Weekend Music Twofer

 

We're staying in the avian family, so to speak, with our weekend music choices.  Minneapolis' great alt band The Jayhawks have a new album, "Sanctuary Park," coming out on August 28, and have released this single, "Keeping Our Heads Above Water."  The song exhibits The Jayhawks' beautiful 3-part harmonies and instrumental interplay, and is part of what the band's vision for the album is about: a "place where distant memories re-emerge, childhood friends from years prior start speaking again, and teenage lovers start lives that their older selves are determined to renew."

Sixty-one years ago today, The Byrds reached #1 on the charts for the first time with their cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man."  But rather than play that iconic classic again, we're flipping to the "B" side of the single, Gene Clark's gorgeous "I Knew I'd Want You."  Clark's vocal, the classic Byrds harmonies, as well as the subtle chord changes and subdued 12-string guitar work (Roger McGuinn was the only Byrd to play on the song) make this one of our favorite Gene Clark early compositions.  Hope you enjoy.

Weekend Music Passages Twofer

 

Today marks the 83rd birthday of the great Bob Dylan.  When people talk about the "soundtrack of a generation," Dylan's music could easily fill up the playlist (if you're of a certain age, of course).  Out of the scores of songs of his that we could play, we're randomly choosing an early one that still resonates today, "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall."  

Today also marks the day in 1991 when singer/ songwriter/ musician Gene Clark passed away at the age of 49. Clark was a founding member of The Byrds, a band that looked to Dylan for songs and inspiration.  But Clark was a master songwriter on his own, creating such gems as "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better,""She Don't Care About Time," and his masterpiece solo album, "No Other."  He also was the main writer on The Byrds' "Eight Miles High," a live, acoustic, late- life gorgeous version of which is our second song today.  Hope you enjoy.

Weekend Music

 

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.

Weekend Music

Allow us to indulge ourselves a little as we salute the late singer/ songwriter Gene Clark, who would've turned 75 on Sunday.  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.)  Clark died at the age of 46 from natural causes stemming from a bleeding ulcer.

We're featuring three of his songs (and vocals) today, from his time with The Byrds: "Here Without You," from the "Mr. Tambourine Man" album, "She Don't Care About Time," the B- side to the "Turn! Turn! Turn!" single (with a Bach- inspired guitar solo by Roger McGuinn), and "Set You Free This Time," from the "Turn! Turn! Turn!" album.  Keep in mind Clark wrote these songs in his late teens (19 when he wrote "She Don't Care About Time") and early 20's.  Hope you enjoy.

Early Mid-Week Music

We're jumping the gun one day on our mid- week musical selection (h/t brother Hackwhacker) in order to note that this would have been the great singer/songwriter Gene Clark's 71st birthday (he died at the age of 46 in 1991).  Clark was one of the founding members of the iconic folk rock group The Byrds and was their primary in- group songwriter.  Among his beautiful creations (where he's singing lead):  "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better," "Set You Free This Time," and "She Don't Care About Time" (if you can listen to them, you'll be doing yourself a favor).

Here are two compositions of his that we're featuring today.  The melancholy "Here Without You" is one of the earliest of Clark's songs recorded by The Byrds, with only Clark and David Crosby doing the vocal harmonies. The second song is the better known "Eight Miles High," though the version we're featuring is from a live acoustic set that Clark did at The Rongo in upstate New York in 1990;  it's what the original, slower, folk version of the song sounded like before Clark took it to the band and it got rocked up.  Beautiful voice and guitar.  Enjoy.

Weekend Songs - Byrds In Hand

We'd like to wish a belated happy birthday to two of the original members of the Byrds, Chris Hillman (whose 70th birthday was yesterday) and Gene Clark (who would have been 70 on November 17 - he passed away in 1991 at the waaay too young age of 46).  Both are talented songwriters, Clark contributing some beautiful music to the Byrds songbook ("I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better," and "Here Without You" are two of our favorites) and then as a solo artist, and Hillman beginning to come into his own as a songwriter just as the Byrds were starting to disintegrate.  Hillman was a founder of the country rock groups Manassas and the Flying Burrito Brothers, and later formed the country group Desert Rose Band.

We're going to start with a Gene Clark composition which appeared on the "Preflyte" album, essentially a collection of demos that were cut before the Byrds were the Byrds.  It's the beautiful, somewhat melancholy (like a lot of Clark's songs) "For Me Again."  The second song is by Chris Hillman written for the Byrds' "Younger Than Yesterday" album, "Have You Seen Her Face."  Enjoy the songs and your weekend.

Weekend Twofer

Prematurely, The Byrds co-founder Gene Clark passed away just over 23 years ago, on May 24, 1991, at 46.  A prolific songwriter, Clark's output with The Byrds is some of the best work that group produced.  Here,  from their first album (1965's "Mr. Tambourine Man") is Clark's gorgeous ballad "I Knew I'd Want You."



Fast forwarding to 1967, David Crosby breathily introduces the Clark-less Byrds, before the iconic South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela joins them on the rousing "So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star."  (Well do ya'?!)



Enjoy the music and your weekend.