Gram Parsons

Placidcasual79

I just read a really interesting article about this guy in an old Mojo..... an incredible life story...... where do you start with his records? Seems like he had a few bands and a solo career all in a short space of time. Whats the jump off point? Whats accessible? Whats the buried treasure?

thanks.....

oh_pollo

Start anywhere - it's all gold.

idiotwind

Couple of decent tracks on the Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo album, Hickory Wind and 100 Years From Now.  The released album only has Hickory Wind as a solo lead vocal, but there are bonus tracks with him taking the lead on a few others.  Then  there are his solo albums GP and Grevious Angel which have some decent tracks spread over them, you can get them both on a single CD combo.  Lots of duets with Emmylou Harris.

But my top Gram Parsons pick is the Flying Burrito Brothers.  1st album (Gilded Palace of Sin) is fantastic.  Dark End of the Street for example really shows the soul/country thing that he loved.  Second album is solid, but weaker.  Because the consistent thread throughout his career is that he was a lazy spoilt prick who would get bored and wander off to the next thing leaving everyone else to pick up the slack.

Placidcasual79

idiotwind said:

 Because the consistent thread throughout his career is that he was a lazy spoilt prick who would get bored and wander off to the next thing leaving everyone else to pick up the slack.

Thats interesting..... reading about him it seemed like he'd done a lot in a short space of time and it had been all over the place - in a group like the Bryds, his own band - FBB and a solo career. Hence the post... where do you start with that.... the Mojo article I read really was giving him the big one (as they're prone to do)..... 

I am going to have a little explore tonight - I'll begin with these two suggestions....

Stuckfast

The solo albums GP and Grievous Angel are by far the best things he did IMO, especially the second one. The first Flying Burrito Bros album has two or three great songs but a lot of weaker material too. 

There's also an album by the International Submarine Band that I think has Gram on it. 

Offset

Gram is one of my favourite artists.  GP and Grievous Angel are brilliant albums, and the standout FBB tracks for me are Hot Burrito #1 from The Gilded Palace Of Sin - utterly brilliant - and their version of Wild Horses from Burrito Deluxe.  Infinitely better than the Stones' version and given he was hanging out with Keef in France at the time it was written, I'm sure he at the very least had a hand in it.  It has the 'feel' of Gram's writing style.  

RickLucas

GP and Grievous Angel. There's a beautiful version of Love Hurts with Emmylou Harris, And of course, there's James Burton!

Placidcasual79

Thank you @Stuckfast -  yes the article I read on him mentions the International Submarine Band as being his first group. 

And thank you @Offset - I can imagine why he'd become someone's favourite artist. Incredible life story. I wonder whether to start with Grievous Angel and work backward or whether to make a playlist with songs from all the records he was on. Wild Horses is one of my favourite Stones tracks. The article I read says he was kicked out of the Exile on Main street sessions in France for being a bad influence! 

barnstorm

Not really a fan of Parsons, but he inspired Emmylou Harris’s best song, if you’ve not heard it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRbb4KwpwbU

Placidcasual79

Wow. Thanks @barnstorm - I hadn't heard it. This whole thing is outside of my wheel house - I just happened to read a really interesting article about Gram and thought I'd explore the music. Emmylou Harris featured prominetly in the article and knowing about their story really makes this song much more poignant. It sounds like quite a "modern" production and I am not sure a sound as 'polished' as this really suits the song - it some how seems less authentic with the slick, big sound...... thats just me though - I literally know nothing and even if the sound isn't how I'd have chosen to present it I can still hear its a very beautiful song.... appreciate it -  thanks. 

Placidcasual79

oh_pollo said:

Start anywhere - it's all gold.

Well - I've listened to Sweat Heart of the Rodeo twice now - once last night and once again this evening. Incredible..... I am 43. But when I was 17 I was living in North Wales. I had some friends who lived in Nottingham - they came to pick me one Friday night. We were going to a 'rave' in St Annes. On the way up there I have really distinct memory of sitting in the back of my mate Chris' Nova as he drove at ridiculous speeds on the back roads to Nottingham. I remember being VERY stoned. It was one of those nights when I was so stoned I could almost see the music glistening in the air...... I was scared and excited at the same time...... the records we listened to seemed unbelievably magical to me but I didn't know what they were.......I later found out that one of them was Astral Weeks by Van Morrison and this was the other! Incredible to hear it again after all this time and in a very different context lol....... thank you (and yes we were listening to Country and Folk on the way to a rave lol - I'd become mates with these lads from Nottingham because one of them could play the whole Stone Roses album on guitar and the other on bass - I could give the drum parts a good go so we formed a tribute band lol - but we also liked tribal house lol)_

barnstorm

Placidcasual79 said:

Wow. Thanks @barnstorm - I hadn't heard it. This whole thing is outside of my wheel house - I just happened to read a really interesting article about Gram and thought I'd explore the music. Emmylou Harris featured prominetly in the article and knowing about their story really makes this song much more poignant. It sounds like quite a "modern" production and I am not sure a sound as 'polished' as this really suits the song - it some how seems less authentic with the slick, big sound...... thats just me though - I literally know nothing and even if the sound isn't how I'd have chosen to present it I can still hear its a very beautiful song.... appreciate it -  thanks. 

Yep, it’s moving bit of writing. 

The production of her solo records splits opinion. She made one with Daniel Lanois in the mid-’90s that’s considered a landmark (Wrecking Ball), but plenty of people hate the sound. I like it, and wish she’d kept working with him instead of having a Lanois-adjacent producer do the same sort of thing less successfully for a couple of albums afterwards. 

Hard Bargain was Jay Joyce, who’s a hotshot modern country/country-rock producer, so yeah... I like the sweeping instrumentation on The Road, but not so keen on the drum sound.

Placidcasual79

barnstorm said:

Placidcasual79 said:

Wow. Thanks @barnstorm - I hadn't heard it. This whole thing is outside of my wheel house - I just happened to read a really interesting article about Gram and thought I'd explore the music. Emmylou Harris featured prominetly in the article and knowing about their story really makes this song much more poignant. It sounds like quite a "modern" production and I am not sure a sound as 'polished' as this really suits the song - it some how seems less authentic with the slick, big sound...... thats just me though - I literally know nothing and even if the sound isn't how I'd have chosen to present it I can still hear its a very beautiful song.... appreciate it -  thanks. 

Yep, it’s moving bit of writing. 

The production of her solo records splits opinion. She made one with Daniel Lanois in the mid-’90s that’s considered a landmark (Wrecking Ball), but plenty of people hate the sound. I like it, and wish she’d kept working with him instead of having a Lanois-adjacent producer do the same sort of thing less successfully for a couple of albums afterwards. 

Hard Bargain was Jay Joyce, who’s a hotshot modern country/country-rock producer, so yeah... I like the sweeping instrumentation on The Road, but not so keen on the drum sound.

Thats interesting...... wrecking ball is the name of the Lanois produced mid 90's album? Might have a little look for that. There is nothing wrong with the production I don't think - its just a bit to clean and processed for me. How the guitar and drums have been eq'd  so they cover a greater amount of the sonic spectrum..... like it's been made for radio? Maybe that's unfair - Its a genre of music know little about..... I could just imagine a song as beautiful and poignant as that being better supported by a less treated, 'band in the room' type sound.....

Are you a country fan @barnstorm ?  I've downloaded some Townes Van Zandt recently too - after hearing about him on a podcast about working session players with big beards in Nashville. 

mo6020

Placidcasual79 said:

Are you a country fan @barnstorm ?  I've downloaded some Townes Van Zandt recently too - after hearing about him on a podcast about working session players with big beards in Nashville. 

What podcast is that, please? It sounds right up my street…

Placidcasual79

mo6020 said:

Placidcasual79 said:

Are you a country fan @barnstorm ?  I've downloaded some Townes Van Zandt recently too - after hearing about him on a podcast about working session players with big beards in Nashville. 

What podcast is that, please? It sounds right up my street…

Sorry - not a podcast - it's a Youtube Chanel - but lots of interesting stories about working musicians and stars in the Country/Nashville scene.....this is the guy - Ottis Gibbs - 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYX2MTovE0vYjD8touqRH7Q

munckee

Over production seems to be a thing in country music. Missus munckee is very into country so we’ve been to the o2 for country 2 country a few times. I’ve watched some fantastic live bands that I would consider country rock - only to download their stuff and it’s turned into mushy pop music with all the edges polished off. 

lustycourtier

Gram was amazing. Theres a great film called Gram Theft Parsons with Johnny Knoxville and Christina Applegate thats well worth a watch too. 

barnstorm

Placidcasual79 said:
Are you a country fan @barnstorm ?  I've downloaded some Townes Van Zandt recently too - after hearing about him on a podcast about working session players with big beards in Nashville. 

I like lots of stuff that comes under the umbrella of Americana these days, and some instrumental bluegrass, but very little traditional country or modern country-pop. I do find the Nashville machine interesting, though.

munckee said:

Over production seems to be a thing in country music. Missus munckee is very into country so we’ve been to the o2 for country 2 country a few times. I’ve watched some fantastic live bands that I would consider country rock - only to download their stuff and it’s turned into mushy pop music with all the edges polished off. 

They can't help themselves! I hate mawkishness in songwriting, but I remember hearing this on a podcast and thinking: 'Bastards – you got me.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwtOw0Mg5Yc

But it only works because of the presentation. They got into the studio and slapped on layers of gloss.

jdgm

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Mangler-Deluxe-Phil-Kaufman/dp/1888580313

mudslide73

+1 for GP and Grievous Angel. A Song For You and $1000 Wedding are worth the price of admission alone. $1000 Wedding has some incredible Emmy/Gram vocal interplay that can still make be blub after all these years. 

euan

I remember trying to listen to Gram Parsons when I was a teenager and just not getting it. Couple of months ago I fancied giving him another go and listened to some Flying Burrito Brothers. This thread reminded me to go onto his solo stuff. Glad I did

Ta muchley