My love of Gene Clark has been well documented on this site. Just a few years ago we marked the twentieth anniversary of his death with a fanzine, Remember Gene Clark, edited by myself and the legendary music publicist & writer Mick Houghton. We pulled together a bunch of Gene fans and we asked the question, “What does GC mean to you?” You can read it here and you should even be able to download it if you wished.

And now there’s a film – a documentary by Four Suns productions, The Byrd Who Flew Alone – The Triumphs And Tragedy Of Gene Clark, and it’s a good film, it includes some good interviews (though Crosby is a bit of a cock) and some killer clips and I hope that it’s going to turn more people on to his beautiful music.

We all have a moan about the neglected ones – the ones we love that only got recognition decades later – Gene’s sort of one of them, well post-Byrds sort of one of them anyway, but I’m not going down that road here. I’ve bored too many people brainless with those stories, I’ll just simply recommend you buy the DVD and enjoy the music and maybe learn something new. After that it’s up to you to work out whether or not his life was a tragedy. Either way, spread the word: his music really should be heard.

The DVD can be bought directly from Four Suns Productions or you can try your luck in winning yourself a copy in a competition that’s going on tomorrow’s Caught by the River newsletter. If you’re not yet on the mailing list then now’s the time to put your email address in the little box at the top of this page, you’ll be amazed at how happy it will make you. (JB)