Continuing and expanding on the section I ran during Metal Month II, this is where I take recommendations from members as to albums I should listen to. Anyone is welcome to suggest an album or albums, but do remember that there are certain genres I'm not interested in, so no jazz, punk, grindcore or hip-hop please. Most of the other genres are acceptable, but as ever, this will be my choice and I may not decide to listen to the album you suggest. I guess it's up to you to convince me I should.
First up is this one, selected by Urban, who seems to think I don't listen to enough Country music. He's right. I don't. But I do like a lot of it, and this album, and this artiste, was so influential upon so many genres outside of Country that it's probably about time I gave it a listen.
Grievous angel --- Gram Parsons --- 1974 (Reprise)
Suggested by Urban Hat€monger
Released one year after his death, this is in fact only the second solo album by Gram Parsons --- technically he would only have had one, as this is pulled together from recordings and songs he wrote prior to his death in 1973. It was released with barely a whisper the year after, but has since gone on to be recognised as a hugely important album in Country, Folk and rock music. For those of you who are hearing the name and trying to remember where you heard it, well if you ever listened to The Byrds or or The Flying Burrito Brothers, he was in both bands.
The album opens with that old staple of Country music, the whining steel guitar, then vocal harmonies make a very lush sound as “Return of the grievous angel” takes us in, a very full and rich sound in the singing. If you think you recognise the female vocal there, you probably do, as it's Country superstar, Emmylou Harris, who worked a lot with Parsons. It's a laidback track, with some nice guitar, some fine piano from Glen Hardin and some cool fiddle from Byron Berline, with The Eagles' Bernie Leadon adding acoustic guitar to proceedings.
Things slow down more then for “Hearts on fire”, a relaxed ballad with another nice piano line winding through the song, Good understated guitar solo, then the tempo ups several notches adn you can see where the crossover with rock and roll happens with Tom T. Hall's “I can't dance”, some fine electric guitar and honky-tonk piano driving the tune. I have to say that I'd like to hear Emmylou more; she's really relegated to the status of a backing singer here so far. And she's not on “Brass buttons” at all, as we drop back down into the realms of ballads, though with a certain sense of mid-pace about it. Reminds me a little of the early work of The Eagles, and I can hear very nascent Fogelberg here. Oddly, this is the best I've heard Parsons sing. I wonder if, after all, Emmylou's backing is having a detrimental effect on his singing? Favourite track so far for sure.
The longest track then is the reflective “$1000 wedding”, with a slow, mournful steel guitar and trickling piano, with Harris's vocal only joining Parsons on the chorus, which works better I think than it has up to now. Interesting imagery, as he turns the occasion of a wedding into a funeral, presumably when the bride fails to show. The next track is live, which I never like on an album, but it's certainly full of energy as “Medley live from Northern Quebec” gives us first The Louvin Brothers' “Cash on the barrelhead”, which flies along in true down-home style, to appreciative cheers from the crowd and then slides into his own composition “Hickory wind”, slowing everything down with steel guitar and piano (and what sounds like someone dropping a glass --- darn hillbillies, huh?)
and features a truly lovely duet with Emmylou.
Things stay slow then for the classic “Love hurts”, which if you're a rock fan you may have heard Nazareth cover, if not then maybe The Everly Brothers or even Cher; it's been covered many times by many different artistes in many different genres. A great song, played with great passion here by Parsons, superb pedal steel adding real pathos to what is already a sad song, and a very restrained backing vocal from Emmylou. Time to kick it up a notch then for “Ooh Las Vegas”, with a real mixture of rockabilly and bluegrass and a perfect marriage of Parsons and Harris. Great guitar solo from James Burton, and this takes us to the closer, “In my hour of darkness”, the only track on which Emmylou has a writing credit with Parsons.
Beautiful harmony vocal between the two, lush piano and pedal steel, with Byron Berline returning to add some magic on the fiddle. Backing vocals come also from guest star Linda Ronstadt, and it's a really great way to end an album that's just over half an hour long but packs so much into the nine songs here that it really doesn't need to be any longer, though you kind of wish it was.
TRACKLISTING
1. Return of the grievous angel
2. Hearts on fire
3. I can't dance
4. Brass buttons
5. $1000 wedding
6. Medley live from Northern Quebec: “Cash on the barrelhead/Hickory wind”
7. Love hurts
8. Ooh Las Vegas
9. In my hour of darkness
The tragedy about this album is that shortly after having completed it, Gram Parson drove to Joshua Tree in California, one of his favourite places, and there overdosed, resulting in his death at the ridiculously young age of twenty-six. What a waste. Imagine what he could have achieved if he had lived longer. But that's Country music for you, and rock'n'roll: live fast, die young. Guess it's never likely to change.
Even after his death, however, Parsons continued to make headlines and create controversy. His body, ready to be shipped back to Louisiana at the order of his stepfather and against Parsons's own final request, was stolen from the airport by his friends, who took it to Joshua Tree where, as he had stated, he wished to be cremated. Unable to properly cremate the body however they instead created a huge fireball, which had the police on their tails. In the end, the stepfather won as the body (or what was left of it) was returned to Louisiana, where according to some accounts, Bob Parsons collected a handsome legacy.
But Gram Parsons will always be remembered for his music, and for his influence on genres outside of Country, for his attempts, mostly successful, to cross genres and bring his sound to the worlds of rock, folk, r&B and others. A true multidenominational artiste, and a sad loss to the world of music, Gram Parsons lives on in his music long after his ashes have been interred where he did not wish them to be. People however still visit the makeshift shrine that has been set up in Joshua Tree, so in many ways, he rests there too.
I certainly enjoyed this album. I had not heard Gram Parsons's work before but I heard the beginnings of what I guess you might call modern Country music there, something the likes of The Eagles and Kenny Rogers would expand upon and make popular through a crossover that Gram probably would have approved of, through rock and into pop music. Gram was credited for coining the term “Cosmic American Music”, and it certainly fits: a star in the firmament not only of Country music, but of most other genres too, a man many musicians owe a great debt to, Parsons will not be forgotten. I give this album a solid
