Search - Flying Burrito Brothers :: Sin City: The Very Best of

Gimme a Break

Benjamin Doleac | Hollis, NH United States | 11/21/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First off, I don't have this.



So you might wonder what qualifies me to write this review. Well, I do have "Hot Burritos!", the 2-CD Flying Burrito Bros. anthology, and frankly it's too much. "Farther Along," an earlier single-CD best-of, left off "My Uncle" and "Hippie Boy" from the landmark "The Gilded Palace of Sin". Disc 2 of "Hot Burritos!" has a couple decent outtakes from the group's last sessions with Gram Parsons - two of which are included here - but the rest comprises the Gram-less self-titled third album and other ephemera. I rarely pull out the second disc. Ergo, this is easily the best Burritos comp on the market, since it comprises all the essential stuff from the "real" Burrito Brothers, i.e. the lineup that included Gram Parsons. Some folks complain that it's yet another repackaging of the same old tracks. Well, that's certainly true, but it's the best one yet, and anyway this compilation isn't intended for people who already have these songs. Get "Sin City" and the Reprise two-fer "GP/Grievous Angel" and you've got yourself a damn fine Gram Parsons overview. Parsons didn't invent country-rock, which is if anything an even more redundant categorization that "folk-rock," but he was the only country-rocker with a natural affinity and connection for both genres; the hybrid came as naturally to him as breathing. I should note, too, that the Flying Burrito Brothers was a group with two frontmen, the other being fellow ex-Byrd Chris Hillman. Their collaboration (both in songwriting and performing, as evinced by their wonderful harmonies here) resulted in one brilliant LP and a rather less excellent follow-up, both of which are contained in their entirety here. If you want to know where everybody from the Eagles to Wilco came from, this is the place to start. That said, after "The Gilded Palace of Sin," country-rock would never be quite this weird or this magical again. There's a reason Gram called it "Cosmic American Music"; pick up this record to find out why."

Twofer Album Package of Gram Parsons

Trevor Seigler | South Carolina | 05/02/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The title says "the very best of" The Flying Burrito Brothers, but at first I wanted to nitpick that it was simply the two albums Gram Parsons recorded while a member. After much repeat listenings, however, I'm inclined to believe that this really is the best of the Burritos. And that's because this set delivers.



After leaving the Byrds in 1968, Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons examined their shared love of country music, albeit through the lens of warped psychelica and rock music that was the byproduct of their times. As a debut offering, "The Gilded Palace of Sin" (the first 11 tracks) is everything a debut should be: eye-openind, breathtaking, masterful and enjoyable. With such stand-outs (and should-be-standards if they're not already) like "Christine's Tune", "My Uncle", and "Hot Burrito #1" and "Hot Burrito #2", the Brothers stake their own unique claim on rock-meets-country. It's a satisfying stew that is only emphasized further by such covers as "Dark End of The Street", and great originals from Hillman and Parsons like "Sin City". Simply put, there is not a bad track on this album.



Which makes the follow-up effort (after "The Train Song", this constitutes the next ten or eleven tracks) suffer by comparison. After starting off strong with "Lazy Days", the album entitled "Burrito Deluxe" simply doesn't come across with the same power as the debut. I'm sure in time I'll learn to enjoy the album on its own merits, but I can't help but feel that "Burrito Deluxe" suffers by being included here. Perhaps a two-disc option would have been advisable, but in it's present format the second album comes off as almost a lazy, formulaic follow-up, a sophmore slump which Parsons never recovered from (he would leave the band shortly after, preferring to hang out with the Rolling Stones).



The bonus tracks (the aforementioned "Train Song", "Close Down the Honky-Tonks", etc) are all fantastic in their own right, and there are even some great "Deluxe" tracks worth putting on repeat ("Wild Horses" gets a great country treatment), but overall I'd have to recommend this for "The Gilded Palace of Sin" alone. It's the one that I keep putting on repeat, especially "Dark End", "Christine" and "Hot Burrito #1". Perhaps in time I'll learn to love "Burrito Deluxe" as well, but for the time being it's more of a nice afterthought than an essential back-to-back listening experience.



After the Brothers, Parsons would squander his talents until recording two solo albums that I plan to pick up later on. But while with the Flying Burrito Brothers (and on their debut in particular), his vision of Cosmic American Music came to fruition and helped to change the face of rock and roll. This best-of package demonstrates why. And it's the best possible introduction..."