Gene Clark made one of the greatest albums ever recorded

By D.B.

ON NOVEMBER 8TH a much-loved album will be reissued in a lavish multi-format edition. Often such releases are an opportunity for the music industry to squeeze yet further revenue out of a bestseller by a famous name. But in the case of “No Other”, an album released in 1974 by Gene Clark, it is a labour of love, not a cash-in. Behind the reissue is not a major record company but 4AD, a veteran British independent label known for championing art-pop and experimental acts.

It is likely that many readers will never have heard of the record, and may well wonder who Clark is. “No Other” is the epitome of a cult album: relatively few people know of it, but almost everybody who does adores it. It is not merely a “great lost album” —it is one of the finest albums ever recorded. It fuses country, psychedelia, baroque pop, gospel, folk, soul, funk and chamber pop with an ambitious majesty. It offers a set of extraordinarily poetic and beautiful songs.