In seguito all'amara separazione dai Byrds nel 1968, anno della pubblicazione dello storico "Sweetheart of The Rodeo" considerato una delle prime pietre del country rock, Gram Parsons e Chris Hillman fondano assieme al grande esperto di pedal steel "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow e al bassista Chris Ethridge i Flying Burrito Brothers. La perfetta collaborazione musicale tra l'esperto ex bassista dei Byrds e futuro compagno di Stephen Stills nei Manassas e il talento visionario di Parsons, genera un perfetto esempio di country rock che negli anni a venire vanterà centinaia di tentativi di imitazione.
Se nei Byrds Roger McGuinn ad un certo punto della carriera della sua band la butta in moda parlando di "Raga Rock", Gram Parsons diventa, alla fine dei Sessanta, il pioniere e il portavoce della "Cosmic American Music" che, nelle intenzioni dell'artista, avrebbe dovuto essere un connubbio perfetto tra country, soul e rock. La musica contenuta in questo disco non aveva bisogno dell'immagine di copertina, sulla quale la band vestiva abiti sgargianti con tanto di disegni di piante di cannabis, per essere notata.
L'iniziale "Christine's Tune", la dolce "Sin City", la storia di "Juanita", la polemica "My Uncle" e la classica "Wheels" sono considerati classici del country rock assieme alle due "Hot Burrito". Brani immortali che testimoniano la grande capacità di Gram Parsons nel creare melodie ispirate e indimenticabili. Accanto a queste perle vanno segnalate le splendide versioni di "Dark End Of The Street" e di "Do Right Woman", due classici soul di Dan Penn. La voce personale, malinconica e dolce di Parsons rimane sempre sugli scudi nel descrivere gioie e dolori dell'amore mentre Hillman, dalla sua, pensava a fornire solide armonie vocali. Chiaramente con un personaggio così carismatico come Gram Parsons le possibilità di lunga durata della band erano ridotte al minimo.
Dopo questo disco i Flying Burrito Brothers subirono vari cambiamenti di organico e il seguente "Burrito Deluxe" nonostante il buon tiro rock, rappresenterà una parziale delusione nonostante la presenza di una notevole cover di "Wild Horses" dei Rolling Stones. "The Gilded Palace of Sin" rimane una pietra d'angolo della musica americana legata alle radici, grazie soprattutto alle notevoli innovazioni stilistiche di Gram Parsons del tutto inusuali rispetto agli stereotipi nashvilliani. Egli riuscì a colmare il vasto abisso che alla fine dei Sessanta esisteva tra gli appassionati del rock e del country. Anche per questo motivo non smetteremo mai di ringraziarlo.
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01 Christine's Tune (03:04)
Title: Christine's tune
Artist: The Flying Burrito Brothers
She's a devil in disguise
you can see it in her eyes
She's telling dirty lies
she's a devil in disguise
in disguise
Now a woman like that
all she does is hate you
She doesn't know
what makes a man a man
She'll talk about
the times that she's been with you
She'll speak your name
to everyone she can
She's a devil in disguise
you can see it in her eyes
She's telling dirty lies
she's a devil in disguise
in disguise
Unhappiness has been her close companion
Her world is full of jealousy and doubt
It gets her off to see a person crying
She's just the kind that you can't do without
She's a devil in disguise
you can see it in her eyes
She's telling dirty lies
she's a devil in disguise
in disguise
Her number always turns up in your pocket
Whenever you are looking for a dime
It's all right to call her but I'll bet you
The moon is full and your just wasting time
She's a devil in disguise
you can see it in her eyes
She's telling dirty lies
she's a devil in disguise
in disguise .....
05 My Uncle (02:37)
A letter came today from my draft board
With trembling hands I read the questionare
It asked me lots of things about my mamma and poppa
Now that ain't what I call exactly fair
So I'm headed for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be my kind of town
Cause they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground
A sad old soldier once told me a story
About a battlefield that he was on
He said a man should never fight for glory
He must know what is right and what is wrong
So I'm headed for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be my kind of town
Cause they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground
Now I don't know how much I owe my uncle
But I suspect it's more than I can pay
He's asking me to sign a three year contract
I guess I'll catch the first bus out today
So I'm headed for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be my kind of town
Cause they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground
06 Wheels (03:04)
We've all got wheels to take ourselves away
We've got telephones to say what we can't say
We all got higher and higher every day
Come on wheels take this boy away
We're not afraid to ride
We're not afraid to die come on wheels take me home today
So come on wheels take this boy away
Now when I feel my time is almost up
And destiny is in my right hand
I'll turn to him who made my faith so strong
Come on wheels make this boy a man
We're not afraid to die come on wheels take me home today
So come on wheels take this boy away
07 Juanita (02:31)
No affection were the words that stuck on my mind
When she walked out on me for the very last time
Oh mamma sweet mamma can you tell me what to say
I don't know what I've done to be treated this way
In a cold dirty room that's where I found myself
With a bottle of wine and some pills off the shelf
Oh mamma sweet mamma can you tell me what to say
I don't know what I've done and I'm feeling so ashamed
Then an angel appeared she was just 17
In a dirty old town with a conscious so clean
Oh mamma sweet mamma can you tell me what to say
She's brought back the life that I once threw away
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