Gene Clark with John York: Folk City, New York City, 6-22-1984, Late Show

Back in March 2023, I posted a 1985 acoustic concert by Gene Clark. This is a 1984 acoustic concert by Gene Clark, and it's not terribly different. However, that 1985 one is an audience bootleg, whereas this is an excellent soundboard bootleg. The 1985 concert is significantly longer, but if you were to only listen to one, I'd recommend this one.

Clark is best known for being the main lead singer of the Byrds in the early years of that band (1964 to 1966). He released a lot of great music as a solo artist, but his solo career never took off commercially. It sounds like this concert was performed in front of a small audience at a club. That is exaggerated by the fact that the soundboard clearly recorded everything on stage but almost nothing from the audience, which happens with soundboards sometimes, so it sounds almost like there was no audience at all. I tried to boost the volume of the applause, but I could only do so much.

By 1984, Clark's music, while excellent, was out of step with current trends, dominated by New Wave and synths. So the main way he got people to come to his concerts was by playing up nostalgia for the Byrds. Thus, in this concert he was supported by John York, another former member of the Byrds. Clark and York were never members of the Byrds at the same time (York was a Byrd in 1968 and 1969), so it was an odd pairing. But York did a really nice job singing harmonies on most of the songs. He also sang a couple of songs he wrote, such as "You Only Love Cocaine." I thought they were pretty good, considering that he never even managed to put out a solo album until the 1990s, way after this concert.

Clark had a habit of repeatedly sabotaging his music career, starting with leaving the Byrds way too early in 1966. His solo careers remains severely underappreciated. If you haven't checked out his solo stuff yet, this is a good place to start, due to the sound quality and solid performance.

This album is an hour and three minutes long.

01 talk (Gene Clark with John York)
02 It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Gene Clark with John York)
03 Long Black Veil (Gene Clark with John York)
04 talk (Gene Clark with John York)
05 You Only Love Cocaine (Gene Clark with John York)
06 talk (Gene Clark with John York)
07 She Don't Care about Time (Gene Clark with John York)
08 talk (Gene Clark with John York)
09 Why Did You Leave (Gene Clark with John York)
10 talk (Gene Clark with John York)
11 Me and J.D. (Gene Clark with John York)
12 talk (Gene Clark with John York)
13 Chimes of Freedom (Gene Clark with John York)
14 Mr. Tambourine Man (Gene Clark with John York)
15 talk (Gene Clark with John York)
16 So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star (Gene Clark with John York)
17 Full Circle Song (Gene Clark with John York)
18 talk (Gene Clark with John York)
19 Turn, Turn, Turn [To Everything There Is a Season] (Gene Clark with John York)
20 Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Gene Clark with John York)
21 Eight Miles High (Gene Clark with John York)
22 talk (Gene Clark with John York)
23 Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Gene Clark with John York)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15972577/GeneCl_1984_FolkCtyNwYorkCty__6-22-1984_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is a screenshot from a 1984 TV show.