Search - Gene Clark :: The Complete Ebbet's Field Broadcast

Gene Clark's luck was rarely of the 'good' variety during his post-Byrds career, and though his 1974 album No Other would come to be seen as a neglected masterpiece years after its release, by early 1975 it was considered an expensive flop that put Clark on the bad side of David Geffen. At the time Clark was doing club dates as and when he could find them, to help make ends meet and keep his name somewhat in the public eye. On February 19, 1975, Clark played in Denver, CO at the legendary Ebbet's Field club at 1020 15th street, where local FM station KFML broadcast the event, as they did with many of Ebbets' shows. Backed by Roger White on guitar and Duke Bardwell on bass and acoustic 6 string, (billed as Gene Clark & Silverado) the harmonies are superb and White's lead guitar offers a fine counterpart to Clark's strong and emotive vocals. Although the trio performed two cuts from No Other - 'Silver Raven' and the title track, both as majestic stripped down arrangements - it would appear that Gene was not too bothered about supporting or promoting his new release. The gig features a number of obscurities and 'oldies' ; 'Home Run King' and 'Daylight Line' never made it onto a studio album, two numbers reached back to his Byrds days ('Here Without You' and 'Set You Free This Time') and a pair of archive cover versions ('Long Black Veil' originally by Lefty Frizell, and Lead Belly's 'In the Pines') all rubbed shoulders with no fewer than 3 old Dillard & Clark numbers ('Kansas City Southern', 'She Darked the Sun' & 'Train Leaves Here This Morning'). The charming and somewhat delicious 'For a Spanish Guitar', originally on Clark's 1971 record and allegedly hailed by Bob Dylan as one of the greatest songs ever written, completes what sounds to have been one remarkable evening in a small Denver club some 40 years ago.