Gene Clark

I feel like I may be one of the few people who had actually heard this album before doing the project. It's not bad. There are two good songs, but most of this is easy to pass over.

Two Gene Clark albums in a row! Makes me hopeful there are multiple Tupac albums on here (over 1,001 in and haven’t gotten one yet.) He’s doing is best Dylan impression for much of this one, but it’s a pretty solid one!

A singer-songwriter-ish country album. Very meh, very not interesting. 2*

This album might make sense in the Norwegian list of 1001 albums, but not a chance everywhere else. Just another damn Byrds entry as far as I'm concerned. 1975 was a good closer, and it's nice the album was short, but truly an inconsequential listen. 2/5

sasvim solidan, neloš album. ima dobar vajb. al nije da padneš na guzicu i u konačnici nije ništa vanredan, pa stoga jedna lijepa trojka

This is a country folk album that came across as more country to me. There was some twanging and use of harmonica (which I'm mostly turned off by every time I hear it used somewhere). I like the introspective sound of folk, which I thought came across well in the songs "The Virgin" and "For A Spanish Guitar". Otherwise, this album was just so so.

Old-fashioned c&w

Some decent folk. Nothing that that really captured my attention, but decent enough in the background.

Early 70s singer-songwriter country rock with a guitar and harmonica just isn't a genre that I relate to easily. I'm sorry to say that my experience of this album was largely about hoping it would end soon.

The guitar-playing here is nice, though too often eclipsed by the vocals. It's a good record for people who like records like this.

3 stars

Høres ut som en mer rufsete Gram Parsons

Gemütlicher Sound der 70er incl. Einer guten Fassung von “Stand by me”.

White Light was honestly a pretty okay album. This is the first time i have heard anything by Gene Clark (even counting the Byrds albums because he wasn't involved on either of the ones i did) but his music seems to be more or less what i expected it to be being this very country, singer-songwriter album. The album itself is alright, the music was good and the songwriting was good too. The problem was that these songs could get really samey, this got to a point where i had trouble picking out a favorite and least favorite song since they all sounded so similar to each other. I didn't think it got tiring but there is no doubt that it got forgettable.
Best Song: One In A Hundred
Worst Song: Stand By Me

Якось нудно і дефолтно дуже.

Had never heard of this man until about a week ago when I got another one of his albums. I don’t know if he’s just worn me down, but I enjoyed this album much more than the other. More interesting guitar work. Still, I think it’s an exaggeration for him to have two of his solo albums on this list. His stuff isn’t that varied or exceptional.

Another beautiful album I've discovered here by Gene Clark! Didn't quite enjoy this one as much as the other, but still very good

4 ⭐️

It was entirely forgettable.

A decent country album, nothing special. The harmonica is mixed a little too sharply, and can sometimes hurt your ears. Simple and easygoing music, but nothing crazy or original that caught my attention. Lovely sounding stuff though.

Dutch rock critics picked this over Led Zeppelin IV which was also a 1971 record. Shows you what critics know. It's fine, it's a style that has been done to death. I hear some basic music and basic lyrics. Not hearing anything innovative or worth a re-listen. 2.5/5. Raising to 3.

I am utterly fascinated by the briskness and certainty with which Wikipedia insists on informing me that this album achieved commercial success **ONLY** in The Netherlands. I am fascinated for two reasons: firstly, why has Wikipedia deemed this piece of information second sentence worthy? Secondly, how did Gene Clark (of The Byrds) manage to release an album that was, implicitly, a commercial failure everywhere *except* for The Netherlands. I have decided to do a (small) amount of research into this, instead of just reviewing the fucking album.

I have discovered, per Dutch professor of sociology, Mel Van Elteren, that,

"All kinds of American popular music have been embraced by large groups in the Netherlands during the postwar era. One major exception to this general tendency is country and western music. Although its various brands, from old-time music to country-rock, do have their enthusiastic groups of Dutch aficionados, none of these draws a really large audience, comparable to, let's say, middle-of-the-road pop music, rock, or even rap music. Country is hardly visible or audible in the public realm."

This is a little helpful, but mostly just confusing. Am I to believe that niche, sub-cultural interest in Americana on the part of the Dutch public is enough to constitute a commercial success in the eyes of Gene Clark's label? It is possible, but still doesn't make a ton of sense to me. Also, while I haven't taken a particularly close look at this facet, I have also found discussions about "Dutch Americana". This leads me to believe that Americana originating from The Netherlands is at least prevalent enough to warrant a unique genre descriptor, which may be an indicator that the country has *some* broader interest in the genre. Similarly, I have discovered that several (fairly recent) Eurovision performances from The Netherlands have been Americana inspired, which is another point in favor of public interest. However, this is just about everything I can find on this topic without expending resources on actual literature regarding the subject. So I will call it for now with the tentative conclusion that the success of White Light by Gene Clark in, and only in, The Netherlands *may* make some small amount of sense.

Anyways, we're here to discuss whether on not this is any good. And it's fine. Gene Clark's take on Americana is not particularly inventive or unique, but the songs here are largely well-written and well-performed. A couple of psychedelic flourishes mix things up now and then, but this is mostly meat and potatoes folk rock. Which is to say, if you like folk rock, this will keep you fed, and you'll probably find something to enjoy. But if you're not sold on the genre, White Light probably won't change anything. Although, I would like to mention the lyricism here before wrapping up. Even though his style of writing isn't exactly new, he does manage to pen a few really exceptional images. but all in all, I thought this was fine. I'm kind of baffled by how much this website's top reviews of this album seem to absolutely hate it. Much in the same way that I'm kind of baffled by how The Netherlands alone seemed to love it.

Some parts were ok but a bit too country for me