Cash on the Barrelhead, Son!

The late Gram Parsons’ influence on the “No Depression” or alt. country movements (take your pick), which took shape in earnest in the early 1990s, is well documented. Parsons’ vision of what he would call, “Cosmic American Music”, has clearly transcended its roots to create an artform that is neither truly “country” nor “rock” but a hybrid that emphasises the power and soulfulness of both.

Whilst in college in the mid-1960s, Parsons formed the International Submarine Band (with guitarist John Nuese, bassist Ian Dunlop and drummer Mickey Gauvin) with the express intention of merging traditional country and western with the emergent popular rock music of the time. In that respect, Parsons took his cues from his heroes, Merge Haggard and Buck Owens. The group spent a year developing a heavily country-influenced rock ‘n’ roll sound and ultimately secured a record contract with the LHI record label. The group’s only album, Safe at Home, was released in early 1968, but by the time it appeared in the stores, the group had already disbanded.

Parsons brought this ground-breaking approach to the Byrds and proceeded to turn the L.A. band on their collective ear, convincing Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn to record a country-inflected album—Sweetheart of the Rodeo—that caught the music world by surprise. However, Parsons’ restless spirit and the desire to produce the kind of music he heard in his head prompted him—with the collaboration of Hillman—to leave the Byrds behind and form the Flying Burrito Brothers.

The pair enlisted pedal steel guitarist “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow and bassist Chris Ethridge to complete the band’s lineup and recorded their debut album with a series of session drummers. The Gilded Palace of Sin, the Flying Burrito Brothers debut album, was released in 1969. Although the album only sold a few thousand copies, the group gathered a dedicated cult following. A second album—titled Burrito Deluxe—appeared in the spring of 1970 but, once again, Parsons had moved on to newer pastures, recording two solo albums before dying of a drug overdose in 1973 at the tender age of 26.

Although the Flying Burrito Brothers would go on to record and release more albums, Parson’s brief time with the band remains its most influential and finest hour. This latest collection of Parsons-era material encapsulates that critical period, though one could quibble with the absence of the touching ballad “Hot Burrito #1”, “Farther Along” and the excellent cover of the Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody”. Considering that other worthier compilations are available—for example, the indispensable Farther Along and last year’s comprehensive Hot Burritos—justifying the existence of this collection seems a lost cause.

That said, most of the essential tracks are included here—the apocalyptic “Sin City”, the hillbilly psychedelic “Christine (Devil in Disguise)”, the indefinable pop classic “Hot Burrito #2” and the definitive version of the Jagger-Richards chestnut, “Wild Horses”. And it’s all presented in pristine 96k/24-bit re-mastered sound, no less! Neither essential nor definitive, this is still a good sampler of the indisputable genius of Gram Parsons.