HEARTS ON FIRE
MY LOVE FOR YOU
BROUGHT ONLY MISERY
HEARTS ON FIRE
PUT OUT THE FLAMES
AND SET THIS COLD HEART FREE
Double Shot of
GRAM PARSONS !!!
GP
is American
singer-songwriter
debut solo album,
and the only one
released during his lifetime.
It was originally released
in a gatefold sleeve
in 1973.
GP
received critical acclaim
upon release,
but failed to reach
the Billboard charts.
In the original
Rolling Stone review,
which individually covered both
GP and its follow-up,
Grievous Angel,
the reviewer praises
Parsons' vocals
and delivery paraphrasing
Gram's lyrics,
"boy,
but he sure can sing"
After being dismissed
from his previous band,
the critically acclaimed
Flying Burrito Brothers,
Parsons decided to embark
on a solo career.
Unlike his two albums
with the Burritos,
which melded
country and western
with soul
and rock music,
Parsons was determined
to make a more
traditional country record
this time around.
However,
Parsons' ongoing
drug problem
which was a deciding factor
for his being fired
from the Burritos
and his
friendship with
Keith Richards
of the Rolling Stones
would delay
his solo plans.
As Mojo writer
John Harris
recalls in his article
"The Lost Boy,"
Parsons had spent
March 1971
hanging out with
the Stones
entourage on
their 10-day
"Goodbye Britain"
tour and then,
after spending much
of the summer
in London,
he and (girlfriend)
Gretchen Burrell
flew to
the South of France
and spent two months
"living in Nellcote,
Keith and Anita's
rented
abode-cum-zoo-cum-studio."
As the Stones
spent months
struggling to complete
their ragged masterpiece
Exile on Main Street
in the basement,
Parsons could be found upstairs
where he was often joined
by Richards
spending hours
passing the guitar
back and forth
singing old country songs.
However,
Parsons' condition
eventually deteriorated
to the point where he
was booted
from the premises,
as David N. Meyer recounts
in his 2007 Parsons biography
Twenty Thousand Roads:
"At Nellcote no one,
not even Richards,
saw rescuing Gram
as a project that
had much
chance of success.
Tolerance for his
self-destruction had run out.
The Stones
had an album to record.
Gram provided
inspiration for much
of what ended up
on the record,
but he had become a drag.
It was time for him to go."
Devastated at being ousted
from the
Stones inner circle,
Parsons returned
to London and,
for a brief period,
stayed with his
former bandmate
from
The International Submarine Band
Ian Dunlop
in Cornwall
before returning
to Los Angeles
intending to make
a solo album
for Warner Bros.
Grievous Angel
is the second
and final
solo studio album
by
Gram Parsons
compiled from
summer 1973 sessions
and released
four months
after his death
from a morphine
and alcohol overdose
in September 1973.
Prominently
featuring
a young
Emmylou Harris,
Grievous Angel
received great
critical acclaim
upon release
but failed to find
commercial success,
a fate shared with
Parsons’ previous efforts
solo and with
The Flying Burrito Brothers.
Grievous Angel
peaked at number 195
on the Billboard charts.
Despite its modest sales,
it is viewed as a
successful example
of the hybrid between
country and
rock and roll
Parsons called
"Cosmic American Music".
It was voted number 324
in the third edition of
Colin Larkin's
All Time
Top 1000 Albums
(2000).
In 2012,
the album was ranked
number 425
on
Rolling Stone magazine's
list of the
500 greatest albums
of all time
TRACKLIST
Still Feeling Blue
We'll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning
Song For You
Streets Of Baltimore
She
That's All It Took
New Soft Shoe
Kiss The Children
Cry One More Time
How Much I've Lied
Big Mouth Blues
Return Of The Grievous Angel
(w/Emmylou Harris)
Hearts On Fire
(w/Emmylou Harris)
I Can't Dance
(w/Emmylou Harris)
Brass Buttons
$1000 Wedding
(w/Emmylou Harris)
Medley :
Cash On The Barrelhead/
Hickory Wind
(w/Emmylou Harris)
(Live)
Love Hurts
(w/Emmylou Harris)
Ooh Las Vegas
(w/Emmylou Harris)
In My Hour Of Darkness
(w/Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt)
Sleepness Nights
(w/Emmylou Harris) [*]
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