[.ca] No Other

From Amazon.co.uk:
No Other was first released in 1974, and has acquired mythic status since. This is due to a number of factors. Foremost was its unavailability--vinyl copies were about as easy to come by as Holy Grails, and so No Other has tended to circulate on homemade cassettes. Then, of course, there was the legendary eccentricity of its creator, Gene Clark, who founded one of the most influential groups of all time, the Byrds, wrote several of their best songs ("Feel a Whole Lot Better", "Here Without You"), and then quit because, ironically enough, he couldn't stand flying (Clark died in 1991). The good news is that No Other sounds just as marvellous when heard on a CD that anyone can buy in a shop. It is an immensely, almost ostentatiously, ambitious work, complete with choirs and orchestras the sort of aggrandising, bombastic accoutrements that were favoured by many Californian musicians in the 1970s, for reasons that may not have been unrelated to the drifts of cocaine everyone was having for breakfast. However, the songs on No Other survive--indeed, flourish--beneath the mountainous arrangements because they're anchored to Clark's essential humility: the opening track recognises that "Man is life's greatest fool". The songs on No Other weave elements of funk and soul in with Clark's country-rock leanings with astonishing success "Strength of Strings" could have been recorded by Isaac Hayes. Gram Parsons, who for a while took Clark's place in the Byrds, was fond of saying that his dream was to create what he called a Cosmic American Music, an overarching synthesis of all America's popular forms. On No Other, Clark did it. --Andrew Mueller

When I first heard it I wept:
Well, there are two tribes in regard to this recording, and I'm afraid I'm in the enemy camp. Gene Clark had a voice of deep and irresistible melancholy, and wrote heartbreaking (though lyrically opaque and often downright meaningless) songs to suit. But be warned: none of them are here. After his fine self-titled album for A & M failed to sell, he lost his way forever. That album (now available on CD at last, though the extra tracks add nothing) is spare, concentrated and electrifying. This one is over-produced, over-wrought and sadly misconceived. Right down to the shots of Gene in drag ... one look at that sleeve and you knew something had gone terribly wrong. Buy the first two Byrds albums (or if you buy only one, make it "Turn Turn Turn", for Gene's apotheosis, "Set You Free This Time"). Or buy "Gene Clark", mentioned above. Or "Echoes", a good collection of his early work. All of these leave "No Other" for dead. It should never have been reissued.

This Byrd Never Flew Higher:
Maybe it was the copious amounts of drugs consumed during recording, maybe it was the endless budget, maybe the influence of the producer Thomas Jefferson "Madman" Kaye, or maybe just the enormity of the talent packed between the grooves, but No Other is truly Gene Clark's masterpiece. In it, he is mystical, beautiful, spiritual, moving, funny, dramatic, tuneful, spare, overwrought (I could go on, but that's just the first song!) Spare further reading and considering whether you should purchase or not, this is a must-have for any true music fan, anyone open to the flights of boundless and visionary risk-taking in music that seems to have gone the way of bell-bottoms, mood rings and, er, Gene Clark.

No Other:
If you're a Byrds or Dillard & Clark fan, you already have this. For the the merely curious, this is Clark's ASTRAL WEEKS, only nobody noticed. All the Psychedelic Folk & Country influences he pioneered with & after The Byrds, are thrown into a lavish sea of decadent over production. The resulting sound is like "no other". It also proved to be the final nail in what was becoming a remarkably trend setting career. In other words, it was a glorious flop. It's the same old story, Gene Clark was simply way ahead of his own time. "Greatest Fool" is a terrific opener & lines like "mankind is Life's greatest fool" are about as jolly as he gets. The haunting "Silver Raven" went on to become his signature tune. Cryptic lyrics & 3 simple chords are brought to harrowing proportions. "Strength Of Strings" is an underground classic thanks to the 80's Art Rock collective, This Mortal Coil. They did a faithful cover, but the original blows it away. Like Neil Young's "Cowgirl In The Sand" this stunner is as ethereal as it is epic. "Silver Phial" is a beguiling peice of work & ultimately heartbreaking. Beneath their lush exteriors, "A True One" & "Lady Of The North" are essentially good old fashioned Country weepers laced with a kind of psychedelic meloncholy. Today, some of the production might seem a bit dated, but put in the context of it's time, it remains a breathtaking piece of work. Totally in a class all it's own. It ranks up there with other gems that have fallen through the cracks. Namely, Roy Harper's STORMCOCK & Skip Spences' OAR. I'm so glad Collector's Choice reissued it. Hopefully this is a sign that some of his subsequent work like TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY won't be left behind.

A classic lost album.:
No Other is one of those sadly classic albums that have become lost & warrant rediscovery- thus it ranks a place among releases such as Third/Sister Lovers, Pacific Ocean Blue, Don't Stand Me Down, Dust & Beyond the Sun. This Collector's Choice Music edition is most welcome, as No Other has been deleted for sometime (like LPs such as Star Sailor & Time Fades Away). Three of the tracks- Silver Raven, True One & Lady of the North were on the brilliant Flying High-compilation of Clark's work- but the album has to be heard in its entirety to be appreciated (the sleevnotes reveal Clark's original plan to make a 13-track double album- if only! Though sometimes less is more, something that Steve Stills should have learned on Manassas). Life's Greatest Fool is a great opening track, advancing on the material of 1971's White Light (which had featured With Tomorrow & Dylan's fave Spanish Guitar)- the soulful backing vocals recall such classic 70s albums as Exile on Main Street & Greetings from LA. Silver Raven is dark acoustic wonder- perfectly pitched prior to the imaginative title track (which sounds like the best song Gram Parsons never wrote, with musical reference points such as In a Silent Way & There's a Riot Goin On). The centre of the album is Strength of Strings- a song I was only familiar with from the cover on This Mortal Coil's Filigree & Shadow. This is a mindblowing song that still leaves this listener reeling- imagine prime Love meets 461 Ocean Boulevard meets Michael Nesmith's Different Drum meets James Taylor's Fire & Rain and with the same degree of invention common to few- such as Tim Buckley and you're close...but really, such a great song can't be put into words. The rest of the album is as great- From a Silver Phial looking at the bleak side of the 60s dream & featuring ex-Byrd/Burrito Chris Hillman on mandolin; while Some Misunderstanding is an eight-minute joy- Clark railing at the meaning of life in the same manner that Van Morrison did on TB Sheets & Astral Weeks. The final two songs sumarise the album- The True One as great as anything off Return of the Grievous Angel, Clark sounding at peace with existence (despite the fact that No Other would flop & put his career in nosedive till his death in 1991- a few years later the NME would revere No Other as a lost classic...). Final track Lady of the North (co-written with Doug Dillard) is an absolute joy- sounding cinematic, like Scott Walker playing with the Burrito's- Clark's gorgeous folk-soul vocals literally melting around the sublime strings: a perfect end to a perfect album. Hopefully, in time, Gene Clark will become more appreciated- to these ears No Other should be up there in the endless myriad of Best Albums Lists we have been assaulted with since 1999. An album that deserves to be up there with the all-time greats: Blood on the Tracks, Astral Weeks, Pet Sounds, Sulk, Loveless, Dust etc. The cult of Clark should grow, it's not like you can produce music this wonderful and no one will listen, is it?

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