Customer Reviews

Fantastic Expedition of

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(0)
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I cried when Gene Clark died.

The original lead singer for The Byrds, he wrote and sang the most timelessly beautiful songs of any of their alumni. Just listen to "Here Without You" from the first Byrds album if you don't believe me.

Check out this record and see. You'll play it incessantly, just like all the rest of us that have taken the time to review it. Then get all the rest of his stuff.

What a shame that he passed. What a shame that so few knew what a treasure this man was. He deserved better.

Who would have guessed that Gene Clark of the Byrds and Doug Dillard of the Dillards would pair up with the help of Bernie Leadon (later of the Eagles) and create such a fine colleciton of folk/country and bluegrass tunes. When I bought this LP in 1969, I was absolutely blown away by it. I had heard the Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds and the Dillards but this was the perfect blend.. Great songwriting from Clark with help from Leadon and Dillard and perhaps, the best mixing of banjoes, steel guitars, dobros and mandolins I had ever heard. "The Radio Song", "With Care From Someone", and "Train Leaves Here This Morning" all score 5 STARS for me. If you thought that Gram Parsons and the Eagles were the first, look again and listen carefully. This was far better!!!

Read all the other reviews of this timeless record then stop wasting time and order it. My original copy saw so much play it sounds like a waterfall. This record blends clever hooks with traditional Appalacian Bluegrass to create the first true Cross-Over piece of its genre. The fine tuned harmonies and sense of musical joy delivered on this record leave you with a lasting smile. Enjoy...

I can't add that much to the accolades below - this genre defying work of art is truly one of the great albums of all time. But be aware that the bonus tracks on this import version (12 tracks rather than 9) are some of the best, and add significantly to the irresistable pleasure of hearing this again and again.

Seriously, if you don't own this yet, and your curiosity has got you far enough to read the reviews, just buy it, you can pillory me in the comments if I've misled. It is not just a record, it is a precious life resource that may go straight into your heart and see you through the darkest of times. Within weeks of the first release 40 years ago, I was imprinted with every word of every Clark original, and I know I will take it all to the grave. Only a handful of rock albums fit into this elite group in my mind. Clark was a demon who wrote like an angel, and at this time he was on a roll, although he kept composing wonderful songs till quite close to his death in 1991. His biographer claims that, in one case, he was given a bunch of music and came back next morning with the perfect accompanying lyric. On another song, he begins "Someone is speaking of time now to gain/The voice crying be, I am bound/Life is undying yet somebody weeps/The season declares its own sounds." So oddly auto-didactic and Clarkish, yet so true. The band romped, with Chris Hillman (mandolin) and Andy Belling (electric harpsichord) making hallowed contributions. Hell, every time I play this durned record, it makes me want to go right on out to Tipton, Missouri to kiss the headstone. They oughta teach it in the US schools, mebbe just after the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

This is one of the best country-rock albums I ever heard. After Gene Clark left the Byrds he formed this band with Doug Dillard who was in the band that bore his last name. They released this in nineteen sixty eight


Expedition has a laid back California bluegrass flavor. The tracks are genuine of the genre, but feature Hammond Organ, polished rock sliding bass, and all the craft you would expect from a rock album from the era.

These guys were amazing in their ability to catch the nuance of this music, while still making an album rock fans could connect with. Even if you don't like country music, you'll love the sheer playing prowess and sheer technique of Dillard and Clark. Expedition has not dated a day since 1968--this counterculture country feels far more real than a lot of the mainstream digitized frozen dinners of the genre being released in 2010

Country fan, rock fan, music fan, hippie boy--get this!

upon hearing this album,you'll probably have to stop singing long enough to ask the hopeless question,"who are these guys and where can I catch their act",which brings up the beauty of the whole Album..it was done some 30 years ago,and in its timeless bieng,the songs are so clean of any artificial instrumentation,so devoid of any tattletale lyric or riff that would perhaps date this ageless wonder..if you are really are addicted to country,if you have that gnawing yearning for perhaps something that was missed in the sixties,,,grab a copy and connect those missing moments...jump into the hayride which is the Fantantic Expedition of Dillard and Clark...

I first heard and bought this in 1970 while living in the Netherlands, and I have had 3 copies of it that were borrowed and never returned. I had given up hope of ever finding it again. I haven't heard it for 26 years and the songs and music still play in my head. The instruments are the accoustal instruments of American folk music, mountain music, and cajun music. The lyrics are haunting and the virtuosity of the muscians is unsurpased in anything else I have ever heard. If you liked The Band and liked The Dillards then this is a must have. The comming together of Doug Dillard and Gene Clark was a rare , beautifull, and brief collaboratinon, and with them they brought together legendary accoustical musicans of that time.

It's not surprising this album didn't sell, after all, do any albums worth owning break any sales records? The answer? No. Of the 9 songs there is not one bad one. It's bluegrass,country,folk,gospel and even almost soul (see the opening track "Out on the Side"), sometimes all at the same time. Without an album like this country nor rock would have come this far. Maybe one day it will be discovered by a mass audience and have the 'comeback' it never had. A real gem.

My vinyl record wore out, then the CD, and now have to buy it again. One of those albums that is necessary in any collection, and is actually listened to periodically with the same mix of joy, sadness, and sing-a-long as the first time i ever listened. (its like readers pay the short story writer Saki the ultimate compliment... they buy his books and read them...) I am mostly a rock n roller, but this cross over, if it could be pigeonholed, is a must have. Can't wait til it gets here in the mail and I can let Laura listen....