White Light (Gene Clark album)

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White Light
Gene Clark - White Light.png
Studio album by
ReleasedAugust 1971
RecordedSpring 1971
StudioA&M Studios and Village Recorders, Los Angeles
GenreCountry rock, folk rock
Length34:58
LabelA&M
ProducerJesse Ed Davis
Gene Clark chronology
Through the Morning, Through the Night
(1969)
White Light
(1971)
Roadmaster
(1973)

White Light, aka Gene Clark, is the second solo album by Gene Clark, former member of The Byrds. It only achieved commercial success in the Netherlands, where rock critics also voted it album of the year.[1] Like all of his post-Byrds records, it did very poorly on the US charts.

In June 2018, independent reissue label Intervention Records released White Light on vinyl and as a hybrid CD/SACD.[2]

Background[]

Clark's backing band on the album included producer and guitarist Jesse Edwin Davis, bassist Chris Ethridge of the Flying Burrito Brothers, organist Michael Utley, along with pianist Ben Sidran and drummer Gary Mallaber, both of the Steve Miller Band. Although Clark began another album for A&M, the label stopped the sessions before that album was completed. Those tracks were available in the Netherlands on Clark's 1973 album Roadmaster, which was not released in the United States until 1994.[1]

Reception[]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic4.5/5 stars[3]

Music critic Thom Jurek, writing for AllMusic, wrote the album "has established itself as one of the greatest singer/songwriter albums ever made... 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."[3]

Track listing[]

All tracks are written by Gene Clark, except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Virgin" 3:40
2."With Tomorrow"Clark, Jesse Ed Davis2:27
3."White Light" 3:41
4."Because of You" 4:06
5."One in a Hundred" 3:36
6."For a Spanish Guitar" 5:00
7."Where My Love Lies Asleep" 4:23
8."Tears of Rage"Bob Dylan, Richard Manuel4:15
9."1975" 3:49
2002 Universal/A&M CD reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
10."Because of You" (alternate mix) 4:04
11."Stand by Me"Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller2:43
12."Ship of the Lord" 2:32
13."Opening Day" 4:00
14."Winter In" 3:17

Personnel[]

Musicians
Production
  • Jesse Ed Davis – producer, mixing
  • Joe Zagarino – engineer
  • Baker Bigsby – assistant engineer

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Robertson, Ray (2016). Lives of the Poets (with Guitars). Biblioasis. ISBN 9781771960731.
  2. ^ "White Light CD/SACD (Pre-Order) – Intervention Records". www.interventionrecords.com. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Jurek, Thom. "White Light > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
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