Showing posts with label Gene Clark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gene Clark. Show all posts

Coming Up: "You Showed Me - The Songs Of Gene Clark" From Ace Records


Out April 1. Available for pre-order now from Amazon or Import CDs

Details:

Gene Clark was one of the last century’s most gifted songwriters. These eclectic interpretations of songs drawn from his time with the Byrds through to his solo masterpiece “No Other” provide the irrefutable proof.

Quite incredibly, it’s only in more recent years that Gene has risen above cult status to be hailed as one of the last century’s greatest voices, charismatic performers and supernaturally talented songwriters. That could easily be down to the complex mass of paradoxes and human weaknesses that battled inside him. As Byrds biographer Johnny Rogan put it, “For every celebrated moment of his musical life, there were comparable moments of opportunities lost and projects abandoned or unrealised.”

From his earliest composing attempts, there was always more to Gene’s songs than his contemporaries’: deceptively complex arrangements, unusual melodic turns and subtly woven twists carrying a secret, deeper resonance that reached its cosmic apogee on 1974’s “No Other”. He blazed trails for folk-rock, psychedelic/baroque pop and was first to pioneer alternative country and Americana. That he was also a masterful songwriter is why we’re here today, celebrating just some of these masterclasses in translating universal emotions or extraordinary observations into living, breathing music: like early champion Dylan, timeless flights asking to be boarded by other artists.

As with our recent collections spotlighting the songs of Leon Russell and Lou Reed, this latest release in our Songwriters series is compiled by Mick Patrick and packaged with a bumper booklet featuring copious notes by Kris Needs.

Track list:

  1. You Showed Me - Echo in the Canyon
  2. With Jakob Dylan & Cat Power
  3. Feel a Whole Lot Better - Juice Newton
  4. I Knew I'd Want You - Thin White Rope
  5. She Don't Care About Time - Flamin' Groovies
  6. Eight Miles High - Roxy Music
  7. Till Today - the Rose Garden
  8. Echoes - Starry Eyed & Laughing
  9. Elevator Operator - Velvet Crush
  10. I Found You - the Thyme
  11. So You Say You Lost Your Baby -
  12. Death in Vegas Featuring Paul Weller
  13. Tried So Hard - the Flying Burrito Bros
  14. In the Plan - New Grass Revival
  15. Train Leaves Here This Morning - Kai Clark
  16. He Darked the Sun - Linda Ronstadt
  17. Kansas City Southern - Pure Prairie League
  18. Polly - Iain Matthews
  19. Why Not Your Baby - the Mother Hips
  20. Full Circle - Byrds
  21. Silver Raven - the Baird Sisters
  22. Some Misunderstanding - Soulsavers Featuring Mark Lanegan
  23. Strength of Strings - This Mortal Coil

Coming Up: Gene Clark "No Other: Deluxe Edition"

 
Finally, a reissue of this long-out-of-print classic by the former Byrds lead vocalist. Looks like it's done right, too.

Out Nov. 8. Order from Amazon now.

Details:
Gene Clark’s 1974 masterpiece gets the reappraisal it’s long overdue. On the eve of what would have been American singer-songwriter and Byrds founding member Gene Clark’s 75th birthday comes the reissue of one of his finest works, No Other.
Released in 1974 on Asylum Records, a year after the Byrds' short- lived reunion, Gene reached for the stars with No Other; a psychedelic rock, folk, country and soul record that famously cost a small fortune to make.
Although received warmly by critics, it flopped and was soon deleted, a failure Gene never came to terms with.
However, as The New York Times wrote around the record’s 40th anniversary in 2014, “hindsight has burnished No Other, as it has redeemed other albums that went on to be reconstructed as rock repertory, like Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers and Lou Reed’s Berlin,” with the album now being increasingly recognized as one of the greatest of its time, if not all time.
45 years on and recently remastered at Abbey Road, 4AD are giving No Other the reappraisal it deserves. The original eight track album is being released on both CD and LP, while a limited run double CD edition in a hardbound book cover is also coming which includes a bonus disc of alternate studio versions of each track plus a recording of “Train Leaves Here This Morning” (an Eagles hit in 1972, written by Gene and Eagles founding member Bernie Leadon).
Excitingly, the deluxe box set edition fans have been waiting decades for has also been lovingly curated. An extremely limited item, the box contains the LP, three SACDs (the original album in an authentic Japanese vinyl replica sleeve plus two more discs of session mixes), an exclusive 7”, a comprehensive Blu-Ray disc which includes HD versions of all tracks, a stunning 5.1 surround mix of the album, the original 1974 vinyl master and an exclusive documentary by Paul Kendall (the director responsible for the acclaimed 2013 film, The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Gene Clark), and a hardbound 80 page book which features essays, extensive liner notes and previously unseen photos.
“One of the greatest albums ever made. Initially celebrated for its obscurity, No Other is now celebrated for its magnificence. It was in every way a magnum opus: epic, sprawling, poetic, choral, rococo.” -The Guardian UK