So Rebellious a Lover | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 1987 | |||
Recorded | Early 1986 | |||
Studio | Control Center, Los Angeles, California | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 44:08 | |||
Label | Rhino | |||
Producer | Michael Huey | |||
Gene Clark and Carla Olson chronology | ||||
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So Rebellious a Lover is a 1987 studio album by American singer-songwriters Gene Clark and Carla Olson. Released in April 1987, the album revived Clark's flagging career. It was well-received and became a modest commercial success, at the time the biggest-selling album of Clark's solo career. [1] Although no promotional singles were released from the album, several tracks ("The Drifter," "Gypsy Rider," "Del Gato," and "Are We Still Making Love") are well regarded among fans. [2]
"They played their set to a room of maybe 50, mostly UCLA students who were there to drink," Olson recalls. "At the end of the show, the Gene Clark fans coaxed an encore out of them, and they launched into 'I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better'. Tom Slocum, one of Gene’s friends, was sitting in the next booth and asked if he could join us. The next thing I knew he was taking my hand and pulling me along toward the stage. He said, 'You can sing with them on this one, you know it — right?' Halfway through the guitar solo, Gene says, 'Hi, I'm Gene Clark,' to which I replied, 'Carla, Carla Olson, nice to meet you!'"
—Carla Olson, on meeting Gene Clark. [3]
By the mid 1980s, Clark's career had reached its nadir. 1984's Firebyrd, with his short-lived band of the same name, had been another in a string of critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful outings. Around this time, the rising popularity of jangle rockers like Tom Petty and R.E.M. sparked a new interest in the Byrds, and Clark began developing new fans among L.A.'s roots-conscious paisley underground scene. [1] At what would become FireByrd's swansong gig at Madame Wong's West in West Los Angeles, Gene would meet singer/songwriter Carla Olson and her manager Saul Davis. [4] Following a series of impromptu writing sessions at Clark's home, the pair entered the studio in early 1986 with drummer Michael Huey producing.
The album was recorded at Control Center Studios in Los Angeles. For the sessions, Huey assembled a backing band which included Roscoe Beck on bass, Otha Young on acoustic guitar, Skip Edwards on keyboards, and Long Ryders guitarist Stephen McCarthy added dobro and lap steel. Huey himself provided the drums. [5]
Chris Hillman, Clark's former bandmate in The Byrds, performs on mandolin on several tracks.
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
Released in April, 1987, So Rebellious a Lover has been cited as one of the first true Americana albums. [6]
Reviewing the album for AllMusic, music critic Matthew Greenwald wrote, "the feeling of spontaneity and closeness of spirit engulfs all of the cuts here. Olson's strident and powerful vocals mesh beautifully with Clark's slightly world-weary, soulful performances. As for the material, both songwriters obviously put their best foot forward here. Olson's "The Drifter" and "Are We Still Making Love" are excellent country-folk outings. Clark contributes one of his finest later compositions, "Gypsy Rider," a multi-leveled song that can easily be viewed as autobiographical." [2]
Rolling Stone ranked "Gypsy Rider" as one of Clark's 21 best songs. [7] Writer and music critic David Bennun calls the song "as sorrowful a motorcycle tune as you’ll ever hear," concluding, "it invokes an almost unbearable sadness at the prospect of leaving yet another love...It is easy to read too much into words in hindsight, but it truly does sound as if he is performing his own elegy." [8] Olson recalls of the song, "It conjured images, the first time Gene played it for me, of Michael Parks’s character in Then Came Bronson, the 1969 television series. I think that Gene envied that lifestyle — the drifter with a kind heart." [3]
No. | Title | Songwriter(s) | Length |
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1. | "The Drifter" | Carla Olson, Joe Read, Tom Junior Morgan | 4:54 |
2. | "Gypsy Rider" | Gene Clark | 4:32 |
3. | "Every Angel in Heaven" | Carla Olson George Callins | 3:55 |
4. | "Del Gato" | Gene Clark, Rick Clark | 4:54 |
5. | "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)" | Martin Hoffman, Woody Guthrie | 3:39 |
No. | Title | Songwriter(s) | Length |
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1. | "Fair and Tender Ladies" | Gene Clark, Traditional | 5:02 |
2. | "Almost Saturday Night" | John Fogerty | 2:37 |
3. | "I'm Your Toy (Hot Burrito #1)" | Gram Parsons, Chris Ethridge | 4:13 |
4. | "Are We Still Making Love" | Carla Olson | 3:27 |
5. | "Why Did You Leave Me Today" | Gene Clark | 3:51 |
6. | "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home" | Joe South | 3:21 |
Total length: | 44:08 |
No. | Title | Songwriter(s) | Length |
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12. | "Changes" | Phil Ochs | 3:28 |
13. | "Day for Night" | Gene Clark | 2:53 |
14. | "Jokers Are Wild" | Dick Holler, Pat Robinson | 3:28 |
15. | "Winning Hand" | Gene Clark | 2:34 |
16. | "Lover's Turnaround" | Gene Clark, Thomas Jefferson Kaye | 3:25 |
17. | "Broken Hearts and Broken Dreams" | Dianne Baumgartner | 4:20 |
Total length: | 64:50 |
Credits adapted from Discogs. [5]
Technical
James Roger McGuinn is an American musician, best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds. As a solo artist he has released 10 albums and collaborated with, among others, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Chris Hillman. The 12-string Rickenbacker guitar is his signature instrument.
The Byrds were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member. Although their time as one of the most popular groups in the world only lasted for a short period in the mid-1960s, the Byrds are considered by critics to be among the most influential rock acts of their era. Their signature blend of clear harmony singing and McGuinn's jangly 12-string Rickenbacker guitar was "absorbed into the vocabulary of rock" and has continued to be influential.
Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter and founding member of the folk rock band the Byrds. He was the Byrds' principal songwriter between 1964 and early 1966, writing most of the band's best-known originals from this period, including "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better", "She Don't Care About Time", "Eight Miles High" and "Set You Free This Time". Although he did not achieve commercial success as a solo artist, Clark was in the vanguard of popular music during much of his career, prefiguring developments in such disparate subgenres as psychedelic rock, baroque pop, newgrass, country rock, and alternative country. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 as a member of the Byrds.
The Notorious Byrd Brothers is the fifth album by the American rock band the Byrds, and was released in January 1968, on Columbia Records. The album represents the pinnacle of the Byrds' late-'60s musical experimentation, with the band blending together elements of psychedelia, folk rock, country, electronic music, baroque pop, and jazz. With producer Gary Usher, they made extensive use of a number of studio effects and production techniques, including phasing, flanging, and spatial panning. The Byrds also introduced the sound of the pedal steel guitar and the Moog modular synthesizer into their music, making it one of the first LP releases on which the Moog appears.
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A drifter is a vagrant who moves from place to place without a fixed home or employment.
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Roadmaster is the third studio album by Gene Clark, released in January 1973. The album was compiled from various unreleased recordings for A&M Records made in 1970 through 1972. Eight tracks are from an April 1972 recording session featuring Clarence White, Chris Ethridge, Spooner Oldham, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Byron Berline and Michael Clarke; two tracks derived from an unissued single reassembling the five original Byrds prior to their 1973 reunion album; and the remaining track, "Here Tonight", had been recorded with The Flying Burrito Brothers. Initially released in the Netherlands and Germany only on the A&M subsidiary Ariola, it was reissued on compact disc for the American market in 1994. Other recordings of songs on Roadmaster featuring Clark have been released elsewhere: "One in a Hundred" initially appeared on Clark's previous solo album White Light, Full Circle Song was later rerecorded with the Byrds for the Byrds reunion album, and was released as the albums only single, while "She Don't Care About Time" had originally been recorded with the Byrds in 1965 and was released as the B-side to "Turn! Turn! Turn!".
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McGuinn, Clark & Hillman were an American rock group consisting of Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, and Chris Hillman, who were all former members of the band the Byrds. The group formed in 1977 and was partly modeled after Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and, to a lesser extent, the Eagles. They were reasonably successful commercially in the United States, with their debut album reaching number 39 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart and the single "Don't You Write Her Off" reaching number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100.
J. Michael Huey is an American drummer and producer. He has played with a diverse group of artists in genres including Rock/Pop/Country/R&B such as Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Juice Newton, Etta James, and Lindsey Buckingham. Huey is also noted for his work on film and television soundtracks as well as numerous world tours with Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees. He has also worked as a record producer for major record labels including MCA and Warner Bros.
"Almost Saturday Night" is a song written by John Fogerty and first released on his 1975 album John Fogerty. It was released as a single and reached No. 78. It has been covered by a number of artists, including Dave Edmunds, who also released it as a single to more success, Gene Clark, Ricky Nelson, The Searchers, The Georgia Satellites and Ned LeDoux.
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Carla Olson is an American, Los Angeles-based songwriter, performer and record producer.
"Gypsy Rider" is a song written by Gene Clark, and performed by Clark and Carla Olson on the album So Rebellious a Lover, released 1987. The song was released as the A-side on a promo single the following year, given away for free with issue No. 24 of Bucketfull of Brains magazine. The B-side was "Flyaway" performed by The Seers.
Carla Olson is a Los Angeles-based songwriter, performer and producer. Her discography consists of 10 studio albums, 4 live albums, and 4 compilations. In addition, she has been featured as a performer and producer on many albums by other artists.
Gene Clark was an American singer-songwriter and founding member of the Byrds. His discography consists of 7 studio albums, 3 live albums, 11 compilations, 2 EPs, and 10 singles.