[4] It includes early demo versions of the songs "Here Without You", "You Won't Have to Cry", "I Knew I'd Want You", and "Mr. Tambourine Man", all of which appeared in re-recorded form on the band's 1965 debut album.

[9] Dickson was impressed enough by the trio to take on management duties for the group and to utilize World Pacific as a rehearsal studio, where he recorded the band as they honed their craft and perfected their blend of Beatles pop and Bob Dylan-style folk.

[12] Both songs on the Beefeaters' single featured McGuinn, Clark and Crosby, along with "Wrecking Crew" session musicians Ray Pohlman on bass and Earl Palmer on drums.

[13] The album had enjoyed moderate success and Usher was keen to continue issuing previously unreleased, historically significant material on his new record label.

[13] As a collection of previously unreleased demo recordings, Preflyte can be seen as one of the earliest examples of issuing outtakes by popular artists, a practice that is now commonplace in the reissue market.

[13] All of the music on Preflyte predates the release of the Byrds' debut single for Columbia, a cover version of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man", which topped the charts in America and the United Kingdom during 1965.

[18][19] "The Reason Why", a brooding, Beatles and Everly Brothers influenced ballad, and the melancholy "For Me Again", would both be jettisoned from the band's repertoire by early 1965 to make way for higher quality material.

[18] The Byrds' biographer Johnny Rogan has stated that McGuinn's distinctive Bach-inspired guitar intro is already present in this early version, but Crosby's harmony singing displays signs of uncertainty.

[18] Rogan has also remarked that perhaps the most striking difference between the version of the song found on Preflyte and the more famous Columbia recording is Michael Clarke's use of a militaristic drumming style.

[18] This military band style of drumming was abandoned when the song was recorded for the Columbia single on January 20, 1965, with session drummer Hal Blaine adopting a standard rock beat instead.

[3] It was then reissued in the U.S. in April 1973 by Columbia Records (catalogue item C 32183),[3][25] with alternative cover artwork by British comic book artist Barry Windsor-Smith, depicting the five original members of the Byrds as futuristic astronauts.

"[16] Lenny Kaye, writing in Jazz & Pop magazine, praised the album, noting that "One of the more interesting things about Preflyte is the consistency of the Byrds sound, especially when compared with their later post-Tambourine Man days.

"[16] In more recent years, Classic Rock reviewer Rob Hughes praised "the purring harmonies, the extraordinary songcraft of frontman Gene Clark and the smooth exhalations of what became the California folk-rock sound", despite the fact that the Byrds had "yet to become competent musicians".