Editor Reviews:

Album Description:
Singer-songwriter Gram Parsons, the architect of country-rock and patron saint of American roots music—"alt" and otherwise—died in 1973 at age 26, but the enormity of his influence remains constant. Florida-born and Georgia-bred, Parsons began playing at age 14 and launched his first group, the International Submarine Band, in NYC in the late ‘60s. Transplanted to L.A., he joined the Byrds, shaping their landmark album Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, and made further musical history with the Flying Burrito Brothers. After discovering Emmylou Harris playing in a D.C. bar, he went on to record two now-legendary solo LPs, GP and Grievous Angel, that spotlight the peerless harmony of their divergent voices, hers angelic and pure, his ragged and scorched by his demons. Rhino’s historic set presents those two soulful albums remastered and expanded, plus a third disc of precious alternate takes from those recordings.

Rating : - Classic Parsons albums receive deluxe treatment
Casual fans may want to pick up the single CD that has Parsons' two solo albums "G.P." and "Grevious Angel". It sounds fine but this box set has just about every worthwhile outtake from sessions for both albums and is certainly for the hardcore fan.

Gram Parsons helped kick start a revolution in country music AND rock 'n' roll by helping to invent country rock (or as Parsons preferred to call it, "American cosmic music"). Sure the genre has taken its knocks over the years but Parsons along with Gene Clark (also a former Byrd), Michael Nesmith, Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn helped give birth to a musical form that captured all the soulfulness of GREAT country music, injected rock 'n' roll spirit into it(and soul of course). Who can forget Emmylou Harris who came to the attention of the public after Gram went to see her in a bar invited to record and tour with him? She provides a terrific complement to Gram's soulful vocal performances.

This terrific box set features Parsons' solo albums "G.P" and "Grevious Angel" as well as a selection of outtakes from the same sessions found in the Reprise vaults presented on a third disc. Make no mistake the original combo CD "G.P." and "Grevious Angel" sounded extremely good on CD and for new fans that might be the way to go but for fans who ate of every Gram release during his short life and after, this truly is an essential collection. I'd also recommend "Live at the Avalon Ballrom 1969" featuring Gram with his band The Flying Burrito Brothers and released by Amoeba Records last year.

Disc 1 consists of all 11 tracks from "G.P." plus a "G.P" radio promo, interviews and two performances "Love Hurts" and "Sin City" featuring Emmylou on both plus N.D. Smart on the latter with Gram. Sadly, even with the weight of Reprise behind the album "G.P." didn't sell in droves.

Disc 2 features all of "Grevious Angel" plus an instrumental track of "Return of the Grievous Angel" and an interview recording that local D.J.'s could use to make it sound like they were interviewing Gram. That was pretty common practice back then particularly to help promote an album.

Disc 3 has all of the rarities, outtakes and alternate takes from both albums. A lot of them have shown up on bootlegs over the years and offical releases but we do get nine tracks that have never shown up on offical releases some of which have NOT been on bootlegs either. 18 tracks in all, the third disc sounds terrific with a huge improvement over the bootlegs released over the years from second and third generation tapes.

Kudos to Rhino for the lovely box set that holds these CDs and the min-reproductions of the original album gatefold sleeves for the two releases. The remastered sound by Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch supervised by compilation producers Emmylous Harris and James Austin sounds terrific. The booklet includes comments from those that worked with Gram as well as an overview of his life and the history behind each album.

My only complaint is that, once again, Rhino has put the CDs in a reproduction of the cardboard vinyl WITHOUT any inserts which does lead to scratching of the CDs as you slide them in and out. For the extra $2.00, I'd be willing to pay for a plastic sleeve for each one of these or even see them released in a digipack since it tends to prevent wear and tear. I ended up copying the artwork and putting them in plastic cases to protect them. It's a minor point but it does show a lack of attention to detail on the part of Rhino for such a great release.


Highly recommended.