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In retrospect it is easy to call this album a classic, with ex-Byrd Gene Clark in complete creative control and providing a beautiful embodiment of country, rock and soul, all held together by excellent compositions and inspired playing and production. Yet in 1974 many were still looking for Clark to make the slick sixties pop he had so successfully displayed in The Byrds. When Clark left that group in 1966 they were at the peak of their considerable powers, yet he was full of ambition and had a musical vision that matched his lyrics - a mix of the whimsical and morally conscious.
After a series of critically acclaimed projects including the Dillard & Clark group and an album with the Godsin Brothers, plus this LP's predecessor the far less extravagant and purely country rock 'White Light', Clark hooked up with David Geffen, then A&R at Asylum Records, who provided a huge budget for the recording of this album. The result is surely one of the best albums of the seventies - eight songs of equal brilliance, with tinges of soul, country and even gospel turned into something that sounds like a message from the gods.
Check out songs like "Strength Of Strings", "Some Misunderstanding" and the title track - majestically beautiful and touchingly melodic, matched by innovative production and effects that don't sound dated even today. Clark's moving voice sounds vulnerable and full of emotion with his lyricism at its finest, to quote the liner notes "coming across like a modern day Confucious". A welcome sight on CD, 'No Other' remains a hugely influential and important cornerstone of American pop music. Recommended, this essential album now comes remastered and with seven bonus tracks (all previously unreleased). Special price while stocks last. |
