Customer Reviews

Complete Reprise Sessions

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

One of the best Parson's releases available, if not the best.
Great sound quality, excellent packaging and insightful liner notes. Many thanks to Emmylou Harris for keeping Gram's music alive and available for future generations to discover.

Gram was an incredible talent and a true visionary and this music is proof that he was "a real good country singer".

I was extremely excited about this set when it was rumored to be released, and then I was annoyed at the format. We know that the two albums here fit on one disc, so why separate them and make us pay for 3 discs instead of 2? This kept me from buying it straightaway (coupled with the fact that if you have the two-fer disc already, you have the bulk & best of this set already). I, of course, broke down and bought it like any true fan and I was not disappointed in the slightest. Although I have most of these songs already, these mixes are superb -- better than perfect almost -- it's easily the best-sounding Gram Parsons related reissue of the CD era & some of the alternate takes are amazingly good, if in tentative arrangements -- "Hickory Wind", "She", "Love Hurts" & "Ooh Las Vegas" all rival the master takes & "Return of the Grevious Angel #1" is a revelation if for no other reason than to hear another cut of this fantastic song (albeit with Gram flubbing the words a bit and EmmyLou not really opening up on the harmony part). The format is questionable and as one reviewer mentioned, since the albums are kept separated, it would've been nice to marry the SLEEPLESS NIGHTS tracks back up with the Grevious Angel album instead of tacking them on at the end. Similarly, the interviews and radio tracks (while pleasing) are simply fluff: why do we need an instrumental (karaoke) version of a Gram Parsons song? I would like to have seen the two records on one CD, the outtakes on another and all the radio stuff on a third, abbreviated "Bonus Disc" or something. Ultimately this really means nothing, though, since the music in this package is all fantastically performed & remastered & the price tag is reasonable. We can only hope for the same treatment of the Flying Burrito Brothers' first two records & eliminate the SLEEPLESS NIGHTS album altogether, get "Bonie Moronie" on CD and purge the vaults, there's no reason to hold back at this point.

Why on earth would someone give this a one star review simply because he pre-ordered it and the item was pushed back??? People don't make any sense.

Anyway, this thing finally came out today. This is a superb collection with fantastic sound quality, a heaping handful of great outtakes, and a recording of an interview with Gram. It's a fine set for diehards and casual fans alike in that even if you've had these albums for 30 years, there is still plenty new to hear.

There is a booklet loaded with text and some pictures I'd never seen. The discs are contained in miniature LP replica jackets -- my only complaint is that there are no inner sleeves to protect the discs from getting damaged while sliding in and out of the cardboard. But that's a minor detail. The packaging looks great, the music is excellent. I can't say enough good things about it.

The third disc of this amazing compilation is as close to seeing GP/Emmylou live as it gets. Fresh, unfettered,natural, intimate. Totally different versions and feelings from the antecedent CDs.
"The New Soft Shoe" with the spare, alto fiddle gives the song an even more evocative southern feel and brings the story to life. Return of the Grievous Angel is a front palor, rocking chair, lope along story. Totally different harmony line from Emmylou. Different phrasing from GP, adding a syllable to "grievous" and stretching out "that ooold Bible belt" in the verse about Elvis. Has there ever been a more heartfelt version of "Hickory Wind" and there are a lot of versions of that chestnut. The stunner is "Love Hurts". Much more passionate than any other version on record. I saw GP and Emmylou and the Fallen Angels three consecutive nights at a club in Boston and "Love Hurts" was the showstopper.This is the closet version to those performances. Thank God for Emmylou putting this compilation together.

As a completist Gram fan since 1969, the alternate versions of We'll Sweep Out the Ashes, Streets of Baltimore, and Hickory Wind are truly otherworldly. Well worth the price, in and of themselves.

This was Gram Parsons just as I remembered him. His wonderful voice, command of a song and Emmy Lou Harris harmonies. It had been many years, but when I saw the compilation was available, I couldn't resist. It is a wonderful step back into the past with an amazing artist.

I love the music and if you don't own this music buy it now. My issue is the Bonus interviews. Why on Disc One prior to the last set of additional songs. In addition, I would have loved to see some live music included as a bonus. I know the vaults have something.