No Other - Gene Clark

However, I think it's great - well worth the cash and in my opinion considerably better than Gene's earlier effort "White Light".

Nick - that lost classic book "Unknown pleasures" was a belter wasn't it? I bought quite a few great records from that one.

I grew to love the lp during a time when I was in the habit of drinking heavily on a Friday night then taking a 6 hour train journey to the football on the Saturday morning. My tape of this (and, on the other side, the fabulous "Phases and Stages" by Willie Nelson) was my fave at the time and so "No Other" is inseparable from dragging through Wigan and Warrington and Crewe and so on, half asleep and wholly hungover. It has that atmosphere of ruin about it.

I hope the expanded version has selections from "The Kindling Collection" by Gene Parsons on it, like my tape had.

Also: KEEF! Hello!

White Light

I haven't heard of this. I've got Roadrunner, which is kind of nice in a ho hum way and has a nice cover. Meant to buy 'Gene Clark with the Godsin Brothers', which is supposed to be good.

Led Zep: Presence
Chic: can't remember
Dexy's: Don't stand me down
Orange Juice: You can't hide your love forever

Can't remember the others. The Chic review contains my favourite piece of rock journalism ever where he goes at the end "I love Chic, I f***ing love Chic".

I seem to recall that review of "The Visitors" pulling the Pitchfork trick of writing about pop music as if it was alternative rock in order to get the alternative rock fans interested.

"Roadrunner": good one, heh. Have any of you heard "So Rebellious A Bunny"? Someone who was in a psychobilly group in the 1980s was recommending it to me the other week.

I don't get the Bunny joke. Maybe it's not a joke.

Is the Gosdin Bros. one any good?

Thanks for reminding me. I ended up buying it because of that write up, despite my doubts about buying an album by someone called 'Todd Rundgren'. The CD skipped so I took it back to the 2nd hand shop I bought it in and exchanged it for 'Something/Anything'. I only wish I had got something/anything else.

I too bought "No Other" on CD (and some others - Todd, Curtis M.) on the strength of that book. Some days I love it, others I wonder why I loved it last time. I must say tho' that I was listening to the bonus tracks in HMV on a listening post earlier this week and getting excited all over again. I think I may need to trade in my old copy for the new edition.

Tim you are funny the way you like 80s jangle but not 60s Byrds jangle. I respect that a lot.

Re. Vangelis keyboard break in "Lady of the North" -- that's what's so great! It's 1974! Vangelis was just learning how to grow his mustache back then!

I like N on 60s / 80s.

The booklet thing is mysterious to me. My key booklet was Reynolds' Smiths. I don't get Ewing's post - is it a parody?

I think N is kind of wrong about Lost Classics. I don't know More Specials or Don't Stand Me Down. And Tim H possibly doesn't know Don't Get Weird On Me Babe.

So - there are many knowledges. I have said before what may or may not be true: there is no consensus, at least not one that everyone belongs to.

This book(let) sounds great, as does the idea of ten years ago.

I read about this record in The Guinness Book of Rock'n'Roll Obscurities a few years ago, which paid special attention to his velevt loons on the back cover, and have been waiting to hear it ever since, hence my disappointment. I bought the White Light AKA Gene Clark reissue a few months ago and didn't listen to it much, but I listened to it the other day and thought it was great, which restored my faith in excessive record buying. Perhaps No Other will grow on me too. This thread will certainly help me enjoy the album, because every time I hear I will think of you lot fingering your free booklet ten years ago. But not even that will help me enjoy the line, "we all need a fix at times like this".

I don't know whether it's a coincidence or not, but I was a bit disappointed by Don't Stand Me Down too, although I thought the sleevenotes were great. What did Hungry Beat say? I like that song where he witters on about going for a walk with his girlfriend and the 'I Love You' one. I think I'll eventually like all of it. I like More Specials.

Thank you for your contributions.

record i bought thx to book: Presence
records in book i meant to get but still haven't: soft boys, beefheart

I have only ever wanted to re-listen to 2 songs, 'Strength of Strings' & 'Some Misunderstanding' and those not very often at that.

I think I must be some kind of pervert - when I bought a CD of The Byrds 'Untitled' I must have played the live bits about 15 times in a row.

Peter, maybe you could enjoy the fact that Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks is on it?

(That's a made-up name, isn't it?)

I think anyway - it was 10 years ago. Someone who's still got the book can perhaps correct me.

"Mooro"! Good to hear from you... Could you recommend me a good Allman Brothers' LP - I bought one a while back (Brothers and sisters) and I thought it was a bit rubbish.

car crash - everyone's in DEEP PAIN for one reason or another - you can hear it in the music, maaan

(writer = mat snow? or matt black, summat like that.)

Keith: 'Brothers & Sisters' is pooh because both Duane & Berry had died in road accidents by then, thus robbing the band of the majority of its talent. (Sadly I never got to see them until this period.) I would go for 1971's 'Live At The Fillmore East' of which I have 3 versions, 1992's CD issue 'The Fillmore Concerts' collecting up tracks issued on other albums to clock in a few seconds short of a mighty 2 and a quarter hours of twin howling Les Paul/twin drummer bliss. The tones Duane extracts from his guitar during the nearly 34 minutes jam (OK, there's a lot of bollocks drum solo) on Donovan's 'There Is A Mountain' are sublime.

Well for me it was one of the first record's I got where I learned to stop being an uptight jerk and love the 80's (again)

There's a terrific midprice A+M CD that collects the two Dillard and Clark albs on one CD - the first D+C rec, 'Fantastic Expedition', is in particular a v. superfine country-rock rec, and contains my single fave Gene Clark song, "Why Not Your Baby", a stone classic

No Other did improve a bit on second listen.

that's the dealbreaker right there

Apparently Gene did enough songs for a 2-lp set. Have they been wiped??

Don't think they ever made it to the recording stage.

Does Gene only seem to be better than Gram Parsons because of Parsons fatigue brought on by his over-adoring fans? Or is he actually better? Will Gene fans eventually make us tire of him too?

There was that great quote during the early days of the Byrds, someone complaining that Clark hadn't written a song for while, when they still depended on him, and Crosby says something like "oh don't worry, that girl he's seeing will split and he'll write something."

(PS / Nothing against O.Nate - I've met him, he's fine.)

Beacause of this thread, No Other is one of my fave records. But I'm wondering if the sound on the reissue w/bonus jams is that much better than the previous CD reissue.

whoah - this record!

I am totally repping for "From a Silver Phial" on my show tonight. What a chorus!

hella spare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3kb-FB_08M

whoah

rick danko on bass! also check the eight miles high from that same performance (though the tape is glitched to fuck). there's a very nice solo version of silver raven from the 1978 mcguinn, clark and hillan tour of nz/australia performed in wellington up on youtube as well.

^hillman, too.

No Other is the one album which can truly be described as Cosmic American Music.

Gene Clark was the unsung genius of American music and this masterpiece proves it.

No Other is one of my Desert Island albums, alongside
A Storm in Heaven (The Verve)
Spirit of Eden (Talk Talk)
Lazer Guided Melodies (Spiritualized)

: /

No Other is the 1974 album by Gene Clark, a founding member of the the Byrds. At the time of its release, it was viewed as a critical and commercial failure, but over time, it's become a cult favorite. Next month, that album will be celebrated on a brief tour where it'll be performed note-for-note by a supergroup featuring Beach House, plus members of Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, the Walkmen, and more.

The band will include Beach House's Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally. Lead vocal duties will be handled by Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold, Grizzly Bear's Daniel Rossen, the Walkmen's Hamilton Leithauser, Iain Matthews of Plainsong/Fairport Convention, and Legrand. The rest of the band features Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner, plus members of Lower Dens, Cass McCombs' band, Celebration, and Mt. Royal.

i love how fragile (yet strong) Clark's voice sounds.
like he is about to cry

I can hear jenn wasner do these songs. Dont't know if I'd want to hear the rest of them try, though.

Iain Matthews has some pretty great Clark covers scattered across his discography.
He's become one of my all-time favorite singers in a short time. This announcement did not interest me at all until I saw his name mentioned.

yeah he's the only name in there that I could see doing the songs justice

yeahhh, iain's "spanish guitar" is so nice. he's got a new album coming out next year, which is kinda exciting, he deserves a little more love these days.

and whatevers, if these indie rockers wanna play Gene Clark songs, go for it!

What I wanna know is, when is the indie rock Roadmaster tribute show?

i appreciate Beach House enough to not screw things up

"I explain to a lot of people that "No Other" is
not the complete "No Other" album on that record. It was originally a
thirteen-track album, but we weren't able to do a double-record and so the
rest of the songs were left unfinished. Because of the length of the cuts
we couldn't include them."

I WANT TO HEAR THOSE 5 UNFINISHED TRACKS!
were they released anywhere?

(taken from an interview with Clark: http://geneclark.com/echoesinter.html)

For years rumors circulated that only half of an intended double album had been recorded, with Geffen baulking at the excessive cost and eventually pulling out. This was corroborated by Clark in a 1976 interview. According to Kaye in Mr. Tambourine Man, 13 or 14 songs had been demoed with acoustic guitar at early sessions but only nine were recorded with a full band. "Train Leaves Here This Morning", a rerecording of a song first released on The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark, was omitted from the final album.

that recording of "train leaves here this morning" was among the bonus tracks on the 2003 reissue.

thanks

maybe he eventually recorded them fot Two Sides?!

from the tribute show, good cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgClfS-zz0Y

documentary on bbc4 tonight

loving this record lately. silver raven is so incredible.

record is definitely next level, lyrics go into some weird places

yeah this has become one of my favourites

love Clarke's weirdo spiritual parable lyrics

yeah! they are great. i never heard that indie rock superstar No Other cover band from a little while back, but it was hard for me to imagine anyone other than Clark really pulling off those lyrics.

seems to be kind of unique to this album too - not that he was a bad lyricist before, just his focus feels like it was shifted

i do think that at his best, clark was one of the best dylan disciples, one of the few who actually got what dylan was up to in the mid 60s and was able to build his own thing out of it.

seems like he had an expectation of what he should write w/ the byrds and then suddenly he figured he could do whatever

Some Misunderstanding is one of my alltime favorite songs

Three words:
Strength of Strings

my fave song and lyrics is From a Silver Phial. Not just on No Other, maybe my favorite Gene Clark song.

A handful of "lost classics" turn out to be as great as this one did.

I actually don't understand why Asylum was so dissatisfied - the title song and "Strength of Strings" would have sounded great on FM radio, country rock and southern rock were a thing, and in an era where "Wildfire" could be a big hit, "Silver Raven" wasn't all that uncommercial either. Taste issue-wise we do have a label that hosts Joni Mitchell, but they also host The Eagles.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/gene-clarks-no-other-getting-deluxe-reissue-via-4ad-stream-2-tracks/

This and deluxe "1999" in one year! Holy smokes.

idk extras on this don't look particularly appealing tbh

on first listen...pretty appealing to me. Refuse from a Silver Phial is maybe my favorite song ever and this version is different enough to be interested. Not just some demo.

I'll take the box

I've had some tracks that were labeled "demos" for years and they're my favorite versions of the songs. They really just sound like less bloated alternate takes.

the alt "silver raven" is pretty cool as well

If it's worth releasing, then it shouldn't be on a flexi (and Some Misunderstanding is a song I love very much, so I'm glad to hear alt takes). Gimmickry.

I'm mostly curious about the 80-page book tbh but looks like that's only available with the $140 deluxe box, dunno if I'm $140 worth of curious for all those alt versions

those wah-wuh-wuh-wah-wuh-wuh-danddangdangdangdangdangdangdang guitars

5.1 is a draw for me, but ... $140?!? Gah.

idk extras on this don't look particularly appealing tbh

― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:27 (two days ago) link

FYI this was one of the projects whos masters were apparently burnt up on the UMG backlot

Is it? Universal owns most of the prior Clark (and Dillard & Clark) albums. This one was with Warner Music, though perhaps it's changed hands? The version on Spotify is credited to 'No Other Records ©1974'.

It would seem to be challenging to mix a record for surround sound with no multitracks.

can’t stop listening to this

FYI this was one of the projects whos masters were apparently burnt up on the UMG backlot

We all need a fix
At a time like this

Wonder if the packaging will get the full-on Vaughan Oliver treatment.

Did anybody pick up the deluxe box set?

Yes. I haven’t opened it yet but two metallic foil printed flexis if the alternate versions came in the package as well.

Amazon just notified me that my order is being delayed, with no shipment date in site. What's up with that?

I ended up having to order from Amazon Canada--sold out on the 4AD website and was $300 US on Amazon US! Shipped, but not due to arrive for a couple weeks...

I am holding out for a standalone Blu-Ray release. One of the mix engineers on QQ said he hopes it happens as well.

On the title track when that crystal meth bass first comes in and slides down the neck, it’s pure molasses

the new remaster of this is excellent, record's never sounded better

(now pls go back and do this to white light which has a godawful remaster)

the drumming on this album especially on the title track deserves its own thread

the remaster does sound realllllly good. what a great, weird record.

"Strength of Strings" was my first exposure to Clark, on a mixtape that also had my first tastes of Can, Autechre, Julian Cope, Dusty Springfield, Laika, Pentangle, A.R. Kane and Nick Drake, plus great Diana Ross and T. Rex deep cuts. So I really associate that song and later that album with having my mind blown repeatedly.

I first learned of him thru the (inferior) This Mortal Coil cover. those records were my gateway to a ton of great stuff.

The remaster makes a huge difference, way more than I thought.

Fuck me this album. I'd never heard of it until I bought it last week. Everything told me classic. And I can't get over how great it is. It's like an acid trip of crescendo after crescendo.

I bought the 2-CD version. I'm so smitten I'm considering getting the deluxe box, but I'll probably sober up in a week.

what an album

This is so, so great. I'd never heard any of it until a few weeks ago when I picked up the 2xCD reissue, this is fantastic!

I just got the deluxe box, being such a fan I had to have all the sessions plus the book and dvd. The book is great but the film is a bit slight. Not a great deal of actual Gene footage, just some radio interview quotes. Apparently Gene went after Geffen after the latter refused to promote the album, and had to be physically restrained. Pretty much did his career in, sadly enough. (For some reason the altercation is glossed over in the doc.) The two records Gene made with Doug Dillard are the only ones that really come close to this in his solo repertoire, for me at least.

I meant to say the Dillard & Clark album plus the one with the Gosdin Brothers. Though White Light is up there too.

Great record, not sure how well known it was before it got reissued on cd about 20 years ago. But has been in print in some form since then, thought even quite widely distributed. Gave it to my brother's girlfriend about 3 years ago in the old cd version.

Think I might just need to get the 2cd version of this release though.

Actually looks like Edsel had a vinyl version out in the mid 80s. THink it may have been reviewed in Strange tHings Are Happening if i remember right.
& cd version was 17 years ago. Collectors Choice put it out on a pretty quiet sounding cd and were followed shortly after by a louder mastered one with some bonus tracks on another label

4 Men With Beards had a vinyl release out -- i'm sure it was atrocious.

I've had a German label CD of this since the early-90's. It isn't bad but the new remastered thing sounds so much better.

As someone pointed out upthread the cover version by This Mortal Coil first (re?)alerted people to the existence of this album (in the UK, at least), and that was 1986. The Edsel reissue was 1989. I got it on vinyl - I think it was an original, I can't check because my vinyl's all in storage - but I can't remember what year that was.

yeah the TMC cover seems pivotal in this album's journey to cult-classic status. I came across this record maybe a dozen years or so ago and resulted in a deep country-rock/Gene Clark dive for me, probably thx to ilx.

And those indie fans who weren't necessarily aware of TMC might have been turned onto No Other several years later vis a vis David Bennun's review in the Unknown Pleasures paperback (mentioned upthread) that came with a copy of Melody Maker in 1995 (a collection of "lost classics" reviews by the MM writers at the time), and/or the "Gene Clark" song that Teenage Fanclub had on their Thirteen album, a couple years prior in '93.

Lol what a funny old hippie coot. Isengard called......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hABlMAmIVA0

best album of all time

B-b-but is it as good as Kind of Blue?

yes

Awesome.

i never knew this existed. indie all-star band with members of beach house, grizzly bear, the dude from fleet foxes and the dude from walkmen briefly formed a gene clark cover band and played the album in full. they did a pretty good job!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaF3znVBWe8

this is indeed the best album of all time

I've been listening to it a lot recently. Feel like Teenage Fanclub's whole catalog flows out of the way he sings "reality" on "The True One."

and i firmly believe vangelis ripped the chariots of fire theme from one piano lick in “lady of the north”

"Lady of the North" has one of the best song/album endings I can think of. Perfection.

I adore this record but stand by my assertion (that I’d completely forgotten I’d made) in the review I did for Stylus in 2003 that it doesn’t really include his best compositions.

Clark’s career is a complete fucking travesty. I just posted on another thread about how jazz pianist Keith Jarrett’s stroke was sad but that he’d recorded and released every whim for a single label over 50 years. Meanwhile, Gene Clark has, like, two proper records, one of which was released on an “artist’s label,” forced to be cut down to a single album and not promoted.

I’d have gone after Geffen too.

Echoes/W Gosdin Bros is pretty much a proper album, No Other and White Light are as well. Two Sides to Every Story and I'd argue the Dillard and Clark albums should also count.

"Roadmaster" is not a proper album but is great.

Wikipedia says the rumour about No Other originally being a double album has been debunked.

My takeaway from the John Einarson biography of Clark was that, when he had to struggle and persevere, he would discipline himself and take care of both his health and his music. It was when he had success that both spiralled out of control. The book basically says that the sudden influx of royalties from Tom Petty's cover of I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better killed him.

Love this album and bought the big box set, but got impatient waiting for it to arrive and so downloaded all the tracks, so never opened it. Feels a little silly...

it's def 'no other' season

had this and 'I want to see the bright lights tonight' on repeat lately

More than half of Clark's solo discography is collaborations, duets and shared billings. I have no doubt that Clark himself was responsible for some of that -- as noted, that Einarson biography suggests he really couldn't handle success, so it's probably not a coincidence that his releases, for various reasons, didn't really put him out front. But it's still a total bummer that his talent was hidden, buried or subjugated on so many of his releases.

I've probably made this comparison elsewhere on ILM, but here's an example of what he was writing:

https://youtu.be/TGZwfdm-1N0

And here's what actually came out:

https://youtu.be/yMg4exR2ypU

Wow, never heard that McGuinn, Clark & Hillman stuff. Thats a pretty stunning side by side comparison.

As well as collaborators watering down songs that did get released, it's also bewildering how many good songs he apparently just discarded. The Gene Clark Sings For You album of late 60s demos probably was not releasable at the time, but it's strange that he just walked away from those songs (presumably because he'd written a new batch), never to return to them. Maybe it's better than having 1979 disco versions of those songs, though.

You can slather Gene in as much disco yacht rock pop vibes as you want but he still shines through

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igqn8iSH4lc

I read a volume (and a half) of those giant Byrds books but I can't remember...why not bill McGuinn Clark & Hillman as The Byrds?

The late 70s were a time when many "legacy" acts wanted to keep an arm's length from their past, especially if their popularity had dwindled since 1966. "We're not doing that anymore, we're doing this!" (cue funky guitars)

Also, though McGuinn owned the name, they might not have wanted to antagonize Crosby.

I doubt any of them had any qualms about antagonizing David Crosby.

Crosby was the only one who had been on any kind of a hit record in the previous five years, at least. They may have wanted to save the Byrds brand for a "complete" reunion.

Alternately, the 1973 reunion was such a critical and commercial washout that no-one thought that calling a new project "The Byrds" was any kind of enticement for record buyers.

Not to mention McGuinn made plenty of post-original lineup Byrds albums that were all commercial failures. They may have simply viewed the name as toxic to success.

The real missed opportunity was for the 1990 box – all five original members were still alive but they only got Mcguinn, Hillman and Crosby to record new stuff – IIRC bc no one wanted to deal with Gene or Mike.

You can slather Gene in as much disco yacht rock pop vibes as you want but he still shines through

Did the box set situation have something to do with Clark and/or Clarke touring and billing themselves as The Byrds at certain shows?

This is often the best album in the world ever. I've bought a bunch of other Gene albums since getting to know this one. His other stuff is great, but this is an off the scale mind blowing amazing album.