Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons tabs Gram Parsons discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

Gram Parsons guitar tabs

CD reviews

G.P./Grievous Angel

Gram Parsons - G.P./Grievous Angel Audio CD

A fair review of the Gram Parsons "G.P./Grievous Angel" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Gram Parsons reviews here, or go back to the Gram Parsons tabs.

Band: Gram Parsons
Title: G.P./Grievous Angel
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-03-22
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Still Feeling Blue 2: We'll Sweep out the Ashes in the Morning 3: Song for You 4: Streets of Baltimore 5: She 6: That's All It Took 7: New Soft Shoe 8: Kiss the Children 9: Cry One More Time 10: How Much I've Lied 11: Big Mouth Blues 12: Return of the Grievous Angel 13: Hearts on Fire 14: I Can't Dance 15: Brass Buttons 16: $1000 Wedding 17: Cash on the Barrelhead/Hickory Wind [Live] 18: Love Hurts 19: Ooh Las Vegas 20: In My Hour of Darkness

A couple of Grams
Just check out A Song for You as a for instance--a sad, lovely and memorable ballad bigger than any country I know of. Country is the word mostly I seem to run into whenever I make the mistake of reading anything about the truly great Gram Parsons and be that dang word as it may Mister Parsons still for my dosh sings the most goldurnably affecting songs in a way that's hard to get even slightly impatient with because of something so constraining as someone else's musical category--if some of these oddly catchy low-temperature honky-tonk heartbreakers early on on this jimdandy twofer here are country well then that's just gravy is my thinking. Same goes for Thousand-Dollar Wedding or Return of the Grievous Angel. Some of the vibe here is unmistakebly uptempo plugged-in Tulsa too by God. I've owned this down home double whammy since maybe the middle Nineties and every time I put it on--inexplicably only twice, maybe three times a year--I can't get over each time the Summer twilight orange hue everything invariably starts to get splashed in. Getting purple here to be sure but Gram Parsons did record a certain eternal something that is worth one trip at least to his particular line of country. This one here's two of them too. See, Johnny Cash singing Peace in the Valley or Supper Time is one thing, two things probably, but GP/Grievous Angel from 1973/1974 is two uncommonly fine things rolled up nicely into one. .

What a bargain.
This is truly brilliant stuff. You really cannot go wrong here, two classic albums for the price of one. The way Gram and Emmylou harmonize on Grievous Angel gets me every time, it is really just flat out amazing. I cannot recommend this enough to anyone interested in country-rock, or just music in general. .

Landmark Album - One That Changed my Tastes in Music
Still, various famous artists tickled our fancies going back to Ringo's Buck Owen's impression of "Act Naturally. For Baby Boomers who developed their tastes for music with the Beatles invasion, country music was not hip. " Then in 1968 came "Sweethearts of the Rodeo" the Byrds breakaway album from their original folk rock style to almost authentic country and soon after that Bob Dylan recorded "Nashville Skyline" with Nashville's hotest studio sidekicks sitting in. These were both fantastic albums but i'd face some ridicule from snooty friends who thought it was hick music. How about the country/Americana feel of many of the tracks the Stones performed on "Beggar's Banquet," then going further with "Wild Horses" and "Dead Flowers" on "Sticky Fingers" then even more country on "Exile on Main Street" even introducing a pedal steel on "Torn and Frayed. " The countrty influence was piling up as the Grateful Dead performed "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty" sprouting an offshoot country rock band, The New Riders of the Purple Sage.

Something magic was unleashed on "Sweethearts of the Rodeo. " Only appearing on one album with the Byrds but becoming a close buddy of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Gram Parsons overhauled many listeners' sensitivities with his work from that point forward. His classic, "Hickory Wind," set the standard for many gems to follow.

Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke split the Byrds to form the Flying Burrito Brothers with Parsons, a truly country sound with a rockin' attitude. Their cover highly encouraged by Keith Richards to record of "Wild Horses" helped turn those who'd only know a slight almost satirical country flavor or New Riders or Commander Cody into a full-blown love affair for something more authentic.

Parsons split the Burritos to go solo. For instrumental support he enlisted legendary rock and country hired guns Glen D. Hardin and James Burton who were part of Elvis's big Las Vegas backup band of the era. Also in his lineup was a mysterious hippie chick, Emmylou Harris, who's delicately beautiful harmonies formed the perfect counterpoint to Parson's narrative style.

His first two albums are united as a one CD release and the results are so satisfying. Look at the song listing and many songs will be instantly familiar as Emmylou Harris staples and tunes that have popped up all over country music. Parsons covers tremendous ground from heartfelt country ballads like "Streets of Baltimore" and "The Return of Grievous Angel" to the pure honky tonk of "I Can't Dance. " Others are more like folk-rock such as "A Song for You. " The listener is also treated to many lovely Gram/Emmlou duets such as "Hearts on Fire," "Love Hurts" and "In My Hour of Darkness. " The blend of these fine tunes creates a fabulous listening experience but Gram Parsons not only synthesizes a mixture of styles to create his identity, he is also a performer who clearly creates masterpieces that are his alone. No song better illustrates this than "The New Soft Shoe" with its laid back dreamy instrumentation and strangely haunting surrealistic quasi-narrative lyrics.

Rough living killed Gram Parsons in 1974 just as "Grievous Angel" was being readied for release. The bizarre theft of his corpse set ablaze beneathe the Joshua Tree creates an insane spooky myth around his remarkable short-lived music career.

Gram Parsons not only helped give birth to Emmylou Harris and all the fabulous performers who evolved from the Hot Band -- Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, and Rodney Crowell to name a few defining the neo-tradtionalist movement and Americana sounds which stand in stark defiance to the gross commercialism and overproduction of radio-ready country. Gram Parsons also influenced rock music helping set the stage for the huge success of the Eagles who saluted him on their third album with the song, "My Man. "

Here it is, Gram Parsons' two official studio albums rolled into one CD. "The Complete Reprise Recordings" is the choice for true Parsons fans or audiophiles as the bonus material is interesting and the remastered sound superior, but for everyone else, here's a reasonably priced single CD that is provides some of popular music's must influential material. .

I'm 43 yrs old. How did I ever miss this?
" If this were vinyl, the stylus would have ground away all of the vinyl already b/c I have been listening to it so many times. This is one of those purchases you make where you want to climb the nearest mountain and shout to everyone, "You must MUST have this. Each time I hear something new.

Let's be very clear: Country Music Television rated "Grievous Angel" as one of its 40 best albums of all time. Well, I love "Grievous Angel" but like "GP" almost more. All I can say is "Listen". And then listen again. And then again.

And what more can you say about one song in particular, "$1000 wedding" but to say that there are websites dedicated to de-coding its meaning. Talk about raw majesty!!!

Please note: if you like happy music, this may not be for you. I for one am a HUGE George Jones fan. Jones's music hits me at the core. Parsons, interestingly enough, used to play George Jones for friends and would just weep listening to the man. So Jones and Parsons have that sad, emotional pathos in common. There is real pain in this music.

But also, and this is often missed: this man could really compose. His chord progressions are masterful. I can envision a jazz combo going to town on some of these pieces.

And to top everything, this is epic music with the queen herself of harmony, Emmylou Harris. .

I listen to it over and over again
I love it. I've known of Gram Parsons and his connection to Emmylou Harris for many years, but I had never heard his music or his voice before I got this CD. I listen to it over and over and over again as I'm driving to and from work. I am very happy I bought this CD.

You can see a complete list of all Gram Parsons discography, or go back to the Gram Parsons tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.