Gene Clark
Roadmaster

THE REVIEW

"Roadmaster", the album intended for Europe alone which Clark opposed, unsuccessfully. The emblematic album of the "contractual weakness" of a songwriter as talented as he was unfortunate in commercial terms.

Released without Clark's knowledge, and then remaining on the market against his express wishes, it contains his sessions from 1970 to '72. A collection of songs clearly divided into sections, both stylistically and in terms of arrangement. But an album that can be described as emblematic because what is in the first half of "Roadmaster" is precisely what was missing from "Byrds," the "infamous" self-titled work that celebrated the reunion of the original lineup, released in 1973, shortly after this album.

The first half of the album, besides being very reminiscent sound-wise of the early Byrds, is practically played by the entire lineup from the good old days. And it is precisely by listening to the first half of this album that regrets arise: these are the true reunion Byrds! Those who, if not singing covers, were performing songs written by Gene Clark. This is the sound of the Byrds, these are the atmospheres, these are the harmonies, these are the evocations. The first three songs, "She's The Kind Of Girl," "One In A Hundred," and "Here Tonight," are three melodious caresses of electric folk as the Lord commands. "Full Circle Song" is exactly what would have happened if Gene Clark and the Byrds had reached the country turning point together, rather than separately.

Take all these initial tracks, at least up to the rustic, sweaty ballad "Rough And Rocky," and transfer them en masse into "Byrds," instead of certain filler-insults; leave the covers to that album and wait for the psychedelic Crosby to find himself with some better pieces than he had at that time... And there you have it, a masterpiece and the rebirth of the group as it remained in the collective imagination.

Regrets for what was and personal judgments aside, "Roadmaster" marks two emblematic periods: the end of the Byrdsian compositional style and the beginning of what was then Clark's approach to songwriting, which in '74 embraced all of pop rock in the spectacular "No Other." The title track is a decent blues, just as effective is the genuflecting soul of "I Remember The Railroad," while the choral vocal harmonies disappear like the jingle jangles. Note: Gene's lyricism remains the same, but what changes is the attitude with which the singer-songwriter employs it, thus putting it at the service of something that differs in sound and color, risking being less recognizable but no less immediate to tug at the heartstrings.

Everything concludes with an American pop rock that reshapes a perfect Clark's Byrds' song, namely "Shooting Star": without certainty, I would bet that this is a rearrangement of a song from his early period. This because, similar or not to itself, just a change of approach is enough to notice the change in his music.

Different and unmistakable, forty years old and new. Above all, inimitable. And splendid even against his will.