The late L.A. songwriter Gene Clark cofounded the Byrds and wrote some of their most enduring songs, including “Eight Miles High” and “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better.” He never became a household name like some of his compadres, but as this loving, expansive new reissue of Clark’s 1974 country-rock album attests, he was a master songwriter who at the peak of his powers created what’s now considered a classic of the genre.
Clark, who migrated to L.A. from rural Missouri in the early 1960s, wrote “No Other” after concluding a brief 1972 stint with a reunited Byrds. With advance money from David Geffen’s Asylum Records, Clark and his then-wife moved to Northern California. On a ranch overlooking the Pacific, he spent a meditative year looking out at the sea and writing the songs that became “No Other.”
Clark rightly considered it his masterwork, and decades later, this reissue has reaffirmed his belief. A seamless blend of American music — twangy guitars, a rhythm section that taps out dynamic funk and soul patterns, an understated mix of piano, synth and keyboards and lots of backing singers — it connects genres and movements with ease.None of that mattered when the record came out. Asylum didn’t promote it, critics were so-so and the album flopped, peaking at No.