Originally Posted by Classof75 A great book about G.P. "Twenty Thousand Roads" - everything there is to know about him is in this book. Well written and a good read too. He was a real piece of work.

Originally Posted by Bulldog Not heard of that but I should definitely look out for it - it's been many a month since I last read a good rock biography. For those kinds of purposes, the Fallen Angel documentary is solid gold too. I'm off out this evening (GMT) so, depending how quiet the boards are, I'll probably get the first review up in an hour or two.

Originally Posted by Classof75 This is a great biography. After reading this book (Twenty Thousand Roads), I felt like I knew him well. Most interesting was his early years and how he grew up in the South. His family was quite eccentric and wealthy. I think he was a person who channeled music (like Hendrix, and some others). He came, played, and "went home".

The International Submarine Band
Safe At Home
1967, LHI Records

1. Blue Eyes [Parsons]
2. I Must Be Somebody Else You've Known [Haggard]
3. A Satisfied Mind [Hayes/Rhodes]
4. Medley: Folsom Prison Blues/That's All Right, Mama [Cash/Crudup]
5. Miller's Cave [Clement]
6. I Still Miss Someone [Cash/Cash]
7. Luxury Liner [Parsons]
8. Strong Boy [Parsons]
9. Do You Know How It Feels to Be Lonesome [Parsons/Goldberg]

And so it is that the musical story of Gram Parsons begins, with the prospect of Parsons, at the ripe old age of 21, basically (with the help of his bandmates) forged the country rock movement of the late 60s and early 70s. This came about simply by surrounding four Parsons originals with five country classics and running them with a rock 'n' roll motor.

By the time recording first began in the July of '67, the International Submarine Band (ISB for short) were already in decline through a lack of commercial success and as such only consisted of vocalist, rhythm guitarist and principle songwriter Parsons alongside lead guitarist John Nuese. Needless to say, in order to go about recording an album the way the two pictured it being, session musicians such as drummer Jon Corneal, bassist Joe Osborn, pedal steel guitarist Jay Dee Maness and pianist Earl Ball filled in the gaps. In between gigging the album sessions as, one by one, the components of a revolutionary LP piled up.

As the country rock tag that it created may suggest, the results are a marrying of rock-type instrumentation and the unique twist that the sound typical of classic country gives off. It is, however, not so obvious to start with, as the sound and tone of the Parsons original that opens the record, Blue Eyes, is very much rooted in country alone, with the kind of silky-smooth pedal steel that punctuates a mid-tempo song with the kind of yearning and sorrow at its core that would dominate a lot of Parsons' later material. The superb rendition of Merle Haggard's I Must Be Somebody Else You've Known is a much more obvious show of this new twist on country music with the lively rock 'n' roll rhythm and piano going in tandem with the unmistakable sound of the pedal steel.

In fact, principally it's the covers where the country rock genre-hybrid is easier to hear. The old standard of a Satisfied Mind is an exception though, with a much gentler and more contemplative feel to it typical of a lot of classic country (or at least from what I've heard anyway - I won't pretend I'm an expert or anything). The medley of Johnny Cash and Arthur Crudup though, Folsom Prison Blues/That's All Right Mama, is much more in touch with my point about this album though, again showing off Parsons' trademark soaring kind of vocal over a rhythm typical of 1st wave rockabilly with Maness' pedal steel adding to the sonic picture. The rendition of Jack Clement's Miller's Cave though, aside from being one of my favourite country songs, eases along to a slightly more laid-back beat, and stands out being sandwiched between two Johnny Cash covers as it is, the second of these being I Still Miss Someone - another show of how much good a rock 'n' roll band can serve to a country song.

To put the lid on the record are three more Gram Parsons songs, the first of these being the classic Luxury Liner - an often-covered little number a lot more in tune with the energy and high tempos of rockabilly than country. The same can be said of Strong Boy, with the way the bass and piano go hand-in-hand as the sparingly-used pedal steel, pushed quite low in the mix as it is here, goes about giving another great song that extra spice. Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome, a co-write between Parsons and rock 'n' roll producer Barry Goldberg, gives Safe At Home its gentle, painfully sorrowful closer. With its touching harmonies and effective-in-its-simplicity instrumentation (wherein, again, the pedal steel doesn't play so much of a part), its the first in a series of absolutely beautiful Gram Parsons ballads (which made for one of his many strengths as a songwriter and performer).

Safe At Home is, then, basically what you'd expect from any singer-songwriter's first album - an effort that doesn't exactly break a sweat to disguise its influences as the artist in question tries to find his feet in long-play format. It's also a lot like country rock itself, that is to say half-and-half between country and rock. Where a selection of songs are delivered in that laid-back, c&w kind of way, the other selection are given the energy boost that comes from rock 'n' roll itself. To wrap this up then, it's not the best album Parsons was ever involved in but, being quite possibly the pioneering album of the genre (it was only released late because of the legal consequences of Parsons' recording with the Byrds just after he'd finished this album), it is definitely a good starting point for anyone looking to get into country. Even if it's not exactly a classic, it's still a very good album and one that shows the earliest signs of Gram Parsons' strengths as a singer and songwriter. Plus, it's only 25 minutes long in total, so it's not exactly demanding a lot of your time eh.

7/10

In the Court of King Crimson | Last.fm | RYM

Originally Posted by Classof75 Great YouTube links! Just found a minty copy (vinyl) of Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Gonna check it out tonight. Looking foward to your review(s). Thanks for this thread.

The Byrds
Sweetheart Of the Rodeo
1968, Columbia Records

1. You Ain't Going Nowhere [Dylan]
2. I Am a Pilgrim [trad arr. McGuinn/Hillman]
3. The Christian Life [Louvin/Louvin]
4. You Don't Miss Your Water [Bell]
5. You're Still on My Mind [McDaniel]
6. Pretty Boy Floyd [Guthrie]
7. Hickory Wind [Parsons]
8. One Hundred Years from Now [Parsons]
9. Blue Canadian Rockies [Walker]
10. Life in Prison [Haggard/Sanders]
11. Nothing Was Delivered [Dylan]

By the time David Crosby and Michael Clarke had left the Byrds with remaining members, bassist Chris Hillman and lead guitarist Roger McGuinn, both hell-bent on pushing on, Gram Parsons was still a marginal figure on the LA music scene and a friend of Hillman's. It was basically because of their idea of how the Byrds should follow up the psychedelic powerhouse of a record, the Notorious Byrd Brothers, and McGuinn's plan to create a double-album covering all the contemporary American musical forms, including bluegrass, jazz and more psychedelic rock, that Sweetheart Of the Rodeo was essentially born out of creative friction and disagreement. It was actually with that very idea in mind that McGuinn decided to seek out a jazz-trained pianist who, of course, Parsons was. As the start date for the album's recording sessions got closer, for which drummer Kevin Kelley was hired to complete the core band, it soon became apparent that instead of McGuinn's ambitious, all-encompassing double-album, Hillman wanted to use the new Byrds pianist and guitarist Parsons' know-how to expand on the country influence that the former's more recent compositions for the band had explored. Naturally, McGuinn was suspicious of this new direction. It was only after being pressurised by his bandmates and producer and friend Gary Usher that he agreed to go along with the idea.

While Sweetheart Of the Rodeo wasn't exactly a commercial proposition for the music industry of 1968, this new sound (dubbed by Parsons as 'cosmic American music'), which expanded on Parsons' own experiments with the International Submarine Band of running traditional c&w with a rock 'n' roll motor, would prove to be a true landmark of an album. It's overall sound, while centring on a honky tonk country vibe, incorporated elements of soul, folk and 50s-styled r'n'b and rock 'n' roll would influence not only the Flying Burrito Brothers (who'll occupy the next chapter of Gram Parsons' story), but the LA country-rock and outlaw country movement of the 70s right up to the alternative country of the 90s onwards. Pretty influential then for an album that, with two exceptions, is entirely comprised of covers of old country and folk standards. On top of all the influence it's had on generations of artists, Sweetheart Of the Rodeo is a masterpiece and possibly my favourite country album of all time.

Things get off to a terrific start with a blissful cover of Bob Dylan's You Ain't Going Nowhere (from the then-unreleased Basement Tapes), kicking off the album with a perfectly fitting series of pedal steel notes. The gorgeous vocal harmonies make for one of my favourite ever country songs. It's a level of quality carried over by the traditional ditty I Am a Pilgrim, arranged by Hillman and McGuinn to incorporate session man John Hartford's beautiful work on the fiddle.

The Christian Life on the other hand, depending on my mood, comes across to me as a bit of a weak point. Blatantly religiously-inclined lyrics have never exactly been a favourite thing of mine but, on the plus side, this song doesn't try to preach and can be seen as an anthemic little number about standing up for your beliefs in the face of humiliation and adversity. Absolutely nothing wrong with the music either. Whatever you think of it though, you just know from the opening piano lines from Parsons that this rendition of You Don't Miss Your Water is going to make up for it. With his freewheeling performance, this is the first place on the album where Parsons' talent is immediately obvious. You're Still On My Mind is, musically, about as honky tonk as you can get and the first move in that direction that the album takes, with Parsons' again showing his influence on this album on the back of another great performance. Woody Guthrie's Pretty Boy Floyd, another song to focus heavily on Hartford's fantastic work on the fiddle, is kicked into life by McGuinn's lively work on the banjo making for another absolutely superb cover.

To open side B are the only original songs on the album, both of them written by Parsons (which says everything for his influence on the whole album really). The first of these is the gorgeous slow-burner Hickory Wind, fueled by some heart-melting contributions to the sonic picture from the fiddle and pedal steel as well as Parsons' own trademark soaring vocal, this being one of the only three songs to feature his lead vocal. Another is his second composition to be found here, One Hundred Years From Now, with its much livelier vibe, given a much more bouncy and fun kind of feel by use of sessionist Lloyd Green's pedal steel and McGuinn's fantastic work on the guitar that punctuate the track, making for another country classic.

Speaking of country classics, the Hillman-led rendition of Blue Canadian Rockies is another one of those, again using those kind of beat group-styled harmonies in an unusual genre and really doing a whole world of good to an old standard. Plus the melody in Hillman's unaccompanied vocal just gets me every time. It gets the closing trio of covers off to a brilliant start, and a brilliant start which is taken further by Merle Haggard's Life In Prison as sung by Parsons. Superb melody, superb piano to carry the rest of a superb track - another one of my absolute favourites then. Another Bob Dylan song (again salvaged from the yet-to-be-released Basement Tapes), Nothing Was Delivered, serves as a slower, more contemplative sort of end to the album, slowly rolling it along to its conclusion.

So, as you might have guessed from my bleating above, not only is this album highly, highly influential, it's also highly, highly fantastic. Basically, I don't care how much you don't know about country or think you don't like it, Sweetheart Of the Rodeo is a true essential and an album I'd recommend to anyone. It certainly showed me that there's been at least some merit to an area of music that gets overlooked and disregarded by so many people. For this reason, I'm gonna give it the following rating;

10/10