Читать книгу The Mojo Collection - Various Mojo Magazine - Страница 158

Record label: Asylum/A&M

Produced: The Burritos, Larry Marks and Henry Lewy

Recorded: A&M Studios, Los Angeles; February 1969

Released: April 21, 1969

Chart peaks: None (UK) 164 (US)

Personnel: Gram Parsons (g, v); Chris Hillman (g, v, mandolin); Chris Ethridge (b, p); Sneaky Pete Kleinow (sg); Jon Corneal (d); Eddie Hoh (d); Sam Goldstein (d); Popeye Phillips (d); Henry Lewy (e)

Track listing: Christine’s Tune; Sin City; Do Right Woman; Dark End Of The Street; My Uncle; Wheels; Juanita; Hot Burrito #1; Hot Burrito #2; Do You Know How It Feels; Hippie Boy

Running time: 37.33

Current CD: Polydor 5407042 adds: Burrito Deluxe album

Further listening: Burrito Deluxe (1970); Gram Parsons – GP (1973) and Grievous Angel (1974)

Further reading: The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited (Johnny Rogan, 1997)

Download: iTunes; HMV Digital

When the Byrds teetered on the brink of collapse at the end of 1968, founding member Chris Hillman decided to join erstwhile member Gram Parsons in a new venture – The Flying Burrito Brothers. ‘Country rock’ was still a neologism at the time they pushed forward with this groundbreaking record. Holed up in a house together, Parsons and Hillman wrote some of the best songs of their lives.

‘When I was living with Parsons I woke up one day and said, This old town’s filled with sin, it’ll swallow you in,’ Hillman remembers. ‘Gram then finished the second part. As far as lyrics and melody went, we shared it all the way.’

Parsons spoke of his vision of ‘Cosmic American Music’ fusing soul, R&B and traditional country alongside a distinctive rock beat. Image was also a part of the equation. Inspired by the Stones, Parsons took to wearing make-up and on the cover of the album the group were dressed in garish, floral suits adorned with cannabis leaves, the creation of the famous Nashville tailor Nudie.

The music was both inspired and confrontational, brazenly mixing steel guitars and mandolins with advanced studio effects, phasing and synthesized brass. It was a potent concoction. The compositions were righteous assaults on LA life, with riveting tales of groupies (Christine’s Tune), drug abuse (Juanita), draft evasion (My Uncle) and lost innocence (Hippie Boy). Parsons’ vocals displayed a remarkable range of emotion, sometimes forthright, occasionally vulnerable and, most famously, cracking with emotion on the heartrending Hot Burrito #1, which Elvis Costello later revived using the less impressive title I’m Your Toy. Parsons’ finest work was featured on this album but only the cognoscenti were listening. Lost in the gap between the country and rock markets, the Burritos never received the acclaim they deserved. It was left to successors like the Eagles to reap the benefits of their pioneering work.