Harold Eugene Clark born November 17, 1944 was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrd’s, he is better known as Gene Clark.
During 1964 and early 1966 he was the song writer for the band and he created a large catalogue of music in several genres but failed to achieve solo commercial success.
During 1964 and early 1966 he was the song writer for the band and he created a large catalogue of music in several genres but failed to achieve solo commercial success.
This is just a damn shame as I feel two of his solo albums deserved to be heard!!
1971 saw the album titled White Light the fact that the name was not included on the cover sleeve led some later reviewers to assume that it was titled 'Gene Clark'.
The record was produced by the much sought after Native American guitarist Jesse Ed Davis with whom Clark developed great rapport, partly due to their common Indian ancestry.
It is mainly an acoustic album with slide guitar work by Jesse Ed Davis.
All of the material was written by Clark, with the exception of the Dylan and Richard Manuel song "Tears of Rage".
This album gained considerable critical acclaim, but failed to get commercial success, except in the Netherlands where it was also voted album of the year by rock music critics.
What we saw in the 60s with Clark’s refusal to tour or undertake any kind of promotional work also affected sales.
This album holds the track Spanish Guitar which Bob Dylan had said he would have been proud to write… for me, this is probably one of my all-time favourite songs.
1974 saw Gene Clark signed to Asylum records by David Geffen and the release of No Other just on the basis of the quality of Clark's Byrd’s contributions.
Asylum was the home of the most prominent singer-songwriter movement of that era and carried the kinda hip cachet that Clark hadn't experienced since he was a Byrd.
He headed for Mendocino with his friend (and future co-writer and drummer) Andy Kandanes' cliff-top home.
It is known Clark was deeply affected by his visions, and this is where he wrote numerous songs which were the basis for No Other.
No Other has a very different feel to it than White Light, we are firmly set in the 70s it has a vast array of session musicians and backing singers, and is an amalgam of country rock, folk, gospel, soul and choral music with poetic, mystical lyrics.
The fact that No Other wasn't a conventional pop/rock opus meant that its chances of success were pretty low and by Clark's relative obscurity at that time it was going to be a struggle to make this a commercial success.
Production costs for this album were around $100,000 for only eight tracks which rubbed Geffen up the wrong way to begin with.
The album then stalled in the charts at #144.
After the release of this album Clark returned to Los Angeles and resorted back to a hedonistic lifestyle which broke up his marriage and lost many friends…
He did agree to do his first solo tour (by road), playing colleges and clubs with backing group, the Silverado’s.
Though both albums are very different I think it is a real shame that they have been over looked as in my opinion neither album holds a bum track and equals if not betters much of the Byrd’s.
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