No Other, Gene Clark, Asylum Records 1974. The Byrds reunion album may have been a flop, but Gene's contributions secured him a deal with Asylum to make his next solo record. In preparation, Gene retreated with his young family to a cottage overlooking the ocean in Indian Shoals CA to write the songs for the album. Inspired by the ocean views, Stevie Wonder's "Innervisions" and The Rolling Stones' "Goat's Head Soup", he wrote the songs for "No Other". Producer Thomas Jefferson Kaye spent the entire budget (reported to be approximately $100,000) on making the album. Some of the finest session players and backup singers were used including bassist Leland Sklar, pianist Mike Utley, backup singer Clydie King and others. Jesse Ed Davis contributed lead guitar on Silver Raven and ex-Byrd Chris Hillman played some mandolin. Album artwork was made by Gene's friend and neighbor Ea O'Leno and was meant to evoke the look of the old-Hollywood silent film era. Although Gene's "glam" look was puzzling to many, it fit right in with the theme of the artwork though admittedly not with the content of the album. To get Gene's swashbuckling look, he allowed Ea and his wife to perm his hair and wear clothes from a clothing store called The Pleasure Dome. Photos were taken at Noah Dietrich's old mansion in the Hollywood Hills. Eight songs were included on the finished album, supposedly enraging David Geffen, the head at Asylum (although there were other albums from that era such as Van Morrison's Astral Weeks that only had 8 songs). Asylum was not behind it and with no money to promote the album or a major tour, it was left to "twist in the wind". No Other only reached as high as no.86 on the charts and while critically acclaimed, it was a "commercial failure". Today the album is regarded as a classic, far ahead of its time and was even presented live in its entirety by Beach House, Fleet Foxes & others in 2013. Gene regarded as his finest work. Few would argue. #GeneClark #GetGeneIn #GeneClark50 #singersongwriter #SongwritersHoF #countryrock #folkrock #NoOther #1974 #classicalbum #albumsyoumusthear #vinyl #discography