David Crosby has one of the best voices in rock ’n’ roll. Along with Roger McGuinn’s jangling Rickenbacker 12-string, Crosby’s rich tenor and adventurous harmonies defined the Byrds’ early sound (no disrespect to Gene Clark and Chris Hillman).
He doesn’t get enough credit for the great, offbeat songs he penned as a member of that band. “Renaissance Faire” from 1967’s Younger Than Yesterday is, in many ways, the prototypical Crosby song (although it was co-written with McGuinn), kick-starting the songwriter’s fascination with elaborate guitar chords that drift ambiguously between major and minor moods. “Lady Friend,” Crosby’s sole A-side with the Byrds, is perhaps the greatest ’60s pop single that never was (it barely cracked the US Top 100, which I guess is considered a “complete failure” if you’re coming off a run of hits).