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Troubled by the fact that many people still think that Gene Clark’s contribution to popular music amounts to slapping a tambourine for the Byrds, the folks at Colorado’s Not Lame label have summoned Sid Griffin, Steve Wynn, Bill Lloyd, Rich Hopkins, Chris Von Sneidern, Walter Clevenger and numerous other luminaries of the vast pop underground to pay tribute to the late country-rock pioneer.
The two-disc Full Circle set doesn’t just demonstrate the stunning breadth of Clark’s songcraft above and beyond Byrds classics like Eight Miles High and I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better. It also shows the durability of even lesser-known compositions like That’s Alright By Me, Why Not Your Baby and I Knew I’d Want You, which don’t sound at all dated more than 30 years on. The collection also serves as an introduction to power-pop holdouts like Florida’s Barely Pink, Sweden’s Merrymakers and Australia’s Finkers, for whom chiming guitars and hummable tunes never went out of style. TIM PERLICH
