Holy Grail of Byrds co-founder Gene Clark’s solo work is finally available

I’m certainly no fashionista, but I got quite a few compliments for the T-shirt I wore to the first of two fantastic concerts by David Ball and That Carolina Sound last weekend at the FR8yard in Spartanburg.

It was a brown tee with orange lettering that simply read “The Byrds” in the distinctive font used on the covers of the legendary folk-rock band’s 1966 and 1967 albums, “Fifth Dimension” and “Younger than Yesterday.”

I was too busy enjoying the predominately Uncle Walt’s Band music being played onstage by Ball and company that night to get into a deep conversation about how much I dig The Byrds, but had I done so, I’m sure I would have inevitably brought up a newly-released collection of previously unissued recordings by one of the group’s founding members.

“Gene Clark Sings for You,” which was released last month on Omnivore Recordings (the same archival label responsible for the fabulous new Uncle Walt’s Band anthology), compiles eight tracks recorded by Clark in 1967 after his abrupt departure from The Byrds, along with five previously unknown tracks from a further 1967 acetate given to the folk-pop band, The Rose Garden, for recording consideration. There’s also a previously unissued demo of Clark running through his song, “Till Today,” for The Rose Garden, which cut a version of it for its first and only album from 1968.

Clark, who died in 1991 at age 46, never achieved commercial success as a solo artist, but his solo work is considered iconic by many highly-respected musicians. In many ways, he was a pioneer of what’s thought of today as Americana music.

While the recordings on “Gene Clark Sings for You” have a relatively sparse quality, they’re not exactly rough demos either and make for pleasurable listening beyond their obvious historical value. You can’t help but listen to the blend of psychedelic rock, acoustic folk, baroque pop and country rock material and wonder how remarkable the songs would have been had Clark seen them to full completion.

Shrouded in mystery for decades, the recordings have long been considered the Holy Grail of the singer-songwriter’s extraordinary body of work, so it’s really cool getting to hear them finally.

And if that weren’t enough, it’s also worth noting that Omnivore has also just released “A Trip through the Garden: The Rose Garden Collection,” which compiles 26 tracks, including the band’s entire 1968 album for Atco Records.

It’s obvious that The Rose Garden was highly influenced by The Byrds (albeit with more of a sunshine pop vibe), so the collection makes a perfect companion to the highly-recommended Clark compilation. The highlight is the inclusion of the group’s only hit single, the ultra-catchy “Next Plane to London,” which peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard pop chart the last weekend of 1967 when The Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye” reached No. 1.