Customer Reviews

Safe At Home

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This CD was previously released as "The Early Years." This album represents the best music that he recorded prior to teaming up with the Byrds and the Flying Burrito brothers. Even though it didn't sell many copies, it is still great music. The band is excellent and there isn't a bad song on the disc. If you are a fan of Gram Parsons, you should own this disc.

One minor complaint - It would be nice to have some studio outtakes or alternate takes.

This is an interesting record, to say the least: I can't think of any other group that played Country Rock in 1967, the "Summer of Love" season. Even though this is one of the earliest published examples of a Gram Parsons performance on record, his voice sounds already very mature here and carries a lot of emotion. Furthermore it features some early examples of his now classic song material such as "Luxury Liner", "Blue Eyes", "Strong Boy" and "Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome", later re-recorded with the Flying Burrito Bros. "Luxury Liner" has even more punch than the version covered later by Emmylou Harris. The real treat of the album though is a cooking rhythm section along with some great soloists, including John Nuese on lead guitar, J.D. Maness on pedal steel and Earle Poole Ball on piano. If you like pedal steel guitar, you're gonna hear some of the most sophisticated and progressive sounds on that instrument ever recorded. "A Satisfied Mind", "I Still Miss Someone" and "Folsom Prison Blues" remain as Country standards, but they are presented here in a fresh, unusual fashion. Try to get the mono version, the master is recorded on four-track!