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37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Holy Grail of Country Rock, January 22, 2000
When Gram Parsons left the Byrds after recording only one album with them (the essential Sweetheart of the Rodeo in 1968), he took with him founding bass/guitar player Chris Hillman. Together, along with Sneaky Pete Kleinow on pedal steel and Chris Ethridge on bass, they proceeded to record one of the landmark country-rock albums: 1969's The Gilded Palace of Sin.The album kicks off with two Parsons-Hillman originals: the classic "Christine's Tune" (aka "Devil in Disguise") followed by the equally impressive "Sin City." Over the course of the next nine songs the band pursues what Parsons called "cosmic American music." It's a stunning debut. They put their own stamp on the haunting "Dark End of the Street." The draft-dodger anthem "My Uncle" is propelled by Hillmen's mandolin picking. Then there's the lovely "Juanita" with its ironic line: "She's brought back the life that I once threw away." [Within five years Parsons demons would catch up with him.] Only the preachy "Hippie Boy" hasn't aged very well. Tracks 12-22 saw a band that had expanded to include a full-time drummer--Michael Clark, another ex-Byrd, and future Eagle Bernie Leadon on guitar and Dobro. Hillman resumed bass duties with the departure of Chris Ethridge. This is the second and final album to include participation from Parsons. Unlike their debut where Parsons wrote or co-wrote all but two tracks, Parsons only contributed four songs to the 1970 follow-up. The rollicking "High Fashion Queen" and the melencholy "Cody, Cody" (both co-written with Hillmen) hold up well against the best of his work. Their treatment of the standard "Farther Along" is moving and their cover of the Stones' "Wild Horses" is nearly definitive. While Burrito Deluxe is not quite as good as the debut, these two albums together are the touchstones for every country-influenced band that followed the trail they blazed. ESSENTIAL
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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hot Burritos 1 & 2, June 17, 2006
I will not add much to the other assessments of the great (Gram Parsons-era) Flying Burrito Brothers albums collected on this single cd import - it is their first two albums, the classic "Gilded Palace Of Sin" (1969) and the very good followup "Burrito Deluxe" (1970). "Gilded" remains an astonishing melange of styles, more original in its conception than the Parsons/Chris Hillman-era Byrds album "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" (1968), and with more (9 out of 11) original songs. Most of the material remains breathtaking, an encapsulation of Parsons' fundamental vision - lover of country and soul music for its purity of expression, and sophisticated, worldly ironist. This is something he shared with his friends The Rolling Stones, who as arty Englishmen brought a similar love and distance to the blues and r & b that inspired them. Parsons could not sing "The Christian Life" with the same conviction as the Louvin Brothers, but neither could he simply mock its sentiments, and therein lies the source of his greatness. By 1970, Parsons had started hanging out with the Stones, and like many succumbed to the hard drugs and luxuriant decadence that somehow never - quite - swallowed the band itself, though they've come close many times through the decades. Unfortunately Parsons and Keith Richards didn't put much of their legendary informal collaborations down on tape (or, none that has surfaced), but clearly by this second album Parsons was distracted, and increasingly unreliable. Nevertheless "Burrito Deluxe" suffers only by comparison to its predecessor - it is a fine album, slight on new Parsons material and more rock oriented but with many fine moments, from "God's Own Singer" (I'll take it over the Eagles entire catalog) to "Cody Cody". Parsons was unrelieable by 1970, and the rest of the Burritos' frustration would shortly lead to his ouster. There's tension evident throughout the second album - Michael Clarke's drumming, which in tandem with Chris Hillman's bass was always inspired on the Byrds' "5D", here seems hurried, rushing the songs along as though upping the tempo might somehow spark the magic that came so effortlesslessly on the debut. And the mix is strangely dense and airless, almost claustrophobic, which fits songs of dissipation and decay, like 'High Fashion Queen' and 'Man In The Shadows'. Interestingly the tension is heightened and unresolved on the finale, the Burritos' take on Jagger/Richards' 'Wild Horses' which appeared nearly a year before the Stones' version. Gram's vocal is gorgeous, heartbreaking, and Leon Russell's lovely piano adds the perfect touch, but Clarke's drumming and Hillman's bass are lumpy, awkward, lacking the unforced elegance of the Stones' Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman who so perfectly underlined Mick Jagger's more restrained, feline vocal. Heartbreaking sincerity was never Jagger's forte, of course, but it's here that Gram - finally back leading the group he co-founded - is dramatically undersupported by the rest of the band.
As for this import two-fer, it sounds fine, though lacks both the first rate mastering and substantial annotation of the US compilation I suggest investing in as an alternative, the A&M set (issued in 2000), "Hot Burritos: Anthology 1969 - 72". This 2-cd set, only slightly more expensive than the import under discussion, contains the two Parsons-era albums, plus the classic non-lp single "The Train Song" (released shortly after "Gilded Palace", and produced by Johnny 'Guitar' Watson and Larry Williamson!), eight additional Parsons/Burritos recordings recorded during or after sessions for the second album and hitherto scattered among posthumous albums like "Sleepless Nights," "Close Up The Honky Tonks" or the early CD comp "Farther Along/Best Of The Burrito Brothers", and a rarity (featuring and composed by Gene Clark) from another long out of print set also titled "Close Up The Honky Tonks." Thus nearly a full third album's worth of Gram-era gems, most of which show Parsons and Hillman's return to the purer country sound of "Sweetheart," and a fine rare Gene Clark song circa '71. But the "Anthology 1969 - 72" has even more: the inessential-but-listenable third (and first post-Parsons) Burritos album (released 1971), featuring Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke still aboard with Sneaky Pete, but introducing competent pro Rick Roberts in place of erratic genius Parsons; the second disc of this very full set ends with a brace of fine live tracks originally included on "Last Of The Red Hot Burritos", the group's swan song issued in 1972.
Besides twice as much material, the domestically issued set has superior sound and excellent liner notes, graphics, and annotation. So, "Hot Burritons! Anthology 1968 - 72" is the five-star set I'd suggest to anyone interested in this seminal band.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Byrds breakaway group starts brilliantly, August 25, 2003
The Byrds underwent many line-up changes but the line-up that recorded the classic Sweethearts of the rodeo album didn't last long even by Byrds' standards. Two of its key members, Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, quit and formed the Flying Burrito Brothers. This twofer contains their first two albums.The first album, Gilded Palace of Sin, is regarded as a landmark album in the evolution of country-rock, almost as important as Sweethearts of the rodeo. Despite the label country rock, this album actually contains a few soulful ballads. On this album, the group comprised Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman, Sneeky Pete Kleinow and Chris Ethridge. Most of the songs are originals, though the album also includes brilliant covers of Dark end of the street and Do right woman. Even if you haven't heard the Flying Burrito Brothers before, you may be familiar with some of the songs, particularly because Emmylou Harris (a staunch fan of Gram's music) has covered some of these songs her versions of Wheels and Sin city can be found on her Elite Hotel album. The album begins with the rocking Christine's tune (sometimes titled Devil in disguise, but that confuses it with the Elvis song of that title). Other great tracks here include Juanita and the two Hot Burrito songs. Burrito Deluxe does not match the exceptional standard of Gilded palace of sin, but it is a far better album than some people would have you believe, and its style is very different. The soulful ballads are gone (apart from Image of me), replaced by rock'n'roll but that's fine by me. The album was difficult to record, partly because Gram became a bit wayward and partly because of further line-up changes. Chris Ethridge had left, replaced by Bernie Leadon (who went on to greater fame as a member of the Eagles) and Michael Clarke. This album also featured a few guest musicians. Like its predecessor, many of the songs are originals but there are some covers in this case, the traditional gospel song Farther along, the Rolling Stones' Wild horses and the Bob Dylan classic If you gotta go, which was a huge British hit for Manfred Mann. Neither of these albums sold well upon original release but their influence has been profound. This collection will appeal to country fans who also enjoy rock music, but will also appeal to many who do not like (or think they do not like) country music, including fans of the Eagles' early work.
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~ Gram Parsons
~ The Flying Burrito Brothers
~ Gram Parsons
DVD ~ Peter Buck
~ Gram Parsons
by The Flying Burrito Brothers 
