BYRDS BONUS TRACKS KEEP LATEST CD REISSUES FLYING HIGH.

Byline: Scott L. Powers Boston Globe

Since their ``Mr. Tambourine Man'' was released into the pop music world of the Rolling Stones' ``Satisfaction'' and the Beatles' ``Ticket to Ride'' during the summer of 1965 (when Vietnam escalated, Watts exploded and Dylan went electric at Newport), much has been written about the Byrds and their impact on rock. But in the liner notes to the album of the same name, Byrds leader James (Roger) McGuinn defined their sound best:

``I think the difference (in rock and the Byrds) is in the mechanical sounds of our time. Like the sound of the airplane in the '40s was a mmmoooooaaaaaaahhhhhhhh sound and Sinatra and other people sang like that with those sorts of overtones. Now we've got the krrriiisssssssshhhhhhhh jet sound, and the kids are singing up there now. It's the mechanical sounds of the era: The sounds are different and so the music is different.''

It's somewhat fitting, then, that this week Sony's Legacy label released the first four Byrds albums (along with a sampling of alternate and early takes) on compact discs, remastered from the original multitrack session tapes with new technology that brings the sound quality into the modern era. The Byrds, especially McGuinn, were fascinated with studio technology. As McGuinn explains on his Internet site, he was inspired by George Harrison's 12-string guitar after watching ``A Hard Day's Night.'' But he wasn't happy with the sound until, after much experimentation, the engineers fed the guitar directly into the soundboard, bypassing the usual amp.

For the folk-rock classics ``Mr. Tambourine Man'' and ``Turn, Turn, Turn'' and the groundbreaking folk-rock-psychedelic-country albums ``Fifth Dimension'' and ``Younger Than Yesterday,'' this is their third time on compact disc. The first time around in the '80s, the sound was muddy and dull. In 1990 Columbia released a four-CD boxed set with improved sound, but these latest editions open the sound and enable the individual performances to be heard fully - especially David Crosby's impossibly high harmonies on songs such as ``5D,'' McGuinn's Rickenbacker 12-string on ``Thoughts and Words'' and Chris Hillman's bubbly, melodic bass on ``Renaissance Fair.'' The tape hiss, however, remains audible on headphones.

Beyond the improvements in sound quality, the sales appeal is in the bonus tracks. Many - including Gene Clark's ``She Has a Way'' from the Byrds' earliest days, ``Psychodrama City,'' a Crosby song from the ``Fifth Dimension'' era and another Crosby song, ``It Happens Each Day,'' from the ``Younger'' sessions - have been available on the boxed set, or, even earlier on ``Never Before,'' a 1987 compilation additionally notable for liner notes that include a recording-by-recording lineup of personnel (including the hired session players from the ``Mr. Tambourine Man'' single and details of who quit and rejoined the band for which songs).

As with the recent Beatles and Who releases, most of the alternate takes - B-side singles (that never appeared on albums) and unreleased songs compiled on these CDs - do little more than provide a peek into the recording process and reaffirm the choices made by the band and producers as the final versions. There are, of course, exceptions. ``It Happens Each Day'' and Crosby's brightly triumphant ``Lady Friend'' from the ``Younger'' disc not only anticipate the band's evolution to the next disc, ``The Notorious Byrd Brothers'' (which, like the rest of the Byrd's Columbia recordings, will be reissued later), but are as polished and listenable as any of the original album tracks.

The most legendary alternate Byrds track is ``Eight Miles High,'' which is included on the new ``Fifth Dimension'' disc. It was previously available in a less-pristine version on ``Never Before.'' Recorded at RCA studios a month before the official version and before Gene Clark quit the band, Columbia demanded the band rerecord it in its studios. McGuinn's guitar work is less precise, more flowing and fed through a more shrill electronic processing.

The Byrds were far from perfect, and were often frustrating by keeping what seemed like album filler and indulgences. The early takes - this time from the ``Younger'' disc - are valuable to the fan-musicologists in tracing where a certain song went wrong. Crosby's annoying, silly, sophomoric and chaotic ``Mind Gardens'' gets two alternative treatments. The first is an early take that tones down the excesses in the original vocals and backing tracks full of 12-string guitars played backward. The result is a much more poignant song about overzealousness.

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Photo: (1--2) Sony's Legacy label has released the first four Byrds albums, rich with the sounds of Roger McGuinn, left, and Gene Clark, on compact discs, remastered from the original multitrack session tapes with new technology, bringing the sound quality into the modern era.