The Preflyte Sessions

The Preflyte Sessions compiles a rich expansion of 1969’s Preflyte collection of demos. These recordings were tracked and mixed by Jim Dickson in 1964 at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles before the band dropped their first single, “Mr. Tambourine Man,” which shows up here in two versions — an intimate acoustic demo and an electric one where Michael Clark provides an alternate military marching beat (an instrumental take of “You Showed Me” has him playing on cardboard boxes). You can really hear Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Chris Hillman finding their footing as musicians and discovering their voices as songwriters and singers as the uncanny chemistry of their vocal harmonies begins to solidify. The Preflyte Sessions boasts 40 tracks (16 of which were previously unreleased) with four early David Crosby recordings including a gossamer version of Chet Powers’ “Get Together.” Gene Clark’s “The Reason Why” reveals that the band was influenced by Bo Diddley as well as the Beatles, whose Merseybeat sound seeps into “Tomorrow Is a Long Ways Away” and “The Only Girl I Adore.” Witness the birth of folk rock.