Roadmaster- Gene Clark

I only had to play this album once to know I was in love with it, and that Gene, as someone else has stated, is truly the Roadmaster. This is, by far and away, the best of all of his solo works, and I think I may need to purchase at least two more copies to keep up with the degree of wear and tear I expose this disc to. I simply cannot stop playing it!

This is simply the most beautiful folk-country-rock album I've purchased in ages, and Gene's vocals are superlative on every track. Not only do we have a veritable Byrds reunion going on with "She's the Kind of Girl" and his remake of "One in a Hundred" from White Light, but we have a roster of impressive musicians such as Byron Berline, Rick Roberts, and Bernie Leadon joining him for a very strong collection of soul stirring, romantic songs that are enough to melt glaciers into a puddle of bubbling goo.

That winsome, tremolo-heavy voice full of longing is too friggin' appealing for yours truly and, sorry kids, but I think I have myself one huge jones going on here. Nobody can deny the commercial appeal of a great, underrated classic like "Full Circle Song" (Ask Dan Fogelberg who treated it very nicely.), but my personal favorite is "Here Tonight," which is pretty straight forward about his loathing of touring. "In a Misty Morning" and "Shooting Star" are some more of his beautiful, gentle poetry at spellbinding work. He proves he can have some cool, sexy, soulful fun on the title track, but what really gets me, surprisingly enough? Beautifully passionate covers of the Flatt and Scruggs song "Rough and Rocky" and his gorgeous gospel reading of "I Don't Really Want to Know."

I know some of you think No Other is God's ultimate gift to the Gene Clark arsenal, but I don't happen to agree. As far as I'm concerned, Roadmaster is the quintessential best of the man, and anything less than a 4-star rating is pure folly. Trust me, you want this album, and you want to listen to it FREQUENTLY. I am passionate about it and, if you give it a listen, you will be too.