Now available: Clarkophile in Shindig! Magazine #34
GENE CLARK
GENE CLARK hit it big with The Byrds in 1965, left them a year later and spent the rest of his life trying to replicate their success. His post-Byrds career is rife with false starts, blown chances and commercial failures. Critics labelled him an underachiever.
TOM SANDFORD examines the period leading up to Two Sides To Every Story, Clark’s last album for a major label, and comes to a very different conclusion.
"Really thoughtful and wonderfully researched article."
Arranger | Composer | Conductor David Campbell,
worked with Paul McCartney, Gene Clark, Beck, The Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen, many others
"Great job."
Peter Oliva, bass player for the KC Southern Band and the Firebyrds
"A great piece of writing. Brought back a lot of good memories from my L.A. days."
Jim Fielder, bass player, Blood Sweat & Tears, the Mothers of Invention, Gene Clark (Two Sides To Every Story)
Comments
I asked Peter Oliva, from the KC Southern Band, about what songs from Two Sides were played live. He ran down the list of songs and the only ones they didn't play were Silent Crusade and, I think, Lonely Saturday. I will check what he said.
I sure wish all the Sings For You tracks would come out, but great to see Two Sides getting attention finally, even Firebyrd seemed to get better treatment (and I remember when nobody seemed to know that worthwhile release existed). I do wish they could get Blue Raven a bit free of the flute, the track needs that 'no flute' button Nico wanted for playing her Chelsea Girl LP!
My biggest fear is that she stuck them in the attic of the Stanley Street house (which her estate still owns to this day), and they burned in that fire that happened there not long ago. Oh, the horror!!
Only a very few insiders know the whereabouts of Gene's treasures. They're in the hands of private collectors, as far as I know.
I can't comment on what happened with Terri; I would only be speculating. It sounds like you know more about what happened with her than I.
As always, thanks for the comment.
By the way, I ordered a Sweetheart T-shirt thanks for that link! :^)
What is the length of your mp3 of Past My Door? The version posted on Facebook is about a minute shorter than the full-length version, which runs 4:24. For some reason, whoever posted it felt compelled to chop off the all-instrumental conclusion, which was a shame as it is both powerful and haunting.
Not sure you knew this, but it can be noted anyway that the version of 'That's Alright By Me' on Flying High is a completely different version from the one on SFY. These differences will be addressed in an upcoming post.
Re Gene Clark Group demos: When I spoke to Bill Rinehart, Joel Larson and Chip Douglas (on separate occasions) they all agreed that the demo session was premature, the results disappointing. They hadn't had time to gel as a unit, hadn't familiarized themselves with the material. Thing is, though, when I asked Joel if there's a chance that the material might have aged better than one would have guessed, he said it was certainly possible.
Let's remember that they would have been under extraordinary pressure to come up with something to rival The Byrds, and so their memories of the session may be affected by those initial pressures and subsequent feelings that they had failed to deliver. We'll never know, of course, since there's been no trace of them, not even rumours. They were most assuredly dumped many years ago.
I'm sure you're aware that Chip Douglas has a collection of about 14 Clark demos (one of which, If I Hang Around, saw release on Byrd Parts 2). Sadly, I was unsuccessful in my repeated attempts to convince him to do something with the tapes.
Those other demos you mention (Doctor, Doctor, etc.) do exist in the hands of private collectors whose identities are unknown to me.
By the way, that Sweetheart shirt arrived today and is muy stylin'! :^D
I know it's a non-Gene album but I do love Gene's version of One Hundred Years From Now and a couple of other Gram songs.