Customer Reviews

Safe at Home [Vinyl]

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i love country rock. i mean real country rock, not the pre-fab stuff that comes out of nashville these days. this album is the real stuff. in fact it's the first country rock album ever recorded and gram parsons at his absolute best. he only topped this effort once, with the great "the gilded palace of sin" (the flying burrito brothers first album ). the cd's only drawback is that it's 28 minutes long (which was not unusual for albums in the late 1960s). it was recorded in 1967. before his stint with the byrds, before the flying burrito brothers, before he went solo, before drugs and alcohol got the better of him. everything he did on "the gilded palace of sin" he pioneered here. it turns out gram parsons made a prototype of his later masterpiece. this cd is it. i can't get enough of it.

Gram Parsons has as legitimate claim as anyone for recording the first country/rock album with this late-1967 recording by the International Submarine Band before jumping ship to join the Byrds on their SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO project.

The standout tracks are the self-penned gems like "Blue Eyes" (which was released as a single), "Luxury Liner" (which Parsons devotee Emmylou Harris would cover a decade later), and "Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome" (which Parsons would revisit on the Flying Burrito Brothers' debut).

There are equally strong performances on covers of Merle Haggard's "I Must Be Somebody Else You've Known" and Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone." The original album's nine tracks are augmented on this CD reissue by the bonus track "Knee Deep In the Blues" (a hit for both Marty Robbins and Guy Mitchell), which first appeared on the Gram Parsons anthology SACRED HEARTS & FALLEN ANGELS.

The band is joined on these recordings by Jay Dee Maness on pedal steel, Earl "Les" Ball on piano, and future Burrito Brother Chris Ethridge on bass. While the album is relatively short (it clocks in at just under 28 minutes), the pure, raw country sounds on this disc became the template for all country/rock bands that followed in their wake. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This 1968 album on L.H.I records is a first recording for Gram Parsons and the International Submarine Band and remains the only recording for "IBS", Gram Parsons left the band soon after the recording, while the rest of the members tried to hang on, by the time the album was released the band was already disbanded, due to the fact of not being able to replace Parsons, so, the "ISB" never gained recognition and Gram Parsons remained unknown, until the hook up with the Byrds. This Sundazed cd consist of ten songs and it is a very short recording. These four songs are the highlights on here, all Parsons originals, "Blue Eyes", "Luxury Liner", "Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome", and "Strong Boy", and amazing is the tightness of the band, - featuring John Nuese-lead guitar, Jay Dee Maness-steel, Earl Ball-Piano, Chris Ethridge-bass. Parsons sure knew some damn good steel players, using the instrument as a weapon in his repertoire, as so did Mr. Owens, and "the Hag"...listen to the version of Folsom Prison, Jay Dee is really working it out on steel, and Parsons closes the medley with Arthur Crudup's, "That's All Right", also featuring Hank Snow's, "Miller's Cave", the Cash original, "I Still Miss Someone", and Merle Haggard's, "I Must Be Somebody Else You've Known", and closing with the originally unissued track, Marty Robbins, "Knee Deep In The Blues". This is a 2004 Sundazed release, SAFE AT HOME, leans more on the country sound, like in "Bakersfield" played Gram Parsons - ISB style. (this SUNDAZED cd is of superior sound as always) too bad Parsons with "ISB" never played the opry.

This is a fairly short album by today's standards, but this album shows that today's standards are pretty crappy. "Miller's Cave" stands out in my mind the most.

Some people think this is an unrealized album--i disagree. For those who follow Gram and find precious little to revel over, this is an engaging look at the pre-Byrds Parsons. The recordings are clean, the execution, while a little rough, are soulful, and Gram's vocals are fully formed. It's a little short, but this version adds an extra track. A must for any Parsons' fan.

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 three-track!

Gram Parsons always led a colorful life and created interesting music. If you are a folk/country music fan or just a music lover this is an interesting CD to add to your collection. A little too country for me but certainly chronicles the late great "Gram Parsons"