After his departure from the Byrds, Gene Clark partied hard and spent the summer of 1966 in a torrid love affair with Michelle Phillips during her hiatus from the Mamas and the Papas. He also assembled a backing group known simply as "The Group" and kept on writing. Ultimately signed to Columbia as a solo artist, Clark set about cutting a debut that would establish him as something more than one-fifth of a whole. With harmony assistance from Vern and Rex Gosdin, a rhythm section of Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke (Group members Joel Larson and Bill Rinehart were occasionally substituted) and additional assistance from some of the hottest players in Los Angeles, Clark cut his debut album, a mix of pop, country-rock and psychedelic baroque throughout late 1966. "Echoes", featuring a 32-piece orchestra arranged by Leon Russell, was the single, appearing in December 1966 backed by the funky rocker "I Found You". It didn't chart, foreshadowing the performance of the album as a whole. In 1967, it was still a bit strange for a solo act to spring from an established group, so Columbia set the release dates for Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers and the Byrds' Younger than Yesterday almost simultaneously. It didn't bode well for Clark, who already had the handicap of having been out of the public's eye for a year. In spite of the fact that both albums were on relatively equal footing with one another in terms of quality, only the Byrds album would chart, peaking at #24.

Even with the failure of his debut, Clark kept on performing in and around Los Angeles with a new group featuring future Byrds Clarence White and John York. There were various sessions used to cut demos, most if not all remain in the vaults. Clark turned up months later in a brief reunion with the Byrds, replacing Crosby, who had tried to exert just a bit too much influence on the group one too many times. It seemed to be the best for both the group and Clark, as neither had experienced the successes apart that they had experienced together. Though Clark may not have taken a large part in the sessions for The Notorious Byrd Brothers, he did appear miming vocal and guitar parts for television appearances and playing a handful of live shows with the group. Unfortunately for Clark, his aviatophobia got the best of him and he left the group yet again. The Byrds would end up finishing their fifth album as a duo after Michael Clarke's departure. Soon enough, Roger McGuinn (James Joseph McGuinn, III had changed his middle name and taken it as his stage name during an exploration with Subud) would be the sole link to the band's glory days.

Following his second departure from the Byrds, Clark took the advice of producer Larry Marks, who had produced parts of his debut, and joined up with the artist-friendly A&M Records. Recordings with Laramy Smith (formerly of the Fugitives) were favorable, but Clark soon elected to embrace the bluegrass and country of his youth, giving it a contemporary sheen with a band featuring banjo phenom Doug Dillard, who had recently toured with and rejected an overture to join the Byrds. With the addition of mandolin and dobro player Don Beck and two members of the folk-rock Hearts and Flowers- bassist/keyboardist David Jackson and lead guitarist/bassist Bernie Leadon, Dillard & Clark set about recording a progressive bluegrass album. With assistance from five members or eventual members of the equally influential Flying Burrito Brothers (Leadon, fiddle king Byron Berline, drummer Jon Corneal and Clark's old Byrdmates Hillman and Clarke), the result was The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark, a catalyst for the budding country-rock movement, not necessarily as easily digestible as later records by other groups but a treasure nonetheless. A key part of the album's critical success (it was yet another failure otherwise) was the strong songwriting Clark, Dillard and Leadon brought to the table. Clark's gorgeous "Out on the Side", with a haunting organ and barely-there drums, was the A-side of the album's only single. "Train Leaves Here This Morning", with its rich harmonies and shimmering mandolin, was placed on the B-side. The single performed as well as the album, though Leadon would revive the B-side for the Eagles' 1972 self-titled debut. The fact the Eagles' version is better known is troubling.

The group, soon adding Michael Clarke full-time, plugging in and going by The Dillard & Clark Exposition, performed in and around Los Angeles to rave reviews. Of course, it was Clark's fear of flying prevented them from going elsewhere, from breaking through to the masses. Two more singles, "Lyin' Down the Middle"/"Don't Be Cruel" and "Why Not Your Baby"/"The Radio Song" came out in 1969, neither performed. The group eventually went back into the studio, but their second album would suffer from the dreaded sophomore slump. Having traded Clarke for Jon Corneal and having added Dillard's girlfriend Donna Washburn on harmony vocals and guitar full-time, the group dynamic changed. Leadon, upset with losing harmony and partial guitar duties, split in the midst of recording, turning up in the Flying Burrito Brothers months later (for more on that, refer to the fourth part of my Gilded Palace series). With only Clark writing songs, covers abounded, Dillard & Clark turning to the Everlys, Jim Reeves, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant and even Clark favorites the Beatles for material. Still, there were plenty of gems, including "Through the Morning, Through the Night" and "Polly", both of which would be covered by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on their Raising Sand album. An attempt at being more commercial, Through the Morning, Through the Night was a minor failure simply because of what had preceded it. The group soon went their separate ways.

1970 saw yet another reunion of Clark with the original Byrds and their first producer, Jim Dickson, but it was solely through the magic of overdubbing. Two tracks, "She's the Kind of Girl" and "One in a Hundred", were recorded for a potential single for A&M but legalities prevented its release. It was just as well… McGuinn was still busy with the late-period lineup of the group, Crosby's focus was on his super-group with Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young and Hillman and Clarke were busy with the Flying Burrito Brothers, trying to keep the group together in spite of losing leader Gram Parsons. The two tracks would eventually see release in the Netherlands, but would be destined for rarity status for decades owing to their unreleased status elsewhere. Clark played a handful of concerts with Hillman, Clarke and the Burritos, recording "Here Tonight" with the group shortly after they added guitarist/vocalist Rick Roberts to their line-up.

Sticking with A&M for a solo career, he went into the studio in March 1971 with Jesse Ed Davis producing and adding lead guitar. With a backlog of songs from his flowing pen, Clark recorded a masterwork of introspection. Highlights from the sessions were "For a Spanish Guitar", an introspective Dylanesque portrait with Clark little more than a narrator describing what he sees around him, "With Tomorrow", a collaboration with Davis written from the viewpoint of a man lost without his love but still determined to carry on and a re-worked version of the unreleased Byrds track "One in a Hundred" with the chiming Rick replaced by a wonderful slide part from Davis. Like his three previous releases, Gene Clark (White Light) was a critical success and a chart failure at home and in Britain. Unexpectedly, White Light hit in the Netherlands, where it was voted album of the year. Of course, Clark's inability to tour may have had something to do with the album's lack of success.

For his third solo album, Gene called on many of the players who had graced his previous sessions, including Clarence White, "Sneeky" Pete Kleinow, Byron Berline and Michael Clarke. Highlights of the sessions were "Full Circle Song", a number reflecting the cyclical nature of life, "Shooting Star", a melancholy statement on mortality and "She Don't Care About Time", a re-tooled, country version of the B-side to "Turn! Turn! Turn!" performed as a dirge. Aside from "Roadmaster", a rocking tale of road life, the album was essentially a collection of some of the best balladry Clark would ever commit to tape. But A&M, concerned about the spiraling costs of a record for an artist whose last hit song had come out in 1966, had the sessions terminated before they were completed and Clark was left with eight tracks, barely long enough for an album. In the Netherlands, the eight tracks were coupled with the two tracks from the 1970 Byrds pseudo-reunion and "Here Tonight", recorded with the Flying Burrito Brothers in 1971, the eleven-track album titled Roadmaster and released on A&M's Dutch subsidiary Ariola in late 1972. By the time of its release, Clark was well into his next endeavor, a familiar one that should have been much more than it ended up.

By late 1972, the time was finally right for a reunion of the Byrds' classic line-up. Clark's solo career had been full of critical successes, but that hadn't translated to sales. Crosby hadn't yet committed to teaming up with Graham Nash full-time, though it was inevitable. Hillman's tenure in Stephen Stills' Manassas was slowly coming to an end. Clarke hadn't had a gig since the disbanding of the Flying Burrito Brothers earlier in the year. With the late-period line-up of Roger McGuinn's Byrds growing increasingly faint in the public eye, Asylum Records founder David Geffen bought the group's contract from Columbia.

Owing to the obligations of McGuinn and Hillman, the brunt of assembling an album was left to Clark and Crosby. As a result, Clark would sing the most lead vocals on the album and Crosby would produce a record that was less a Byrds album than a pastiche of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Aside from Clark, the songwriters in the group had clearly submitted second-rate material. Hillman, who had composed some of the deepest songs in the Byrds catalogue, submitted two short, slight numbers co-written with Manassas band mates, tracks seemingly rejected by that band. McGuinn, stockpiling tracks for his solo debut, submitted two of the worst songs he would ever write. Crosby's three tracks consisted of a remake of a track from his debut solo album, a Joni Mitchell cover and a weak track seemingly blasting the premise of the record itself. Two of Clark's four lead vocals were on Neil Young covers, perhaps owing to Crosby's influence, but they were tastefully arranged. As for his two originals, Clark submitted "Full Circle", at that point unissued excepting the Dutch Roadmaster release and "Changing Heart", seemingly a comment on the excesses of the Byrds' early days.

Aurally, it wasn't the Byrds, but it did resonate with the public, perhaps owing to a need for a new Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young album, which Byrds seemed to stand in for. Even with less-than-stellar reviews, Byrds (credited to the individual members rather than to the group) made it to #20 on the charts, charting higher than the nine previous studio albums by the group. Still, the members of the group were quick to disavow it and the five would never manage to cut another album. Soon enough, Clark would restart his solo career with his magnum opus, though as with so many other endeavors, the album wouldn't catch on with the public.

ECHOES

SO YOU SAY YOU LOST YOUR BABY

OUT ON THE SIDE

TRAIN LEAVES HERE THIS MORNING

POLLY

KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN

WITH TOMORROW

WHERE MY LOVE LIES ASLEEP

ROADMASTER

SHOOTING STAR

FULL CIRCLE