GENE CLARK & DOUG DILLARD why not your baby (1968)
album : The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark
Arranged by VAN DYKE PARKS
The banjo is present in the background, the rhythm section is pure pop/rock, not a million miles away from The Byrds. The vocals are heavenly and the lyrics clever and charming. Its a pop song that really should have been a hit - someone should cover it and turn it into one. A wonderfully dreamy song.
Gene Clark was the greatest underrated singer/songwriter to emerge from the '60s rock explosion, and deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Neil Young. This album, his debut as a duo with virtuoso banjoist/guitarist Doug Dillard, is perhaps his most brilliant recording. Out of the ashes of the Byrds and a brilliant false start of a solo career (the excellent Echoes album), the 1968 Dillard & Clark project found Clark collecting some of his finest material (basically the entire album) and putting it in the familiar context of bluegrass and country, a good year before these elements became vogue in the pop world. But Gene Clark was always ahead of his time.