GENE CLARK
Here Tonight | The White Light Demos
Omnivore Recordings

www.omnivorerecordings.com
 

Heralded in the mid-1960s as America’s Beatles, the Byrds – co-founded by Clark – struck pay-dirt right out-of-the-gate with their ringing version of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.” That success was followed by a succession of Top-40, folk-rocking hit singles, many composed by the Tipton, Missouri-born, ex-New Christy Minstrel. But Gene was never much interested in being a pop star, so he departed the Byrds (for the second time) in 1966 and teamed up with bluegrass banjo-playing Doug Dillard to record The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard and Clark for the upstart A&M label. They toured in support of that project briefly, and Gene followed with a pair of very influential (but poor selling) country-rock albums that were studded with more of Clark’s well-crafted songs. Retreating from the limelight once again in early 1970, Clark left Los Angeles for a rural outpost in Little River, California, a seaside community near Mendocino, and released a string of solo albums filled with deeply personal, ruminative compositions, plaintively sung above resolutely sparse, but always spot-on instrumentation. White Light, issued on A&M, was the first of these solo projects and leans heavily in a folk direction, with Clark playing acoustic guitar framed by stripped-down accompaniment from pianist Ben Sidran and bass player Chris Etheridge, among others. All twelve of the previously unissued titles compiled here though are solo, guitar and harmonica-only fortified demos that were recorded in Clark’s Mendocino cabin. These include six that appeared in final form on White Light as well as six that didn’t make the cut. Clark is at his finest with his one-of-a-kind, Nick Drake-esque love songs (“Where My Love Lies Asleep,” “Here Tonight” and “Because Of You”) but also fascinates with titles such as the Dylan-influenced title song, a panoramic, dream-like “For A Spanish Guitar,” the talking blues “Please Mr. Freud” (again, with a nod to Bob), the surrealistic plea “Jimmy Christ” and a turning-of-the-seasons themed “Winter In.” Timeless stuff.

— Gary von Tersch