Flying High
After Bob Dylan, Gene Clark was possibly the best American songwriter of the 60s. While it's easy to admire artists such as Brian Wilson, his particular genius was based more in his arrangement and production skills than in writing tunes which hold up when performed by just a singer with an acoustic guitar.
Clark was the most gifted songwriter in the Byrds, a fact obscured today by his early departure from the group, as well as the perception by many that Roger McGuinn was their leader, and the subsequent fame of David Crosby. Clark's gifts were many, but most important was his ability to write long and sensuous melodies which elevated otherwise verbose songs to heights that obscured just how difficult that ought to have been - try writing a concise and gentle melody to a line like "the first thing that I heard you say when you were standing there set in your way was that you were not blind". It's not easy. Clark's departure from the Byrds has been attributed to an unwillingness to travel and a fear of flying . . . but one wonders if there weren't other reasons, given that stellar Clark-composed tracks like "She Has A Way" and "The Day Walk" were left off early albums in favor of lesser songs and even cover versions like "Oh! Susannah".
Clark's early success was never matched commercially as a solo artist. His first album was released the same time as his former band's "Younger Than Yesterday" and it sunk like a stone, despite the fact that it was arguably the better of the two. Recordings Clark made after shortly the album's release remained in the can (until now - four are included, all better than what the Byrds were doing at that time), but later that year Clark teamed up with Doug Dillard (of the Dillards, famous for their portrayal of the musically amazing but socially backward hillbilly family the Darlings on "The Andy Griffith Show") to make two amazing albums for A&M. These too, failed commercially. Two previously unreleased songs from those sessions are included here for the first time.
His career continued along this path - great, even groundbreaking albums, followed by dismal sales, record company and promotional hassles and periods of inactivity, depression and alcoholism, which eventually contributed to his very early death.
But don't let the sordid details get in the way of this music. Clark's voice (at the meeting point between pop, country and Dylan) feels like an old friend. The arrangements are often full of orchestration, which adds a panoramic grandeur without ever overtaking the essential calm beauty of the compositions. If you like the Byrds, Gram Parsons or Bob Dylan, but have never heard Gene Clark, congratulations, you're about to discover a connection between all three which equals their best qualities.
This is an excellent place to start enjoying Gene Clark. If you dig this material enough to continue searching out the rest of his work, there is still enough fine and rare material here to prevent this from becoming redundant. After this, I'd recommend the A&M UK issue of the two Dillard & Clark albums (plus three 45-only tracks) on one CD. Beyond that, "Echoes", which combines some Byrds' tracks with his entire debut album (and three rare tracks), "White Light" (possibly his best solo album) and "No Other" (slightly flawed but amazing, and his most ambitious work) are all great
Clark was the most gifted songwriter in the Byrds, a fact obscured today by his early departure from the group, as well as the perception by many that Roger McGuinn was their leader, and the subsequent fame of David Crosby. Clark's gifts were many, but most important was his ability to write long and sensuous melodies which elevated otherwise verbose songs to heights that obscured just how difficult that ought to have been - try writing a concise and gentle melody to a line like "the first thing that I heard you say when you were standing there set in your way was that you were not blind". It's not easy. Clark's departure from the Byrds has been attributed to an unwillingness to travel and a fear of flying . . . but one wonders if there weren't other reasons, given that stellar Clark-composed tracks like "She Has A Way" and "The Day Walk" were left off early albums in favor of lesser songs and even cover versions like "Oh! Susannah".
Clark's early success was never matched commercially as a solo artist. His first album was released the same time as his former band's "Younger Than Yesterday" and it sunk like a stone, despite the fact that it was arguably the better of the two. Recordings Clark made after shortly the album's release remained in the can (until now - four are included, all better than what the Byrds were doing at that time), but later that year Clark teamed up with Doug Dillard (of the Dillards, famous for their portrayal of the musically amazing but socially backward hillbilly family the Darlings on "The Andy Griffith Show") to make two amazing albums for A&M. These too, failed commercially. Two previously unreleased songs from those sessions are included here for the first time.
His career continued along this path - great, even groundbreaking albums, followed by dismal sales, record company and promotional hassles and periods of inactivity, depression and alcoholism, which eventually contributed to his very early death.
But don't let the sordid details get in the way of this music. Clark's voice (at the meeting point between pop, country and Dylan) feels like an old friend. The arrangements are often full of orchestration, which adds a panoramic grandeur without ever overtaking the essential calm beauty of the compositions. If you like the Byrds, Gram Parsons or Bob Dylan, but have never heard Gene Clark, congratulations, you're about to discover a connection between all three which equals their best qualities.
This is an excellent place to start enjoying Gene Clark. If you dig this material enough to continue searching out the rest of his work, there is still enough fine and rare material here to prevent this from becoming redundant. After this, I'd recommend the A&M UK issue of the two Dillard & Clark albums (plus three 45-only tracks) on one CD. Beyond that, "Echoes", which combines some Byrds' tracks with his entire debut album (and three rare tracks), "White Light" (possibly his best solo album) and "No Other" (slightly flawed but amazing, and his most ambitious work) are all great
No comments:
Post a Comment