No Other [IMPORT] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Gene Clark

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 18, 2003)
• Original Release Date: September 23, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: MSI:WEA/RHINO
• ASIN: B0000ACY0Y
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #92,555 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Import only remastered reissue of The Byrds co-founder's 1974 solo album for Asylum, described by some as Clark's 'Sgt. Pepper'. Features 15 tracks including seven previously unreleased bonus tracks, 'Train Leaves Here This Morning' (Outtake), 'Life's Greatest Fool' (Alt. Demo Version), 'Silver Raven' (Alt. Demo Version), 'No Other' (Alt. Demo Version), 'From A Silver Phial' (Alt. Demo Version), 'Some Misunderstanding' (Alt. Demo Version), & 'Lady Of The North' (Alt. Demo Version). Original artwork with updated liner notes. Warner.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A treasure... a lost diamond found...a great country rock CD, October 27, 2003

By	David Kinney (San Francisco, Ca. United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this record when it came out in 1974 because that was my summer of full immersion in Southern California country rock.Having been a Byrds fan, and because the record was released on Asylum records I guess I expected something different from what I heard when I played the thing. Well I don't rember disliking it, but it never got heavy rotation on the turntable, and somewhere down the line it kinda disappeared from my collection.Over the years fans and revisionist reviewers started gushing over this great "lost" work of art, comparing it to Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks' (um...no.)or Skip Spence's Oar (only in the sense that neither sold, cuz Oar is awful). So when 'No Other' finally got it's CD release, amidst glowing reviews, I had to check it out again. Well folks what we have here is a little masterpiece of SoCal country rock with gorgeous singing and playing and I can't remember why I didn't love it thirty years ago. The reason it didn't sell is because most people didn't know who Gene Clark was, not because of some kind of weirdness in the music.Neil Young sold tons of records that were far stranger and less accessible than anything on here.Promotion might have done the trick, but there was none, so it sank without a trace. Here thirty years later, and too late for the sadly deceased Gene Clark, is another chance for country rock fans to hear a work of great emotion and heartbreak that should have been a contender. It's, I repeat, a great ,great country rock recording, by a very talented singer songwriter, and that's all. And that's enough.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quintessential Gene Clark, "No Other", July 22, 2005

By	Ken Nagaine "lotusfield3000" (Ventura, CA United States) - See all my reviews

As a Gene Clark fan from the Byrds period, the "Gene Clark and the Gosdins" album failed to live up to my expectations at the time: I missed the jangly 12 string Rickenbacker and the more rock driven sensibility behind the classic "Feel a Whole Lot Better." I found it way too demanding then to reappraise the artist within a solo context and turned my listening attention instead toward "Younger than Yesterday."

By 1972 I was ready to try again when I purchased the "Gene Clark Collector Series: Early L.A. Sessions." I was feeling nostalgic for the era, a feeling exacerbated by the release of Lenny Kaye's "Nuggets." Still rather put off by the laid back country material, I discovered vestiges of that brooding poetic genius in songs such as "The Same One" and "I Found You." That record stayed in my collection until, by 1991, I bought the "Echoes" CD. The acoustic version of "So You Say You Lost Your Baby" really impressed me. This, along with the studio version of the tune, with its awesome string arrangement by Leon Russell, enhanced my burgeoning reaffirmation of the man, his music and legacy.

Finally, I happened to come across a copy of "No Other" listed as a reissue of his long lost masterpiece. Upon first hearing the record, I felt a sense of closure in such songs as "Strength of Strings" and "No Other." What he alluded to in his scatter blot imagery of "So You Say You Lost Your Baby," a musical tale told in a little over two minutes, now seemed reconfigured into a definitive musical statement.

The eight songs for me represent a kind of interlocking tone poem. Each song, like the "notes that roll on winds/with swirling wings," segues into the next as naturally as our moods change according to circumstance. Each song is distinct, a world unto itself, yet finds itself somehow linked to the others by the finest of threads. From "Life's Greatest Fool" to "Lady of the North" Clark brings a deceptively simple yet elegant humanity into the emotional texture of his work. He sings of life's extremes, fraught with anger and disappointment as "Some Misunderstanding," the sorrowful polarities of relationship in "Silver Phial," the thoughtful paradoxes of "The True One," and the complex unity that only the "Silver Raven" seems to know.

I begin to understand now why "No Other" is highly regarded. Gene Clark is a significant musical poet laureate of our generation; the quintessential Byrd. Like the archetypal cowboy balladeer of old, what appears unassuming or naive, is redeemed by his unschooled common sense, authenticity and genuine effort. Appreciation for the artistic achievement on this album will only increase, I suspect, through time. I'm sorry I have only these posthumous words to share.

36 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lives up to its name, September 21, 2003

By	Wayne Klein "If at first the idea is not absu... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

When The Byrds reunited for Asylum Records there was the hope that the original quintet would recapture the magic they generated with their first couple of albums. It didn't happen. While The Byrds (which is still out of print)suffered from an overabundance of ambition, production and egos, Clark's solo effort for Asylum had all the ambition and production of the previusly mentioned album but with the inspiration necessary to pull it off.

This is Clark's most "produced" effort. For that very reason, there are some Byrds and Clark fans that can't stand it. Looking past the ambitious production, the songs are what really matter. At its core, No Other features some of Clark's most sublime material. Many folks have compared it to Van Morrison's Astral Weeks but I'd venture to compare it to Lennon's Imagine. The heartache, pure emotion and powerful performances at the core of the album benefit from the production.

Rhino has done a terrific job of remastering the album. While I can't detect a huge sonic difference between this and the fine Collector's Choice edition, it does benefit from the inclusion of alternate versions and a bonus track not available on a legit CD before.

Gene Clark was always the most vunerable of The Byrds. That was reflected in his powerful, emotional songs as much as his emotionally naked vocals. It's about time that this great album got the deluxe treatment it deserves. Certainly if you're a Byrds/Clark fan pick this up. Even if you're not, it's well worth purchasing. Like Neil Young's wounded On the Beach, No Other is a classic album that stands outside of its time but was also made at the wrong time. Perhaps it'll finally get some appreciation.