The Byrds

The five original Byrds reunited for this 1973 album, at a time when Roger McGuinn had been leading a revamped lineup. And the reunited Byrds were up against an intimidating rival: their own legendary past. Critics caviled that Byrds didn't present the groundbreaking band as they'd been in the '60s, but that wasn't the plan; The Byrds clearly decided to show who they were at that moment. Instead of indulging in the overproduction rampant in the early '70s, The Byrds scaled things down, employing relatively spare, acoustic-based arrangements and using hardly any additional musicians. Gene Clark, the poet of the bunch, unsurprisingly contributed the most striking tunes, mixing folk and country influences in equal parts on the easy-rolling "Full Circle" and "Changing Heart." McGuinn teamed with Desire-era Bob Dylan collaborator Jacques Levy for the haunting, minor-key "Sweet Mary," and David Crosby's "Laughing" stands up admirably alongside his CSNY work. And speaking of "Y," it's tough to complain about any album that features Clark crooning Neil Young's moody masterpiece "See the Sky About to Rain."