Allow us to indulge ourselves a little as we salute the late singer/ songwriter Gene Clark, who would've turned 79 today (tragically, he died in 1991 at the ridiculously young age of 46). A founding member of The Byrds, Clark provided much of the songwriting clout for the group early on, then pursued a career pairing with various other artists as well as going solo. (His acclaimed solo album "No Other" was commercially unsuccessful, though years later members of Beach House, Fleet Foxes, The Walkman and others thought so highly of it that they performed the album in its entirety in a number of concerts.) His songs for The Byrds, combined with their Dylan covers, really created the folk rock movement in the mid-60s, from which so many artists and groups that followed took inspiration.
We loved the guy, so we're featuring his lead vocals on some of our favorite compositions of his from his Byrds days. "For Me Again" appeared on the "Preflyte" album, essentially a collection of demos that were cut before The Byrds were The Byrds. The melancholy "Here Without You," from the 1965 "Mr. Tambourine Man" album, is one of the earliest of Clark's songs recorded by The Byrds, with only Clark and David Crosby doing the vocal harmonies. Going uptempo, also from that album, is "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better," a song covered by Tom Petty and many others over time. Finally, from the B side of the "Turn! Turn! Turn!" single, "She Don't Care About Time," with that Bach- inspired guitar break. Clark was only 19 when he composed it. Hope you enjoy.
