Complete Reprise Sessions [Original recording remastered]

Gram Parsons | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 20, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 1973
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B0009CTUSW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,498 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Still Feeling Blue

2. We'll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning

3. A Song For You

4. Streets Of Baltimore

5. She

6. That's All It Took

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

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

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. She (Alternate Version)

2. That's All It Took (Alternate Version)

3. Still Feeling Blue (Alternate Version)

4. Kiss The Children -- Duet With Barry Tashian

5. Streets Of Baltimore (Alternate Version)

6. We'll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning (Alternate Version)

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Singer-songwriter Gram Parsons, the architect of country-rock and patron saint of American roots music—"alt" and otherwise—died in 1973 at age 26, but the enormity of his influence remains constant. Florida-born and Georgia-bred, Parsons began playing at age 14 and launched his first group, the International Submarine Band, in NYC in the late ‘60s. Transplanted to L.A., he joined the Byrds, shaping their landmark album Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, and made further musical history with the Flying Burrito Brothers. After discovering Emmylou Harris playing in a D.C. bar, he went on to record two now-legendary solo LPs, GP and Grievous Angel, that spotlight the peerless harmony of their divergent voices, hers angelic and pure, his ragged and scorched by his demons. Rhino’s historic set presents those two soulful albums remastered and expanded, plus a third disc of precious alternate takes from those recordings.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great album!, July 5, 2006

By 

Fred Z. Dobbs "Bruno Traven" (Topolobambo, Sinaloa, Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Reprise Sessions (Audio CD)

Don't believe the reviewers who say this is for completists only. I listened today to much of it today and found that I had to order the Reprise Sessions immediately. The remastering is fantastic, the information booklet and pictures are great, and the hitherto unissued songs are out of this world. This collection far exceeds any other collection of Gram's works, including the extended version of the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

59 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost Complete, Ethereal Beauties, June 20, 2006

By 

John Ellis "jonthes" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Reprise Sessions (Audio CD)

First of all, this is an amazing issue. The first album, GP, is so well mastered the entire album sounds like an alternate version, but not in some jarring way, it's just that the wonderful musicians are so well articulated on this that the music seems new even if you know it very well. It also reveals how shaky Gram's vocals were on a couple of cuts, but Gram shaky is like Billie Holiday shaky. The second LP is more familiar, but for instance the steel pedal guitar on "Love Hurts" is subtly augmented without in any way stepping on the duet, which has never sounded so ethereal, the voice of a fallen angel merged with a soaring angel. So just to have the two LPs like this is worth the money.

The bonus material - the interviews are to the point and fine. You get a sense of how oddly shy Gram was, and extremely sensitive, fragile. The acoustic radio session with a very spare "Love Hurts" and Emmylou, Gram and N.D. Smart on a wonderful "Sin City" is not great sound, but a treat all the same. And the third CD alternate takes, which are simpler and sometimes fresher, are like the Rolling Stones' outtakes, arguably superior to the issued cuts on a few songs.

Complaints? Why are the three cuts left off "Grievous" stuck on the third disk instead of extending what is acknowledged in the booklet as a short LP? Why only one of what are obviously several wonderful instrumental backing tracks from one of the greatest backup bands ever assembled, since this issue is obviously for Gram devotees. There is at least an hour of unused CD space available. And most grievously, why not issue the two cuts that were tricked up with fake audience sounds 'naked' as bonus tracks? Lastly, why not put the two cuts remixed in the 80s on, rather than a tiny note that they were excluded? The CDs, issued in LP repro cardboard covers, should also have inner sleeves to protect them, a good idea in the vinyl era and now.

Kivetch, kivetch, kivetch. It's a wonderful collection, hope something like this turns up soon on the Flying Burritos. Judging from the bootlegs, there is still a lot of Gram to unearth. But it will have to go some to be as choice as what is here. These recordings reach a level of ethereal beauty that is unique in this genre.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Complete? Yes and No!, June 28, 2006

By 

Christopher L. Dolmetsch (Hurricane, WV USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Reprise Sessions (Audio CD)

Having been treated to so many outstanding career retrospective CD boxsets over the past twenty-four years, we've come to expect several things from such compilations: 1. Remastered tracks; 2. Outtakes and demos; 3. Insights into the creation of the music through studio chatter, false starts and mistakes; 4. Rarities and previously unreleased songs. How does this set stack up? It is reasonable in the first and second instance, but has nothing in the third and fourth areas. Do these things exist? Previous bootlegs and a rare out-of-print "Cosmic American Cowboy" collection say so. So, what we have are the two original Gram Parsons solo albums, an interesting and likely incomplete set of outtakes, and some teasers from interviews and radio performance. For the novice, this box is probably too much (stick with the previous Gram Parson anthology!) and for the diehard fan, there is just not enough.