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Oct 7, 2021Liked by Mitch Blum, Ken Warshaw

No Other is just the tip of the iceberg in Gene Clark land. I would encourage people to take a deeper dive into his other solo work, he does not disappoint! Glad to see people are still discovering what many consider to be his masterwork!

www.Gene-Clark.com

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Absolutely! Dillard & Clark, White Light, Two Sides, Roadmaster and his contributions to the Byrds reunion album are all wonderful.

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Oct 6, 2021Liked by Mitch Blum, Ken Warshaw

I have to wonder if Mitch used to belong to the Columbia Records club and forgot to return the card on time - the result getting a cassette by Gene Clark. My mother once did that and wound up with Mott the Hoople, which to my delight, I found at the bottom of her stack. So now Mitch found No Other in the bottom of an old dusty box and threw it up here for entry to NS, surely no more than to get a reaction from you guys than anything else.

I, of course, new of Gene Clark through his work with the Byrds, and even possessed the McGuin, Clark, and HIllman album, which as I recall wasn't that bad. But I never knew Clark had done any recording on his own, which is surprising because I consider myself pretty much the king of '70's rock music - pre-disco. I have to wonder how that got by me.

Anyway, I've listened to this recording three times today much to the chagrin of the gal sitting outside my office, and I just don't see what you guys are gushing about. The first song, Life's Greatest Fool caught my attention so I looked up the lyrics. As a novel and commentary writer (not my day job), I can relate to the words penned by Clark.

After that, every song seemed the same to me, as if it was long boring rambling song - sort of like this rebuttal. The rest of the album reminded me of what the Tolbert brothers from Mason Proffitt might have sounded like...if they recorded while on Quaalude's. I would prefer Eddie & the Cruisers was the album Mitch pitched today, as I thought both the album and the movie were pretty good. But in my mind, others in this genre (Mason Proffitt, A. Guthrie, CSNY, Poco, D. Mason, Croce) are much more interesting. You gentlemen might have welcomed the late Mr. Clark on to Newberry Street, but you won't find him on Webber Way. So, I'll anxiously wait to see what is thrown up, no pun intended, next week.

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Of course I was a (non-paying) Columbia house member but they never offered "No Other".

And I'll never fight you on John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band. John is the next best thing to Southside Johnny who is the next best thing to Bruce himself. I saw JC&TBBB at Great Adventure and loved it so much that I stayed on the rail for the late show!

Which brings us to Gene Clark and your claim of being the "King of '70s Rock Music". Sorry, King, but I spent a few years as a Byrds obsessive and collected every single country-rock album that blossomed from their musical family tree. I think I counted 73 albums altogether and the best albums came from Gene Clark ("No Other", "White Light"), Roger McGuinn (CJ would love the Petty-heavy "Back from Rio"), CSNY together and apart, the first Manassas album, the first seven (!) Poco albums and my personal favorite - The Flying Burrito Brothers (1st and 3rd records especially). And what's wrong with disco, anyway?

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Love Manassas. Despise most disco with a few exceptions. No self-respecting head from the early 70's would dare listen to, acknowledge, or admit to liking disco. I am a Bee Gees fan but for the love of God, don't tell anybody.

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So would you say that nothing is shaking on shakedown street???

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I saw Southside Johnny in Milwaukee in the late 70's - opening act for Bob Seger. I've stood on the original corner of Shakedown Street - Haight and Asbury in SF. I've saw the Dead & Co., 4 times, but sadly not the original band with Jerry. Didn't become a Dead Head until about 20 years ago and Jerry was already gone.

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