Sunday, May 12, 2019

Gene Clark and The Fyrebirds – Rodeo Rider




Gene Clark and The Fyrebirds – Rodeo Rider

The Rocking Horse Café, Hartford, Connecticut – January 13th, 1985

Gene Clark (guitar, harmonica, vocals)
Michael Clarke (drums)
Mike Hardwick (pedal steel guitar)
Paul Nigro (saxophone)
Jack Carchio (lead guitar)
Buck Knauer (?) (rhythm guitar)
Tom Reinhardt (?) (bass)

Note the wrong spelling of the word “Firebyrds” as “Fyrebirds”.

Al Bershaw writes:

« Gene and Mike were traveling on this 'tour' with a pedal steel player only. They were literally throwing together bands when possible by just partying with local musicians and 'winging' it, so to speak. On this date, I assisted them in putting together this band, and rehearsals were done in my basement.
Other personnel on this date were friends from various local bands that jumped at the chance to play with Gene. The Firebyrds on this gig were: Jack Carchio - lead electric guitar (from the band China Doll), Buck Knauer (?) - electric rhythm guitar (from Linda & The Loveletters), Tom Reinhardt (?) - bass (from Haiku), Paul Nigro - sax (from Mr Big - he was a very respected and talented Connecticut musician. Sadly, he committed suicide a week or two after this gig. This was his last public performance), Gene Clark - vocals & acoustic guitar, Mike Clarke - drums ».

Set 1

1. Fair And Tender Ladies (5:23)
2. Tried So Hard (3:25)
3. Gypsy Rider (4:48)
4. Silver Raven (5:00)
5. She Darked The Sun (4:15)
6. Rodeo Rider (4:54)
7. Kansas City Southern (5:45)
8. Full Circle (3:38)
9. Train Leaves Here This Morning (5:14)
10. Rain Song (6:04)
11. Mr. Tambourine Man (5:39)
12. I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better (3:10)

Set 2

1. Here Without You (4:48)
2. She Don't Care About Time (3:40)
3. Set You Free This Time (4:45)
4. You Showed Me (3:04)
5. Dixie Flyer (5:09)
6. Vanessa (8:21)
7. One Hundred Years From Now (5:14)
8. Rest Of Your Life (4:31)
9. Ain't Living Long Like This (7:07)
10. Hot Burrito #1 (6:57)
11. So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star (14:56)
12.
Eight Miles High (8:50)

Artwork Included (original front and homemade inside and back)

2 comments:

Rocking--Byrd said...

https://www23.zippyshare.com/v/0TqynqjK/file.html

Steve said...

A nice, informal recording. Gene is very good here, both in his solos and with his band. The latter is quite good, considering it was put together under short notice, if I understand the notes correctly. The different musicians play well together, and the often-vitipulated Michael Clarke is quite good here. But the real instrumental star is the saxophonist, who is given several solos towards the end. A pity he committed suicide--he certainly was a master of his instrument. The choice of songs is from Rodeo Rider and a number of other Gene Clark songs, with many nods at his time in the Byrds. He is not afraid to do songs from albums he didn't participate in. The surprise here is a long jam of So You Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star, which I've never heard before, but it works well here. Gene has updated versions of previous songs, with new vocals and obviously new players. His voice is generally quite good, despite all the abuse of cigarettes and booze. All in all, a good addition to anyone's Gene Clark collection. Much obliged, R--B.