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 #1 in the U.S. charts. However, during sessions for the Turn! Turn! Turn! album, Melcher had found himself in conflict with The Byrds' manager, Jim Dickson, who had aspirations to produce the band himself. Within a month of the band's second album being released, Dickson—with the full support of The Byrds—approached Columbia Records and insisted that Melcher be replaced. However, any hopes that Dickson had of being allowed to produce The Byrds himself were dashed when Columbia chose Allen Stanton as the band's new producer. This decision was due to 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 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 1966, 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 group. While the song "Eight Miles High" still featured the full participation of Clark, the remaining ten tracks on the Fifth Dimension album were recorded after he had left the band, although he does make a guest appearance on the song "Captain Soul".
Read more about this topic: Fifth Dimension (album)
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