Grievous Angel

Infobox Album |
Name = Grievous Angel
Type = Album
Artist = Gram Parsons


Released = January 1974
Recorded = Summer 1973 at Wally Heider Studio 4, Hollywood, California
Genre = Country-rock
Length = 36:14
Label = Reprise
Producer = Gram Parsons
Reviews = * Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:5z7tk6dx9krw link]
Last album = "GP" (1973)
This album = "Grievous Angel" (1973)
Next album = "Sleepless Nights" (1976)

"Grievous Angel" was the second solo album by Gram Parsons, compiled from 1973 sessions and posthumously released four months after his death. Like all of Parsons' records, it failed to rate high on the charts, never reaching the top hundred on the Billboard charts. Nonetheless, it is viewed as a milestone of the hybrid between country and rock and roll Parsons called "Cosmic American Music."

History

After a ramshackle tour in the spring and summer of 1973, Gram Parsons again convened with his singing partner Emmylou Harris, various members of Elvis Presley's "Hot Band", including James Burton and Glen Hardin and the occasional guest (such as Bernie Leadon and Linda Ronstadt) to record his second solo album for Reprise Records. Lacking much-needed new material, Parsons quickly wrote two songs during the sessions ("Return of the Grievous Angel", with lyrics by Boston-based poet & Parsons fan Thomas Brown; "In My Hour Of Darkness", arranged by Harris) and looked to songs rejected for previous albums and to standard country songs to flesh out the scant material he came up with. In regards to the original material, "Brass Buttons" dated from Parsons' brief stint as a Harvard-based folksinger in the mid-1960s; "Hickory Wind" had already been recorded with The Byrds; "$1000 Wedding", about Parsons' aborted plan to wed the mother of his daughter in ostentatious style, had been recorded in a plodding arrangement with the Flying Burrito Brothers circa 1970; "Ooh Las Vegas" had been rejected from "GP".

In spite of the dearth of new material, the album took what its predecessor had presented and expanded the format of "Cosmic American Music". With the album in the can, Parsons set off for Joshua Tree, California, where he would unfortunately fatally overdose on September 19, 1973, dying the next day in nearby Yucca Valley. A planned tour (to have begun the next month), plans to divorce his wife Gretchen and another attempt to have a "hit" album were all gone.

Posthumous changes

The released album almost certainly deviates from the intended track listing Parsons had. Parsons' widow, Gretchen, who never cared for Harris' relationship with her husband, moved her originally prominent presence on the original front cover of the album (the album being credited on that cover to "Gram Parsons with Emmylou Harris" and featuring a photograph of the two of them) and relegated her to a simple credit on the back cover. Additionally, the widow Parsons removed the original title track, "Sleepless Nights" and replaced the cover she despised with a simple image of Parsons in a sea of blue. The rearranged album was released in January 1974.

The three tracks recorded during the sessions that had gone unreleased, "Sleepless Nights", "The Angels Rejoiced in Heaven Last Night" and "Brand New Heartache", were released on the posthumous 1976 Parsons/Flying Burrito Brothers album "Sleepless Nights".

Track listing

*Side One:
#"Return of the Grievous Angel" (Gram Parsons, Thomas Brown) – 4:19
#"Hearts on Fire" (Walter Egan, Tom Guidera) – 3:50
#"I Can't Dance" (Tom T. Hall) – 2:20
#"Brass Buttons" (Parsons) – 3:27
#"$1000 Wedding" (Parsons) – 5:00

*Side Two:
#"Medley Live from Northern Quebec:"
(a) "Cash on the Barrelhead" (Charlie Louvin, Ira Louvin) – 2:12
(b) "Hickory Wind" (Parsons, Bob Buchanan) – 4:15
#"Love Hurts" (Boudleaux Bryant) – 3:40
#"Ooh Las Vegas" (Parsons, Ric Grech) – 3:29
#"In My Hour of Darkness" (Parsons, Emmylou Harris) – 3:42

Personnel

*Gram Parsons: lead vocals, acoustic guitar
*Emmylou Harris: vocals (all songs except "Brass Buttons")
*Glen D. Hardin: piano, electric piano
*James Burton: electric lead guitar
*Emory Gordy: bass
*Ronnie Tutt: drums
*Herb Pedersen: acoustic rhythm guitar (except electric rhythm on "I Can't Dance")
*Al Perkins: pedal steel

Guests

*Bernie Leadon: electric lead guitar on "Hearts on Fire", dobro on "In My Hour of Darkness"
*Byron Berline: fiddle on "Return of the Grievous Angel", "Medley Live from Northern Quebec" & "In My Hour of Darkness", mandolin on "Medley"
*N.D. Smart II: drums on "Hearts on Fire" and "In My Hour of Darkness"
*Steve Snyder: vibes on "Medley Live from Northern Quebec"
*Linda Ronstadt: harmony vocal on "In My Hour of Darkness"
* Kim Fowley, Phil Kaufman, Ed Tickner, Jane & Jon Doe: "Background blah-blah" on "Medley Live from Northern Quebec"