(Untitled) /(Unissued)

This double album was nearly titled Phoenix to symbolize The Byrds' rebirth after they settled into a solid post–Gram Parsons lineup. It was 1970, and bandleader Roger McGuinn was as intuitive as ever while longtime Byrds producer Terry Melcher was healing from Charlie Manson panic (The Manson family had allegedly targeted Melcher for murder). This album beautifully captures the failing hippie promise and the seemingly unending Vietnam War. With one LP recorded at two New York City shows (featuring heavier renditions of earlier hits, including “Mr. Tambourine Man” and a 16-minute “Eight Miles High”) and a studio LP with some songs cowritten by theater great Jacques Levy (for an ill-fated country-rock musical), Untitled contains some of the finest Byrds work on record. (The gorgeous 12-stringer “Chestnut Mare” might be McGuinn’s finest five minutes.) The set includes a few other left-fielders too, including a pair of winning Kim Fowley cowrites (“You All Look Alike,” “Hungry Planet”), a Little Feat cover (the inescapably sad “Truck Stop Girl”), and a classic Lomax Bros. ditty detailing the buttonholed evils of cocaine (“Take a Whiff on Me”).