found on the Moon, as was the case in "The Sentinel". However, the pyramid was replaced by a rectangular monolith in both the film and the accompanying novelization. Release and reception The Notorious Byrd Brothers was released on January 15, 1968, in the United States (catalogue item CL 2775 in mono, CS 9575 in stereo) and on April 12, 1968, in the UK (catalogue item 63169 in mono, S 63169 in stereo). However, there is some debate about the U.S. release date, with some sources suggesting that it may have been brought forward to January 3, 1968. Regardless, the album's appearance during the first month of 1968 surprised many fans of the band, who had been led to believe by contemporary press reports that the album was still in the planning stages. It peaked at number 47 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, during a chart stay of 19 weeks, but fared better in the United Kingdom where it reached number 12, spending a total of 11 weeks on the UK chart. The album's front cover photograph was taken by Guy Webster, who had also been responsible for the cover of the Byrds' Turn! Turn! Turn! album. The "Goin' Back" single was released ahead of the album on October 20, 1967, and reached number 89 on the Billboard Hot 100, but failed to chart in the UK. The album is notable for being the last Byrds LP to be commercially issued in mono in the United States, although subsequent albums continued to be released in both mono and stereo variations overseas. The album was almost universally well received by the music press upon release, with Jon Landau in the newly launched Rolling Stone magazine noting that "When the Byrds get it together on record they are consistently brilliant." Landau went on to praise the Byrds' musical eclecticism, before stating: "Their music is possessed by a never-ending circularity and a rich, child-like quality. It has a timelessness to it, not in the sense that you think their music will always be valid, but in the sense that it is capable of forcing you to suspend consciousness of time altogether." Crawdaddy! magazine was also enthusiastic in its praise of the album, with Sandy Pearlman describing it as "enchantingly beautiful". Pete Johnson, in his review for the Los Angeles Times, summed up the album as "11 good songs spiked with electronic music, strings,