Gene Clark - Back Street Mirror: Revisited (2024)

Beyond his achievements as a founding member of the Byrds, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Gene Clark was one of the most prolific singer-songwriters of the rock era. After his passing in 1991, fans began lobbying for the release of known studio recordings that had been locked away for decades. They eventually got their wish with the release of The Lost Studio Sessions: 1964-1982, a collection of rarities from the personal archives of the Byrds’ first manager, Jim Dickson. This title was released in several limited-edition formats in 2016 by Sierra Records. Mining this same cache of treasures, a six-song EP entitled Back Street Mirror followed in 2018 for Record Store Day.

This year, Liberation Hall has made most of this material available again. The Lost Studio Sessions: 1964-1982 was reissued on CD and double LP (both featuring 24 tracks) on April 20. The next title up for expansion is Back Street Mirror, now renamed Back Street Mirror: Revisited. The original six-song EP will be joined by five additional tracks, one from 1964, and four from the pre-White Light period in 1970. These five tracks previously appeared on CD as part of the limited-edition The Lost Studio Sessions campaign from 2016. Back Street Mirror: Revisited is a digital-only release with all songs written by Clark and the download will include discographic notes by Gene Clark archivist Tom Sandford.

Highlighted track, “Yesterday, Am I Right” is from an August 1967 session produced by legendary South African horn player, Hugh Masekela. This baroque-pop gem sits nicely alongside contemporaneous offerings from the Byrds and the Doors, who were both experimenting with horns and strings.