Gene Clark, record business equals bad news. Case in point, this album. Or masterpiece, you could say. After two brilliant
Dillard & Clark albums, A&M signed
Clark to a solo deal. Okay, fair enough -- so far. In 1972, he delivered perhaps the finest album of his career,
Gene Clark, (also known as
White Light). Excellent reviews in all the top magazines, including Rolling Stone. Guess what? Almost zero sales. Now, here's the follow up, almost -- if not more -- brilliant. Released only in Holland. Aside from containing some of
Clark's finest tracks like "In a Misty Morning" and "Full Circle Song," this record contains two gems recorded with the willing participation of the other original
Byrds. "One in a Hundred" and "She's the Kind of Girl" are so good that they would have easily stood out on
The Byrds box set, had
McGuinn elected to include them. Oh well, the music is still here -- an example of an artist who couldn't quite get in on with commerce. What a disaster. The man should be mentioned in the same breath as
Neil Young.
Roadmaster is one of the many reasons why. ~ Matthew Greenwald