[1] Like its predecessor, Mr. Tambourine Man, the album epitomized the folk rock genre and continued the band's successful mix of vocal harmony and jangly twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar.

", which was adapted by Pete Seeger from text in the Book of Ecclesiastes, had previously been arranged in a chamber-folk style by the Byrd's lead guitarist Jim McGuinn for folk singer Judy Collins' third album,[3] but the arrangement he used for the Byrds' recording of the song utilizes the same folk-rock style as the band's previous hit singles.

[2][10] By the latter half of 1965, the folk rock trend the band had been instrumental in originating was gaining pace, with hit records by the likes of Cher, the Turtles, We Five, and Barry McGuire clearly bearing the hallmarks of the Byrds' influence.

[4][8] The band then briefly considered issuing a version of Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'" as a single instead, but this idea was also discarded, although the song does appear on Turn!

[4][7] The recording of the album was not without its tensions, with several members of the band expressing feelings of resentment towards the close working relationship that was beginning to form between McGuinn and producer Terry Melcher.

[4] Rhythm guitarist David Crosby was particularly vocal in his disapproval, since he felt McGuinn and Melcher (along with the band's manager Jim Dickson) were conspiring to keep his songs off the album.

[4] Tension was also developing between Gene Clark and the rest of the Byrds due to the higher level of income he was receiving as the band's principal songwriter.

[10][20] Rolling Stone editor David Fricke has commented that the song's plea for peace and tolerance was custom-made for the 1960s, a decade colored by assassinations, urban rioting, and the horrors of the Vietnam War.

[2][3] Peaking at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the single represented the high-water mark of folk rock as a musical trend and reinforced the Byrds' standing as a commercial chart act.

[13] The Byrds also chose to include two Bob Dylan songs on the album, in an attempt to repeat the success they had enjoyed with their covers of his material on their debut LP.

was "The Times They Are a-Changin'", which the band's biographer Johnny Rogan has described as a sardonic reading of the protest anthem, subverting the seriousness evident in the original and replacing it with irony.

[8] To highlight the wistful melancholy of "If You're Gone", McGuinn and Melcher devised a droning, Gregorian harmony vocal part that sounds uncannily like another instrument and foreshadowed the raga rock experimentation the band would undertake on their next album.

[8] The song had been written by Clark during the Byrds' 1965 tour of England after a night spent drinking with Paul McCartney at the fashionable Scotch of St James club in London.

Another cover on the album is "Satisfied Mind", a 1955 country and western chart-topper for Porter Wagoner, which was suggested by the Byrds' bass player, Chris Hillman.

[17][23] The song was the first sign of the band's interest in country music, a genre they would explore further on subsequent albums, culminating with 1968's Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

[8] Despite being recorded as an intentionally humorous reading of the song, McGuinn later admitted to journalist Vincent Flanders that he was dissatisfied with the track, stating: "That was a joke, but it didn't come off, it was poorly told.

"[17][25] Due to the infighting caused by the other band members' resentment of Clark's songwriting dominance within the Byrds, two of the songs he had brought to the recording sessions were excluded from the album.

[13] His romantic and densely-worded "She Don't Care About Time", which featured a guitar solo inspired by Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", was issued on the B-side of the "Turn!

[1][6][7] A second single taken from the album, "Set You Free This Time" (b/w "It Won't Be Wrong"), was released on January 10, 1966, in the U.S., peaking at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100, but failing to chart in the UK.

[1][6][7] Upon release, the album garnered mostly positive reviews, with Robert Shelton commenting in The New York Times that it was "not so strong as the first Byrds LP, Mr. Tambourine Man, but still an effective program of folk-rock.

"[18] Billboard magazine described the album's contents by stating that "the group offers a diversified program of material that is certain to soar up the LP charts.

"[18] In the UK, Richard Bruce enthusiastically praised the album in his review for Music Echo by describing the record as "so sensationally brilliant that even after [one] hearing, I've no hesitation in saying they are proving they have as big a talent as the Beatles and the Stones!

[31] This release of the album was issued on April 30, 1996, and had seven bonus tracks: the Clark penned B-side "She Don't Care About Time"; the outtakes "The Day Walk (Never Before)", "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", and "Stranger in a Strange Land"; and three alternate versions of songs.