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To say that Gene Clark was The Byrds would be a disservice to a talented group with four strong songwriters. That said, Clark was the heart of The Byrds; his vulnerable songs recall John Lennon and Bob Dylan at their best while remaining uniquely his own. This terrific collection put together by Sid Griffin features key album tracks recorded with The Byrds, solo and with various collaborators over the years. Featuring a number of previously rare or unreleased tracks, "Flying High" may not be the ultimate Gene Clark anthology (it would take more than these two generous discs to do him justice), it's a great collection nonetheless.
Opening with "You Showed Me" (which Clark co-wrote and ultimately was covered by The Turtles), the CD moves sequentially through Clark's career with The Byrds (he appeared on three albums but departed during the recording of the band's third)moving through a handful of the band's classic Clark penned tracks. We get three previously unreleased recordings "Los Angeles", "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" and "That's Alright By Me". Moving into the groundbreaking country rock album that Clark recorded and released at the same time as The Byrds (now consisting of McGuinn, Hillman and Clarke)that Clark recorded as part of Dillard & Clark. We get a number of tracks from their debut and follow up album plus one previously unreleased track they recorded before their split. The first disc concludes with the single Clark recorded for A&M "One in a Hundred" and "She's the Kind of Girl" which ended up on "Roadmaster". These two are rare alternate mixes.
Disc two opens with key tracks from Clark's great album "White Light" including two tracks that appeared on the 2002 reissue as bonus tracks. From there we move to "The American Dreamer" a rare track recorded for Dennis Hopper's film and tracks from both the unfinished "Roadmaster" and the baroque-country-rock of "No Other". Three tracks from the MIA and excellent "Two Sides to Every Story" (which will hopefully see the lightof day on CD), a single track from Clark's album with Carla Olson and a single track recorded for the "True Voices" album. Finally, a bold re-recording of "Mr. Tambourine Man" featuring the verses cut for The Byrds' classic recording. The only material MIA that really matters are the tracks Clark recorded for "The Byrds" album for Asylum Records. While that album was a disappointment, Clark's tracks (including his remake of Neil Young's "Cowgirl in the Sand") were highlights that briefly revived his career.
The 16 page booklet features notes by Sid Griffin and a brief note by Chris Hillman. There's quite a few pictures from throughout Clark's career and a discography of the material this anthology was pulled from. A fine tribute to a great singer/songwriter who got lost midflight, "Flying High" redresses some of those wrongs.
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.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Wonderful music from a forgotten Byrd, December 29, 2003
Reviewer: A music fan The music on these two discs make one wonder why Gene Clark wasn't a solo star. He tasted solo stardom with the Byrds, but success on his own eluded him. On song after song, some previously unreleased, Clark mixes rock, folk, country, and even bluegrass into a brand of his own. This set covers his entire career, which can be looked at in its totality, unfortuately. From "Set You Free This Time" to his cover of Phil Ochs "Changes", this is music performed with conviction. One note though, Clark did not write "The French Girl." It was written by Sylvia Fricker and Ian Tyson. Always give credit where it is due and that's a wonderful tune. My hope is that more listeners will discover the riches that Clark's recordings have in abundance.
He wasn't influential in the popular way ; and the only problem with this 'best of' is the difficulty of finding the two albums 'No Other' and 'White Light' to flesh out the best.My favourite is 'No Other' - and the standout missing track from this compilation is 'Silver Phial'.Gene deserves a better tribute than this - the two 'lost' albums didn't depend on Byrds/Dylan recollections.
I've been a hard core Byrds freak for over 30 years and have always enjoyed Gene's music. However, he broke from the group so early that I lost track of him, instead focusing on the magic 12 string Rickenbacker and on Gram Parsons. This album (as well as Roadmaster) confirms that Clark was the genius all along. EVERYTHING on this album is brilliant - it's hardly worth singling anything out in particular. My God, what a gift he had and how great is our loss.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Please buy this album, August 3, 2001
Reviewer: A music fan This is not some psycho review lamenting a lost artist. Just praising the virtues of a truly gifted songwriter. I bought this CD nearly four years ago and it continues to work its way back into my regular rotation. Gene Clark was an extremely gifted song writer who seemed to muck up a successful career over and over again. Thankfully, this album touches on his greatness. This album made me search out Byrds albums to find his other songs, which leads to a slight complaint. Some great Gene Clark songs on Turn, Turn, Turn! which I think should have been included, instead of the not-so-good remake of Mr. Tambourine Man. Other than that, I can't recommend this album enough. Please, buy it. If you are a fan of Gram Parsons, jump on board and listen to the originator of country rock.
American Dreamer..., April 21, 2005
A good collection but....., March 14, 2002
