Gene + A Bunch Of Djangos = A Very Good Time

It's been an unconsciously long time that I posted something from Gene Clark, and this will not stand. So I'll post my favorite bootleg of Geno, backed by the Django Band, a short-lived troupe that came out of Gene's long-running 'Tribute To The Byrds' road band. As a matter of fact, outside of this bootleg I have never heard of the band being called The Django Band, but I'll trust the taper on them being dubbed as such. Whatever their name, they were a sympathetic backing band for Geno, led by Michael Curtis of the short-lived Curtis Brothers Band that I have previously featured here, and guitar slinger Billy Darnell who by this time was a four-year veteran of Clark's backing band duty. The line-up is completed by Greg Thomas on drums, and was essentially a mash-up of two different, equally dubious Byrds tribute bands, with Curtis comng over from Michael Clarke's Tribute To The Byrds (and then, his fake Byrds). 

So he has a very fine backing band which does make a difference. While solo acoustic Gene, and sometimes band-backed Gene, would slow down allsongs to dirge-like tempo, here The Django Band prevents that from happening and Gene, who seems to be in especially good humour - alcohol-related or not - hs a blast with these guys, who bring the groove. Like, literally, during a section of "Mr. Tambourine Man", where the classic melody and rhythm are upended by a short groove riffing part. They give a bit of a Calypso feel to "She Darked The Sun" and play "Set You Free This Time" as f it were an old soul song. Several of Gene's old warhorse sound a bit different than thier usual presentation, which obviously freshens them up a bit.

The other thing I love about this boot is the set list, covering a ton of classics - including an abundance of Byrds songs that betray the group's origins as a Byrds tribute band -  but also songs that at this time were rarely playd, "Backstage Pass" and "She Darked The Sun" for example. There is a rare live showing of "Shades Of Blue" that he only ever recorded as a demo. Actually the first set opens with a very nice surprise. As he often would, Clark opens with a short acoustic segment, but here "Here Without You" and "For A Spanish Guitar" are augmented by a mandolin, played by Curtis. And Curtis gets a solo lead vocal showcase in that first set to sing "Southern Cross", a track familiar for longstanding One Buck Heads from that aforementioned Curtis Brothers comp. 

The Django Band also gets busy during the intermission between Gene's two sets, playing a couple of Curtis tunes (including the classic, Fleetwood-Mac covered "Blue Letter") and a cover of "Iko Iko"sung by Billy Darnell, while Gene is away, presumably at the bar, before he joins them for another run through classic Byrds and solo tunes, including a reworked version of "Gypsy Rider" that Curtis would then later cover on a solo album. 

The sound of the boot is pretty good, vocals are slightly distant, but nothing too distracting. I did a bit of work to improve the presentation, mainly cutting out dead space, though I also rearranged the setlist a little. On the original boot, the Django Band solo set was attached to the end of the first set and disc, which I felt made little sense. So the intermission is now opening the second disc. And I moved "Eight Miles High" from its third-from-last place to the closing number, as the 14 minute+ jam isn't all that good, and I tend to like these longform songs as run-out grooves rather than being stuck with them in the middle of a program.

So, enjoy this very lovely Gene Clark program, one of his last moments of glory, and a wondeerful way of relistening to the many classics the man wrote.