Gene Clark – No Other (1974) [Deluxe Box Set 2019] MCH SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + FLAC 24bit/96kHz

Gene Clarks 1974 masterpiece gets the reappraisal its long overdue. One of the greatest albums ever made. Initially celebrated for its obscurity, No Other is now celebrated for its magnificence. It was in every way a magnum opus: epic, sprawling, poetic, choral, rococo. 45 years on and recently remastered at Abbey Road, 4AD are giving No Other the reappraisal it deserves. As stated on 4AD’s website, the original tapes were remastered at Abbey Road Studios, featuring a 5.1 surround mix of the album created for the first time. All the studio tapes were forensically worked on and mixed by the duo of Gene Clark aficionado Sid Griffin and producer John Wood; the extra tracks have not been edited or composited in any way, “allowing for everything to be heard exactly as it went down in the studio and before any overdubbing took place”.

Upon its 1974 release, Gene Clark’s No Other was rejected by most critics as an exercise in bloated studio excess. It was also ignored by Asylum, that had invested $100,000 in recording it. A considerable sum at the time, it was intended as a double album, but the label refused to release it as such. Ultimately, it proved a commercial failure that literally devastated Clark; he never recovered.

Though Clark didn’t live to see it, No Other has attained cult status as a visionary recording that employs every available studio means to illustrate the power in Clark’s mercurial songwriting. He and producer Thomas Jefferson Kaye entered Village Recorders in L.A. with an elite cast that included Michael Utley and Jesse Ed Davis, Butch Trucks, Lee Sklar, Russ Kunkel, Joe Lala, Chris Hillman, Danny “Kooch” Kortchmar, Howard Buzzy Feiten, and Stephen Bruton. Clark’s vocalists included: Clydie King, Venetta Fields, Shirley Matthews, the Eagles’ Timothy B. Schmidt, and Claudia Lennear among them. These musicians all brought their best to the material. As a whole, No Other is a sprawling, ambitious work that seamlessly melds country, folk, jazz-inflected-gospel, urban blues, and breezy L.A. rock in a song cycle that reflects the mid-’70s better than anything from the time, yet continues to haunt the present with its relevance.

There are no edges on the set, even in the labyrinthine, multi-tracked title track that juxtaposes guitar-driven psychedelia and out jazz saxophones and flutes with lush vocal harmonies. Even its tougher tracks, such as “Strength of Strings,” that echoes Neil Young’s “Cowgirl in the Sand,” melodically, delivers an alluring, modal, Eastern-tinged bridge adorned by slide guitar wizardry. In the textured darkness of “Silver Raven,” Clark’s falsetto vocal is framed by an alluring synth, and muted bassline and is embraced by a chorus that rivals CSNY’s, making for a heartbreaking, yet blissed-out country-folk song. “From a Silver Phial,” as haunting and beautiful as it is, is one of the strangest songs Clark ever penned. Its anti-drug references are especially odd as this is one of the more coked-out recordings to come from L.A. during the era. The final two cuts, “The True One” and “Lady of the North” (the latter co-written with Doug Dillard), are the only two pieces on the disc that mirror where Clark had come from musically, but as they wind around the listener, even these are far bigger than mere country-rock tunes, offering glissando passages of pedal steel and piano ostinatos that actually create narrative movement for the lyrics to turn on. No Other’s songs lend themselves to open-ended performances in the studio. Because of his spacious, yet always beautifully centered compositional style, they are well-suited to Kaye’s use of the multi-tracked instruments and vocals, ambient sonic echoes, and textures that surround them. Clark’s unlikely classic, No Other is continually continued rediscovered by succeeding generations.

Tracklist

Disc 1: No Other – 2019 Remaster
01. Life’s Greatest Fool
02. Silver Raven
03. No Other
04. Strength Of Strings
05. From A Silver Phial
06. Some Misunderstanding
07. The True One
08. Lady Of The North

Disc 2: No Other – Sessions 1
01. From A Silver Phial (Version 4)
02. Silver Raven (Version 2)
03. Some Misunderstanding (Version 3)
04. Life’s Greatest Fool (Version 2)
05. Train Leaves Here This Morning (Version 2)
06. Lady Of The North (Version 2)
07. The True One (Version 2)
08. Strength Of Strings (Version 2)
09. No Other (Version 2)

Disc 3: No Other – Sessions 2
01. From A Silver Phial (Version 1)
02. Life’s Greatest Fool (Version 1)
03. No Other (Version 1)
04. Lady Of The North (Version 1)
05. Some Misunderstanding (Version 1)
06. Silver Raven (Version 1)
07. Train Leaves Here This Morning (Version 1)
08. The True One (Version 1)
09. Strength Of Strings (Version 1)
10. Life’s Greatest Fool (Single Version)
11. Life’s Greatest Fool (Single Version)

5.1 Surround Remix – Mixed from the analogue studio multitracks at 24-bit/96kHz by Neil Wilkes & B.J. Cole at Opus Productions. Mastered by Neil Wilkes.
2019 Stereo Remix – Mixed from the analogue studio multitracks at 24-bit/96kHz by Neil Wilkes & Nick Ward at Opus Productions. Mastered by Neil Wilkes.
No Other Sessions (1) – Mixes Produced from the analogue studio multitracks at 24-bit/96kHz by Sid Griffin & John Wood. Mastered by Alex Wharton.
No Other Sessions (2) – Mixes Produced from the analogue studio multitracks at 24-bit/96kHz by Sid Griffin & John Wood. Mastered by Alex Wharton.

3x SACD ISO

mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet20193xSACDIS.part1.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet20193xSACDIS.part2.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet20193xSACDIS.part3.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet20193xSACDIS.part4.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet20193xSACDIS.part5.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet20193xSACDIS.part6.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet20193xSACDIS.part7.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet20193xSACDIS.part8.rar

DSF DSD64

mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet2019DSD64Stere.part1.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet2019DSD64Stere.part2.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet2019DSD64Stere.part3.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet2019DSD64Stere.part4.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet2019DSD64Stere.part5.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet2019DSD64Stere.part6.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet2019DSD64Stere.part7.rar

FLAC 24bit/96kHz

mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet2019FLAC2496.part1.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet2019FLAC2496.part2.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet2019FLAC2496.part3.rar
mqs.link_GeneClarkNther1974DeluxeBxSet2019FLAC2496.part4.rar