Customer Reviews

Return to Sin City - A Tribute to Gram Parsons

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

So first I'll say that I'm a huge Gram Parsons fan. I grabbed this one quickly not really caring that some of the best Parsons interpreters of the past are missing. I thought, what the the heck, Dwight is here. Norah is always good and I had heard her do "She" before (Austin City Limits, I think) and Steve Earle is always solid.

Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed! I'll take the good first, though. It is certainly a good looking concert without all the usual annonying audience cutaways that plague concert films. Credit must go to director Mark Lucas and editor Ernie Fritz. (This creates a slight problem though, in that the audience almost seems dead in places with very little crowd reaction in the sound mix - not that I wanted to see the crowd, but hearing a little excitement would have been nice).

The solid performances were Farrar, Earle and Raul Malo. Norah Jones was great on "She" but the "Love Hurts" duo with Keith Richards was cringe inducing at times, although she was fine. Dwight Yoakam was rock solid on "Wheels" which he had covered on one of his albums, but I think "Sin City" was just a mess. The biggest pleasant suprise was Lucinda Williams who performed two solid songs (Sleepless Nights and a Song For You). I'm a middling fan of hers, but she was great.

There wasn't anything horrible in the way of peformances, just some questionable choices, mixing songs with performers which were not exactly well served. John Doe was particuarly out of place, and while I can understand the historical significance of Keith Richards, he's never been known for his great stage work. Susan Marshall was adequate, I suppose, but not my cup of tea. The "everybody gets on stage and jams" songs were necessary, but as usual, not very good (have you ever seen a good one?) Whether it's at the Grammys or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they're always great musicians that obviously have not spent much time playing together! It's like a soup with fish and pork in it - they just don't go together very well!

I tried to listen to the commentary track (by Gram's daughter and one of the producers), but it was so gabby, self-serving, unfocused and in need of editing that I couldn't do it for very long. (At least talk about the peformer that's on stage, or you're Dad, as opposed to meeting Sheryl Crow, which I'm sure was fascianting to her, but had very little to do with her father or the performer that is currently on stage). They claim to have had a "wish list" of performers, but I think it is almost unforgivable to not include Emmylous Harris. For history sake, for the sake of her harmonies, for her many covers of Gram's songs, she MUST be included. Whatever the reason for her absence, it's not valid to me. I think if you have a Gram Parsons tribute concert, you invite her and schedule the concert so she can be there. If you need to, you wait for her!!!

In the end, I would tell the die hard Parsons fan to at least rent it. It's not horrible, it's not a waste of time, but I don't think it's worth owning. Instead, if you don't already own it, I recommend "The Return of The Grevious Angel" on CD. This is the one tribute to own, with amazing peformances by Beck, Cowboy Junkies, The Pretenders and, of course, Emmylou Harris. While not a live album, it captures the spirit of Gram Parsons like nothing else.

According to Polly Parsons, who barely knew her father, she wanted to continue his music out there, to celebrate it. So she gathered musicians who were close friends and fans and those newer artists who were inspired by Parsons' works. She also wanted to find out who her father was and her way to connect to him and his life's work.

Why no Emmy Lou, Chris Hillman??
We may never know the story behind why Parsons' duet partner Emmy Lou Harris and songwriting partner Chris Hillman were not involved in this tribute. Usually when nothing is mentioned about such notables missing, something went askew during negotiations.

Audio Commentary: Not helpful or insightful, excessive chat.

Mixture of folks:
This is a great concert! Just plain and simple...a great concert! I was introduced to a few people I hadn't known, particularly, John Doe. Alas, John Doe is alive and known! I enjoyed his contributions as well as other unknowns to me, Jay Farrar and Jim James. Known mostly for his songwriting, Jim Lauderdale was excellent doing "Big Mouth Blues." And a superb rendition of Do Right Woman, Do Right Man by Susan Marshall.

There are other powerful performances, that include Dwight Yoakam doing "Wheels" and "Sin City." Other wonderful contributions were by Steve Earle "Luxury Liner" and "My Uncle" and Mavericks' Raul Malo "Devil in Disguise".

I am not a fan of Lucinda Williams, but the "Sleepless Nights" and "A Song For You" were excellent, as well as the sweet voice of Norah Jones doing "She." .

Keith Richards/Norah Jones on "Love Hurts"...Ouch it hurts!!
What can anyone say about Keith Richards, other than a lot! A friend of Parsons, he chose to duet with Norah Jones on "Love Hurts", painful rendition. All contributed in "Wild Horses" and "Ooh Las Vegas."

"In My Hour of Darkness"
A powerful voiced lady from House of Blues Gospel Choir did "In My Hour of Darkness" Wow, it was a little hard to get through that one because at times, it was gravelly screaming.

Another tribute out there
There is another tribute from Live Sessions from New York...something like that, done in 1999 with EmmyLou, Chris, Mavericks, Steve Earle...That one is amazing if you can find it!

To learn the story of Gram Parsons, see Gram Parsons - Fallen Angel.. Rizzo

This is one I'd been looking forward to since reading reviews of the concert in July of 2004. The result is somewhat disappointing, though largely because of what is not included. Reviews at the time raved of Norah Jones' performances of "Streets Of Baltimore" and "Cry One More Time" with hot guitar work from James Burton, but these songs aren't here. The audio is at times of bootleg quality, particularly on the Jim Lauderdale take on "Big Mouth Blues". There are worthy performances from Jones, John Doe, Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, Keith Richards and others. Unfortunately there are the obligitory muddled jams at the end of the program in which "Wild Horses" and "Ooh Las Vegas" are delivered in excrutiatingly sloppy fashion that even James Burton cannot save.
The original concert may have been a worthy tribute to Gram Parsons, but this dvd presentation will likely disappoint.

This "tribute" is not only disappointing, but rather repulsive. The most unremitting torch of Gram Parson's music and legend was and remains Emmylou Harris, who was not only absent, but unmentioned throughout the video, even in the introduction. This instead was the Polly Parsons show, Gram's biological daughter, who declares that all she can think about during the encore is that she was not wearing any panties while dancing on stage...a true mark of respect and intent. If you are interested in a true tribute, purchase the CD, Return of the Grievous Angel.

Yes, I'll echo the disappointment of the perplexing absences of Chris Hillman and even more glaringly, Emmylou. You'd think those would be the first two names on anyone's Gram Parsons tribute list. In fact their absences, especially Harris', are so conspicuous that one is left with a strange sense of incompleteness when its over. No explanation at all.

Notwithstanding that, this is a great DVD. Steve Earle absolutely rips the place up during his two songs, and a great unexpected treat is the John Doe-Kathleen Edwards duet of Sweeping out the Ashes.

And everybody should lighten up about Keith Richards. He did fine on Hickory Wind and the duet with Norah Jones was a lot of fun. She looks kind of afraid at times.. "Oh God he's not gonna touch me is he..." It was hilarious, and the music was not bad at all. And I loved the Wild Horses/Las Vegas finale.

Some complain that the varying stylings here make for an inconsistent show. I disagree. Gram Parsons' disrespect for those phony musical boundaries are what made him great and so memorable and influential all these years later. These performances reflect that nicely.

Chris and Emmylou, you were indeed missed. But I loved it anyway.

Ever listen to a live show when they forget to turn on the singer's mic and he sounds like he's singing off stage? Bingo! They didn't bother to master the audio!?!

Nobody else mentioned this fault but I found this to be so glaringly obvious that this DVD needs to be remastered and reissued or Gram's ghost to coming back to get the engineers.

I gave it 3 stars because most of the performances are really good and, of course, it is Gram's music. Rent it. Don't buy it.

The trouble with tributes is that you always come to them with the original version in mind and the tribute never lives up to the original. Two problems - Keith Richard who should NOT have been let loose on "Love Hurts" and the lack of Emmylou Harris. Otherwise it's a good solid concert but nobody plays Gram Parsons like Gram Parsons. Don't come to this with your expectations raised too high!

First off, I am NOT a fan of Tribute shows. I find that for the most part they fall flat. This show did not do that, the performances with only one or two exceptions were stellar. Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, Susan Marshall, and Norah Jones were outstanding. In the end, I had hoped for more of the music that I had experienced by being there live, but this DVD was an excellent attempt at capturing the magic of the day. I would have loved some behind the scenes additional tracks added to the project. I understand the connection to Keith Richards only after listening to the narrative,( I don't understand the whole Keith Richards Pirates of the Caribbean look , though) without doing that though I would have wondered why he got so much juice. I find myself replaying the haunting numbers by Lucinda, the energy that Yoakam brought to the stage (and which infected the audience), the bittersweet in Norah Jones's voice. All in all I enjoyed it for what it was, a Tribute to an artist who should still be with us today. It reminds me of the magic of being there that day, and the magic that seems to have surrounded Parsons in the short time he had.

with a little work this could have been better. The sound is off, the lighting is poor. There is a reason a cd wasnt released to this junk. Rent it. Don't buy it. I am returning my copy to Amazon. This is the first product I have ever returned and I have been a regular customer since 1999.

Return to Sin City - A Tribute to Gram Parsons is a pretty good capturing of a couple of shows dedicated to the influential singer songwriter.
Parsons is dead a long time yet his songs, his attitude, his vocals and his music continue to resonate with people and win fans.
The performances here appear heartfelt, They look like real tributes and not just a play for publicity.
Keith Richards' performance alone is worth the cost of the video.
Richards, however, was about the only person on the bill who actually knew Parsons.
The audience is left to wonder why Chris Hillman and Emmy Lou Harris didn't make the partty.
Everyone knows musician schedules are tough to manage but a tribute to Parsons without those two is like throwing an anniversary party and not inviting one of the spouses.