141. The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace of Sin (February 1969)

1. Christine's Tune*

2. Sin City*

3. Do Right Woman

4. Dark End of the Street

5. My Uncle

6. Wheels

7. Juanita

8. Hot Burrito #1*

9. Hot Burrito #2

10. Do You Know How It Feels?

11. Hippie Boy

****1/2

I don't know who was in charge of country selections for the Book, but they've done a damned good job. Of course I knew very little about country before beginning this project, but I've enjoyed every country selection so far, and this is arguably the best one we've had yet. No, that's probably At Folsom. This is a close second, though.

The core of the Flying Burrito Brothers was Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, both of whom had split with the Byrds for a variety of reasons (Parsons' ego and Hillman's dissatisfaction with the group's direction, as best as I can tell). The Gilded Palace of Sin sees them shedding the nigh-claustrophobic arrangements that typified the Byrds and exploring a looser, more laid-back country rock sound. I've encountered criticisms of the production and recording, but I think the slightly scruffy quality of the music is a part of what makes it work so well. From a modern perspective, this album just seems natural and obvious. Its innovations have been pretty thoroughly absorbed into popular music, and you hear echoes of it everywhere from the Eagles and Townes Van  Zandt to Gillian Welch and Yo La Tengo. Parsons' desire to create an amalgam of American music means that there are flashes of country, soul, psychedelia and R&B, but all folded into something new and organic that works perfectly, and manages to sound fresh and exciting without losing the connection to its deep roots. It's impressive to produce an album where the twangy draft-dodger song  "My Uncle" fits in perfectly with a cover of the soul classic "Do Right Woman".

All of which wouldn't matter much if the lyrics didn't match the music. But freed from the Byrds' reliance on covers, the team here show themselves to be genuinely great and versatile songwriters. Opener "Christine's Tune" is a classic "she done him wrong" song. "Sin City" is a nigh-apocalyptic song about the perils and pitfalls of LA. "My Uncle" is a funny and clever character study of a draft-dodger who musing that "Vancouver might be my kind of town". The two "Hot Burrito" tracks show both ends of a relationship, both the yearning of wanting to be with someone and the cold reality of trying to live together once the honeymoon period is over. "Hippie Boy" is a slightly tongue-in-cheek call for togetherness across the cultural divide. A lot of ground is covered, and it's all done very well.

Still, this is at its core a country rock album, and as such some people will love it, some will dismiss it as long-hair bullshit, and others will consider it redneck crap. You only have to look at the album's dismal commercial performance, not just on release but in subsequent years. This is a cult album, really. I can definitely see why it's exerted such an influence over the years, though. Other musicians would tweak this formula with greater commercial success, but this album is really something special. I've listened to it like three times today. Maybe because before that I had to suffer through two albums of over-produced, self-important crap. There have been times doing this project when I've found myself thinking "God damn it! When will punk finally happen?". I guess, in lieu of that, The Gilded Palace of Sin will do nicely.