White Light

by Gene Clark

Overview

Gene Clark's 1971 platter, with its stark black cover featuring his silhouette illuminated by the sun, was dubbed White Light -- though the words never appear on the cover -- and if ever a title fit a record, it's this one. Over its nine original tracks, it has established itself as one of the greatest singer/songwriter albums ever made. After leaving the Byrds in 1966, recording with the Gosdin Brothers, and breaking up the Dillard & Clark group that was a pioneering country-rock outfit, Clark took time to hone his songwriting to its barest essentials. The focus on these tracks is intense, they are taut and reflect his growing obsession with country music. Produced by the late guitarist Jesse Ed Davis (who also worked with Taj Mahal, Leon Russell, Link Wray, and poet John Trudell, among others), Clark took his songs to his new label with confidence and they supported him. The band is comprised of Flying Burrito Brothers' bassist Chris Ethridge, the then-Steve Miller Band-pianist (and future jazz great) Ben Sidran, organist Michael Utley, and drummer Gary Mallaber. Clark's writing, as evidenced on "The Virgin," the title cut, "For a Spanish Guitar," "One in a Hundred," and "With Tomorrow," reveals a stark kind of simplicity in his lines. Using melodies mutated out of country, and revealing that he was the original poet and architect of the Byrds' sound on White Light, Clark created a wide open set of tracks that are at once full of space, a rugged gentility, and are harrowingly intimate in places. His reading of Bob Dylan's "Tears of Rage," towards the end of the record rivals, if not eclipses, the Band's. Less wrecked and ravaged, Clark's song is more a bewildered tome of resignation to a present and future in the abyss. Now this is classic rock. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	02/16/2024
Label:	Elemental
UPC:	0600753981856
Rank:	37709

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Gene Clark   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar,Vocals,Harmonica
John Selk   Guitar (Acoustic)
Bobbye Hall   Percussion
Mike Utley   Organ
Gary Mallaber   Drums
Chris Ethridge   Bass
Ben Sidran   Piano
Jesse Davis   Bottleneck Guitar,Guitar (Electric)

Technical Credits

Joe Zagarino   Engineer
Jesse Ed Davis   Composer
Jerry Leiber   Composer
Richard Manuel   Composer
Mike Stoller   Composer
Tom Barman   Composer
Bob Irwin   Mastering
Bob Dylan   Composer
Craig Ward   Composer
Ben E. King   Composer
Klaas Janzoons   Composer
Jules De Borgher   Composer
Jesse Davis   Composer,Mix Down,Producer
John Dietrich   Design,Photography
John Einarson   Annotation
Stef Kamil Carlens   Composer
Gene Clark   Composer