Gene Clark
Gene Clark Sings For You

It is (rightly) a common opinion that Gene Clark wrote only beautiful songs. This might seem like an exaggerated and over-the-top statement, but beyond sharing this important judgment, the great lyrical and compositional ability of this songwriter is undeniable and fundamental to the history of pop and rock music. Born in Tipton, Missouri in 1944, he moved to Kansas at a young age, where he began delving into the country rock music scene as early as 13 years old. Then he was struck by the Beatles, moved to Los Angeles, and formed the central core of the Byrds, of which he was the most sensitive part oriented towards the Beatles' sound and essentially the most prolific composer. However, he left the group after the first two albums and during the production of "5th Dimension." A prolific author, he would actually publish less over the years than many of his colleagues. He had a particularly sensitive and somewhat unconventional soul for the standards of the time; a reserved character believed to have suffered from anxiety; he died in 1991, afflicted with widespread ulcers after stomach and intestine surgeries, and ruined by prolonged alcohol and drug abuse.

A lengthy introduction that is indispensable for presenting this album released by Omnivore Recordings, which perhaps completes definitively the "dictionary" of songs written by Gene Clark by adding 14 previously unreleased tracks. The recordings were discovered in the 1980s in the Liberty Records archives and, as noted in the sleeve notes by John Einarson, have since been considered the "Holy Grail" of Gene Clark's production: songs written after his time with the Byrds (with whom he had a fleeting reunion later) plus five tracks recorded for the Rose Garden, never previously released, and a demo of "Till Today" (included in the eponymous Rose Garden album of 1968).

Apart from the myth, it must be said that the contents of "Gene Clark Sings For You" still meet expectations, and even if the recordings aren't "prime time," they're just fine: "On Her Own" is a melancholic folk ballad, "Past Tense" reveals the most Beatles-like side of Clark's style; "Yesterday," "Past My Door" are built on a more jangle-pop sound, "That's Alright" is another nostalgic country-folk ballad, and "One Way Road" aligns with the psychedelic sound of the sixties. "Down On The Pier" and "7.30 Mode," on the other hand, evoke Bob Dylan, who is probably the main "epigone" even in the pieces written for the Rose Garden. In the end, it might not be the Holy Grail, but then when you listen to it, you realize these songs are so beautiful perhaps precisely because they are timeless and ageless, just like Gene Clark.