No Other

Gene Clark | Format: Vinyl

Product Details

• Vinyl
• Label: Asylum
• ASIN: B00168N3H2
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #881,228 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

SIDE ONE: 1 Life's Greatest Fool [Clark] 4:44... 2 Silver Raven [Clark] 4:53... 3 No Other [Clark] 5:08... 4 Strength of Strings [Clark] 6:31... SIDE TWO 1 From a Silver Phial [Clark] 3:40... 2 Some Misunderstanding [Clark] 8:09... 3 The True One [Clark] 3:58... 4 Lady of the North [Clark, Dillard] 6:04

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 60 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
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This review is from: No Other (Audio CD)

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.

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

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

By 

WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: No Other (Audio CD)

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.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creating like a man possessed, February 1, 2007

By 

Elliot Knapp (Seattle, Washington United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: No Other (Audio CD)

Just recently getting into Gene Clark's impressive body of solo work, I started with White Light and (after only one listen) was initially unimpressed. To tell the truth, I can't think of a Gene Clark album that actually wowed me on the first listen. After a few spins though, White Light found its way permanently under my skin as a fantastic exercise in poetry, delivery, and the possibilities of folk-rock production (it's got some pretty gnarly yet subtle electric guitar). Gene's songs are instantly understandable and accessible, but only to a point--eventually there's a final barrier of mystery in the words and in the sentiment, and that's what keeps me coming back to his music. It's wonderful to puzzle over just what he means and feels, and it's a hallmark of great songwriting when a song doesn't mean just one obvious thing and it's up to the listener to interpret. So, White Light is a fantastic (if commercially unsuccessful) record--enter No Other.

With No Other, Gene fleshed out his songs with lavish ensemble production (check out the bonus tracks for more stripped-down versions), including several female background singers, multiple guitars and keyboards, and some surprisingly different (for Clark) effects. With all due respect to some of the other reviewers, "country-rock" is a pathetically inadequate attempt to describe the sound of this record. No Other has its country-rock moments, but the entire album is so far-ranging that any attempt to classify it wastes words and detracts from enjoyment--I'd rather let the genre-bending sounds just wash over me.

Gene's voice is in prime form--the torture and emotion in his vocals is totally enthralling, and his strained, tentative delivery is still something I've only heard done well by Clark himself. The album opens with "Life's Greatest Fool," a country-rocker in which the easy-going music belies the large-scale wondering that Clark's doing. The production is admittedly quite different from Gene's earlier, more stripped-down records, but I think it works. The other instruments never detract from the force of his songs, they just make them (deservedly) more grand. "Silver Raven," sets a darker tone, one which will permeate most of the album, with a somewhat bleak poetic vision. "No Other" is one of my very favorite tracks, bearing little resemblance to "country-rock," or any other type of rock, for that matter--the fuzzed-out bass charges the song with an urgency supported by Clark's words--"all alone we must be part of one another." Chills.

Impenetrable poetics fill the album, as on the colorful "From a Silver Phial." "Some Misunderstanding," is yet another highlight--the album's epic centerpiece and one of Clark's most compelling soul-searching works of art. In the cascading wall of sound that the song conjures, Clark cries "we all need a fix at a time like this, but doesn't it feel good to stay alive?" Wow again. More of the same, high-caliber songwriting and performing closes out the album.

No Other resonates very strongly with me on a personal level (such a subjective criterion, I'm sure everyone doesn't feel the same way), but whether you find Clark's poetic explorations relevant or not, these are well-written songs with great lyrics, one of the most original voices in rock history, and some great music to go along with it all. If you already own Clark records, you MUST get No Other, and I also recommend it to fans of all those sub genres like folk- country- classic-rock and everything in between. It's time Clark found his audience.