Although nominally organized and produced by David Crosby, the resulting album evolved into an inadvertent showcase for Clark, who sang lead on two Neil Young covers and two original songs.

During an engagement at The Troubadour in Los Angeles with McGuinn, he introduced a song that would remain in his repertoire for the rest of his career, "Silver Raven"; it would be recorded in an arrangement featuring longtime Clark collaborator Jesse Ed Davis and L.A. session player Danny Kortchmar on No Other.

Living up to the "hillbilly Shakespeare" moniker accorded him by later bandmate John York, the weighty and ponderous nature of most of his lyrics from the period were drawn from his Christian upbringing and discussions regarding the oeuvre of Carlos Castaneda, Theosophy and Zen with his wife and friends, most notably David Carradine and Dennis Hopper.

He said, "When I was writing No Other I concentrated on those albums a lot, and was very inspired by the direction of them...which is ironic, because Innervisions is a very climbing, spiritual thing, while Goats Head Soup has connotations of the lower forces as well.

Most sessions were conducted in Los Angeles and featured the cream of the era's session musicians: Korchmar, keyboardist Craig Doerge, bassist Leland Sklar, and drummer Russ Kunkel of The Section; guitarist Jesse Ed Davis; noted progressive bluegrass fiddler Richard Greene; former Blues Image percussionist Joe Lala; keyboardist and future Jimmy Buffett bandleader Michael Utley; Allman Brothers Band percussionist Butch Trucks; pedal steel guitarist and longtime Neil Young collaborator Ben Keith;[B] backup vocalists Clydie King, Claudia Lennear, Venetta Fields and Cindy Bullens; and former Byrd Chris Hillman.

The plaintive country-folk sounds of White Light and Roadmaster were replaced by intricate vocal harmonies and heavily overdubbed, vertiginous arrangements in Kaye's "answer to Brian Wilson and Phil Spector as a producer".

After his disgusted wife moved the family back to northern California,[14] Clark roomed with old friend and bandmate Doug Dillard in the Hollywood Hills; "Lady of the North", the album's closer, was written by the twosome in a cocaine haze, their final collaboration on a song.

[1][11] Further confounding matters was the album's artwork: the front cover was a collage inspired by 1920s Hollywood glamour, while the back featured a photo of the singer with permed hair and clad in full drag, frolicking at the former estate of John Barrymore.

A rare fall tour staged by the singer could not salvage the endeavour, and demos for a new album—reportedly a fusion of country rock with R&B, funk, and early disco stylings—were promptly rejected by Asylum; an unproven rumor has it that an enraged Clark nearly brawled with Geffen one night at Dan Tana's in West Hollywood when they unexpectedly ran into each other.

On August 18, 2003, Warner Strategic Marketing in Europe released a remastered reissue including "Train Leaves Here This Morning" and several alternate, semi-acoustic renditions as bonus tracks.

[8] The remastered reissue was released as a standard CD, vinyl LP, deluxe double-CD set, and an expansive super deluxe box set with three hybrid SACDs, one Blu-ray disc (featuring the documentary film The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Making and Remaking of No Other, directed by Paul Kendall), a silver-colored LP with original replica poster, and a hardbound 80-page book featuring essays, photos, lyrics and liner notes.

[8] In October 1974, Billboard declared the album to be "a magnificent effort" with Clark's "usual superb mix of country and rock tunes, his melodic vocals and his beautiful set of songs.

[6] Of "Life's Greatest Fool", writer and music critic David Bennun called the song "an exuberant, foot-tapping country-gospel anthem stuffed with counterculture folk wisdom; its downbeat lyric defied by its pure joie de vivre.

"[6] Bennun said the album's title track "pulses, glows and rattles in a thrilling meld of country and funk, gospel and rock, with echoes of the Family Stone, Staple Singers, "Gimme Shelter" and Abbey Road," concluding that the song is "unique not only in his own catalogue but perhaps in all of pop music.

"[6] For "Some Misunderstanding", Bennun hailed the song as "the centrepiece of the No Other album and indeed of Clark's career: a slow, eight-minute cry from the heart, reflecting on the perils and pleasures of a life lived too extravagantly.

From start to finish, No Other consists of godlike pop songs assembled with the lyricism and poignancy of the very best country music, the evergreen freshness of late-Sixties/early-Seventies soul, the untrammelled reach of the masters of beyond-MOR (Spector, Webb, Bacharach/David), the power and exuberance of gospel."

British dream pop collective This Mortal Coil performed a cover of "Strength of Strings" on their 1986 album Filigree & Shadow, with vocals by Breathless frontman Dominic Appleton.

Regarding 4AD's 2019 reissue of No Other, Chris Morris of Variety wrote, "In terms of its present release, the most important No Other enthusiast and Gene Clark fan is undoubtedly Ivo Watts-Russell, the co-founder of England's 4AD.

Though Watts-Russell is no longer partnered in the company, Clark's record plainly remains part of 4AD's DNA, and that status led to the firm's in-depth, madly indulgent and frankly wonderful reintroduction of the '74 album in nearly every configuration imaginable".

The band consisted of fellow Baltimore musicians including members of Lower Dens, Wye Oak, Celebration, Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear and The Walkmen, along with Iain Matthews of Fairport Convention and Plainsong fame.