a lessening of reverb on many songs, the appearance of the spoken word "three" over the opening seconds of "This Wheel's on Fire", and a longer, unedited version of "Candy" appearing on the album for the first time.