Gene Clark (1973) In a Misty Morning - LOST70sGEMS

Roadmaster was one of Gene Clark's lesser solo album before the cult favourite No Other in 1974 and after the lauded White Light LP, but it contains two of his best tunes the first is In a Misty Morning. An epic string sweeping masterpiece, it features Clark's intoning baritone ringing alongside a trembling bass and a general rumble of thunderstorm arrangement. The melancholia that was the strain at the core of all his work is no better exemplified here from the wistful longing of a brighter past; 'Running through my thoughts, Were the memories of the days that I had left behind, Way down in my soul were the hope, That better days were always there to find'. Whilst the main hook is that the mood is so grey and outlook so bleak that the clouds 'just had to cry', a tender sentiment that hits a raw nerve while the bluegrass violin coda gives the song a pep and chaotic energy associated with the twirling storm ahead. It has echoes of the wide production technique of the Echoes solo album from the mid 60s and of his next venture, No Other, with his soulbaring croak underscored by Wagnerian soundscapes of strings, acoustics and bass to truly spellbinding effect.