How I'm Spending My Summer Vacation On Rhino Reissues: GP vs. The Mats, PT 1 of 2

Not more than a few weeks ago, I told a friend, "I don't see any reason why I'd listen to Gram Parsons ever again." Well apparently someone at Rhino overheard my usual bullshit hyperbole and rushed out this 3-disc Complete Reprise Sessions set last Tuesday.

After a slightly intoxicated visit to the local Virgin Megastore on said Tuesday night (never a good idea, particularly on a Tuesday), I walked out with this & the new Replacements best of, also courtesy of Rhino. Perfect evidence that Rhino can get you to spend your hard-earned $$ on shit you already own by just tossing it inside some cardboard with a few mostly useless bonus tracks.

For the GP set, bonus tracks means alternate takes of GP/Grevious Angel songs and some radio interview snippets. Out of a total 48 tracks here on THREE(!) discs, there's not one goddamn new composition included here. Nothing live, no Fallen Angels, no demos, no unreleased songs. Nice work on the replica LP sleeves, but cardboard alone don't cut it friends.

Emmylou Harris is listed as producer on this collection. Maybe all that botox has finally gotten to the brain.

The two bonus cuts that are new in any significant way is the version of "Kiss The Children" from GP (his first solo album post-Burritos Bros.), sung as a duet with Barry Tashian of the Boston rave-up mavericks The Remains and the Greivous Angel sessions outtake of "Hickory Wind." Barry & Gram befriended some time during the Burritos Bros. days, and the story goes Gram taught Barry to sing country & Barry taught Gram to sing rock & roll. Either way, Gram died before we ever got to really hear him rock, and Barry lives with his wife in Nashville as a songwriting team for the Country Music Machine. As far as Barry's beginnings as a country singer, sounds like he was a slow learner. Or maybe Gram was a shitty teacher.

Gram Parsons & Barry Tashian - "Kiss The Children" (alternate take, GP. 1972).

It is worth noting that Barry did record a terrific lead vocal of "Cry One More Time" for GP, which Gram had the good taste to release on the original album. Apparently ego hadn't totally inflamed Gram's musical sense, and he let another man take lead on his own solo album. Interesting...

Barry Tashian w/ Gram Parsons - "Cry One More Time" (album version, GP. 1972)

At this point, I could very easily go off a Barry & the Remains tangent.. since I feel like talking some more shit about Gram, pop open this in a new browser window/tab & get back here quick (maybe someday I'll do a thing on The Remains if I don't get bummed on this whole mp3 blog thing).

So, back to the Gram. If you're unfamiliar with the Grievous Angel, he's basically a giant fuck you: he grew up fucking stinking rich on a plantation in the South, fucked around in private school & at Harvard for a year, fucked up the Byrds, fucked with country & rock and called it 'Cosmic American Music,' discovered & presumably fucked Emmylou and died like a fuck -- overdosing in a motel at Joshua Tree in '73, followed by a strange series of events starring Johnny Knoxville and a greedy stepfather.

Gram Parsons w/ Emmylou - "Hickory Wind" (alternate take, Grevious Angel. Recorded 1973, originally released The Byrds: Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, 1968.)

Some have called Ryan Adams the Gram Parsons of his day, but it's probably the other way around. Ryan isn't as special as he'd like to be, and Gram really isn't as special as we've made him out to be. Both sing nice songs that are a nice blend of rock & country & folk, but beyond "nice," nothing extraordinarily extraordinary have come out of either. Gram's best stuff was the with The Byrds (or, arguably, The International Submarine Band); Ryan's best stuff with Whiskeytown -- and they individually fucked up both bands. Both had grand dreams of celebrity and both ended up slobbish jerks with good hair & drinking problems -- all of which would be a complete bore, except that both wrote some damn fine songs in their day.

Gram Parsons - "Return Of The Grevious Angel" (alternate take, Grevious Angel. 1973)

Stay tuned for "How I'm Spending My Summer Vacation On Rhino Reissues: GP vs. The Mats, PT 2 of 2" -- Don't You Know Who I Think I Was: The Best of The Replacements.