I originally had this album on an LP record and listened to side one (the first four songs) often and rarely listened to side two (songs 5 through 8). Not that the second half wasn't good, it just didn't match the creative genius and diversity of the first four long songs.

"No Other" was released in 1974, featuring the ex-Byrd Gene Clark at his creative peak, backed by '70s rock luminaries such as Butch Trucks, Russ Kunkle, Joe Lala, Chris Hillman, and Jesse Ed Davis, along with an angelic chorus of backup singers.

Clark was pegged as country-rock and the first song, "Life's greatest Fool" starts out as a solid country-rock song until the background singers come in with a gospel edge, repeating after Clark "Do you believe", "deep in your soul", giving the song a depth that can't be matched by today's bland country singer/songwriters. A very catchy song, in which Clark's voice sounds uncannily like Michael Stipe of REM. Of course Stipe was probably in Jr. high school at the time this album was recorded. "Silver Raven" is a masterpiece of acoustic rock that is remniscent of the Marshall Tucker Band, although it was a few years ahead of Marshall Tucker. "No Other" drops the country-rock thing altogether for a musical excursion that reminds me of early Little Feat. "Strength Of Strings" is a haunting song that is utterly original and sounds like nothing you've ever heard before.

These first four songs from "No Other" are powerful and original songs that will stick in your head forever once you've listened to them a few times. The next four tunes, "From A Silver Phial", "Some Misunderstanding", "The True One" and "Lady Of The North' are good songs but the second half of the album drags out with a sameness to the songs and a lack of excitement unlike the first half.

"No Other", along with other great albums of the same period like "Blood On The Tracks" by Bob Dylan seemed like magical music for a magical time. Maybe it was just the redbud and Thai sticks. Nah, this music still moves me in a ethereal way. Gene Clark - gone but not forgotten.

Just recently getting into Gene Clark's impressive body of solo work, I started with White Light and (after only one listen) was initially unimpressed. To tell the truth, I can't think of a Gene Clark album that actually wowed me on the first listen. After a few spins though, White Light found its way permanently under my skin as a fantastic exercise in poetry, delivery, and the possibilities of folk-rock production (it's got some pretty gnarly yet subtle electric guitar). Gene's songs are instantly understandable and accessible, but only to a point--eventually there's a final barrier of mystery in the words and in the sentiment, and that's what keeps me coming back to his music. It's wonderful to puzzle over just what he means and feels, and it's a hallmark of great songwriting when a song doesn't mean just one obvious thing and it's up to the listener to interpret. So, White Light is a fantastic (if commercially unsuccessful) record--enter No Other.

With No Other, Gene fleshed out his songs with lavish ensemble production (check out the bonus tracks for more stripped-down versions), including several female background singers, multiple guitars and keyboards, and some surprisingly different (for Clark) effects. With all due respect to some of the other reviewers, "country-rock" is a pathetically inadequate attempt to describe the sound of this record. No Other has its country-rock moments, but the entire album is so far-ranging that any attempt to classify it wastes words and detracts from enjoyment--I'd rather let the genre-bending sounds just wash over me.

Gene's voice is in prime form--the torture and emotion in his vocals is totally enthralling, and his strained, tentative delivery is still something I've only heard done well by Clark himself. The album opens with "Life's Greatest Fool," a country-rocker in which the easy-going music belies the large-scale wondering that Clark's doing. The production is admittedly quite different from Gene's earlier, more stripped-down records, but I think it works. The other instruments never detract from the force of his songs, they just make them (deservedly) more grand. "Silver Raven," sets a darker tone, one which will permeate most of the album, with a somewhat bleak poetic vision. "No Other" is one of my very favorite tracks, bearing little resemblance to "country-rock," or any other type of rock, for that matter--the fuzzed-out bass charges the song with an urgency supported by Clark's words--"all alone we must be part of one another." Chills.

Impenetrable poetics fill the album, as on the colorful "From a Silver Phial." "Some Misunderstanding," is yet another highlight--the album's epic centerpiece and one of Clark's most compelling soul-searching works of art. In the cascading wall of sound that the song conjures, Clark cries "we all need a fix at a time like this, but doesn't it feel good to stay alive?" Wow again. More of the same, high-caliber songwriting and performing closes out the album.

No Other resonates very strongly with me on a personal level (such a subjective criterion, I'm sure everyone doesn't feel the same way), but whether you find Clark's poetic explorations relevant or not, these are well-written songs with great lyrics, one of the most original voices in rock history, and some great music to go along with it all. If you already own Clark records, you MUST get No Other, and I also recommend it to fans of all those sub genres like folk- country- classic-rock and everything in between. It's time Clark found his audience.

A truly unique album with a more studio oriented approach. Less acoustic and without the usual repeat tracks - from his Byrds years - heard on most Gene Clark albums. Critics panned this recording initially, but have now decided that Gene was truly a visionary and give it much praise. Some of us non-critics liked it from the start, because of its differences. Gene Clark could do little wrong except die too soon. No Other is a testament to his creativity.

Some might say that this album is a tough listen, a "fans only" release to be appreciated only by Clark freaks, but I think that any MOJO-reader, discerning-type '60s-'70s listener will at least enjoy it, if not flat-out love it like I do. Americana, soul, psychedelia, and gorgeous string arrangements create a cosmic stew around Clark's country-gentleman vocals and profoundo lyrics. Brilliantly recorded and arranged, this album deserves to be heard. Just listen to Clark's voice in the song, "From A Silver Phial" when he sings, "She said she had a mind that slept inside tomorrow/ and only time would heal its scars," or the chilling steel guitar on "Silver Raven".

Maybe it was the copious amounts of drugs consumed during recording, maybe it was the endless budget, maybe the influence of the producer Thomas Jefferson "Madman" Kaye, or maybe just the enormity of the talent packed between the grooves, but No Other is truly Gene Clark's masterpiece. In it, he is mystical, beautiful, spiritual, moving, funny, dramatic, tuneful, spare, overwrought (I could go on, but that's just the first song!) Spare further reading and considering whether you should purchase or not, this is a must-have for any true music fan, anyone open to the flights of boundless and visionary risk-taking in music that seems to have gone the way of bell-bottoms, mood rings and, er, Gene Clark.