The Complete Reprise Sessions [Box]

Performer: Gram Parsons
Engineer: Hugh Davies; Ed Barton; Hugh Davies; Ed Barton
Producer: Gram Parsons; Rick Grech; Gram Parsons; Rick Grech; Emmylou Harris (Compilation); James Austin (Compilation)
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Gram Parsons (vocals, acoustic guitar); Gram Parsons; Barry Tashian (vocals, guitar, background vocals); Bernie Leadon (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, dobro); Al Perkins , Buddy Emmons (pedal steel guitar); Hal Battiste (baritone saxophone); John Conrad, Emory Gordy, Rick Grech (bass guitar); N.D. Smart II (drums); Mitch Gordon, Phil Kaufman, Lewis Morford, Joe Doe, Ed Tickner, Jane Doe, Kim Fowley, Tom Bahler, Ron Hicklin (background vocals); Herb Pedersen (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Emmylou Harris (vocals); James Burton (guitar, electric guitar, dobro); Alan Munde (banjo); Byron Berline (mandolin, fiddle); Glen D. Hardin (piano, organ); Steve Snyder (vibraphone); Sam Goldstein, John Guerin, Ronnie Tutt (drums); Linda Ronstadt (background vocals). Audio Mixers: Emmylou Harris; Bill Inglot; Brian Kehew. Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Bill Inglot. Audio Remixer: Hugh Davies. Liner Note Authors: Emmylou Harris; Parke Puterbaugh; James Austin; Holly George-Warren. Recording information: Capitol Records Studios, Hollywood, CA (09/1972-07/1973); Wally Heider Studio 4, Hollywood, CA (09/1972-07/1973). Author: Emmylou Harris. Photographers: Ginny Winn; Kim Gottlieb-Walker; Barry Feinstein; Greg Allen; Andee Nathanson; Doug Hanners; Rodney Bingenheimer. Taking the place of the obligatory cd two-fer of GP and GREVIOUS ANGEL, Gram Parsons's THE COMPLETE REPRISE SESSIONS covers it all and then some for Grampires of all stripes. Produced by Emmylou Harris and Parsons cohort James Austin, this beautifully designed three-disc set includes one disc devoted to each solo record and a third featuring outtakes from each album's sessions. With fewer overdubs and Gram and Emmylou's vocals front-and-center in the mix, the final disc brims with the emotive soul and earthbound angelic vocals the two perfected. Among the final discs many highlights are looser alternate takes of "She" and "Streets of Baltimore" from GP and a "Hickory Wind" unadorned by the ridiculous fake crowd noise that mars the GRIEVOUS ANGEL version. The latter is the best and most stirring recorded performance of Parsons's signature song and alone worth the box's sticker price. Other features scattered on the first two discs include radio interviews (with Parsons's southern hippie charm in overdrive); captivatingly raw acoustic performances with him, Harris, and drummer N.D. Smart; and an instrumental version of "Return of the Grievous Angel" that reveals just how ace a country band the Waycross longhair had. Truth be told, Reprise's 1990 single-disc two-fer of Gram Parsons' two solo albums -- 1973's G.P. and 1974's Grievous Angel -- was for most intents and purposes as close to The Complete Reprise Sessions as Rhino's triple-disc set of the same name. Parsons only recorded two full solo albums before his death in 1973, never living to see the release of the second one, and he didn't leave too much behind in the vaults, which were plundered in 1976 for Sleepless Nights and, in addition to an appealingly shambling, laconic, and lazy 1970 jam by the Flying Burrito Brothers, also contained three outtakes from the Grievous Angel sessions: "Brand New Heartache," "Sleepless Nights," and "The Angels Rejoiced Last Night," all included here. These were the only fully formed songs that didn't make the album, and the other outtakes were simply alternate takes of songs that did appear on the two albums. All of these alternate takes are gathered together on the third disc of The Complete Reprise Sessions. The first two discs are devoted to G.P. and Grievous Angel respectively -- two albums that were previously illustrated to fit quite well together on a single disc, but are now separated. These two discs do have bonus tracks, but they're not exactly enticing: a radio promo for G.P., plus promotional interviews that are neither revealing nor particularly engaging. Cut out the interviews and the two albums could have been put on one disc and then the second disc could have been devoted to outtakes, and the streamlining would have made this more attractive, particularly because the third disc on The Complete Reprise Sessions is not all that enticing. There are some good moments here, including a duet with Barry Tashian on "Kiss the Children," but the alternate takes aren't all that different; in fact, in every case they quite clearly prove that the best take did indeed make the finished album. Of course, any Parsons fanatic won't really care that these alternate takes aren't that interesting; he left behind so few recordings that his devoted fans will eagerly devour any newly discovered unreleased material, even if they know it's mediocre, which the unreleased material on this collection most assuredly is -- enjoyable, but mediocre all the same -- which the compilers most assuredly knew as they were assembling this collection. Given this, it would have been fairer to those devoted fans to present this as a double-disc set instead of a three-disc box -- after all, there are only two CDs' worth of music here -- but instead, Parsons' complete Reprise recordings are spread out over this inflated triple-disc set. And while the devoted will be happy with the remastering and the unreleased material, the simple fact of the matter is that all of his great music was collected on that 1990 two-fer, and that's the CD that anybody with an interest in Parsons, country-rock, country music, or American music of the 20th century should own. Not this good but bloated set. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rolling Stone (p.100) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "It's the third disc that has the unreleased treasures....On these scratch vocals, you can hear Parsons and Harris finding their way inside each song." Spin (p.87) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "No voice is more exquisitely plaintive." Spin (p.58) - Ranked #8 in Spin's "The 10 Best Reissues of 2006" -- "[N]ot just creating alt-country but striving for a utopian Southern music..." Entertainment Weekly (p.69) - "[With] some of the most beautiful songs country ever produced." -- Grade: A- Q (p.123) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[H]is subtle delivery, beautifully enhanced by the duetting vocal of Emmylou Harris, pulls you in." No Depression (p.99) - "Most of the takes are stripped of overdubs and move the vocals to the center. This unadorned state allows us to appreciate anew Parsons' unaffected singing." Mojo (Publisher) (p.113) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "Parsons laid a foundation here that still stands more than three decades [later]..."

Gram Parsons was one of the prime movers of country-rock. After forming one of the first country-rock groups, the International Submarine Band, he led the Byrds down a similar path on SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO before splitting with Byrd Chris Hillman to form the Flying Burrito Brothers. The Burritos combined a 1960s stoner/rocker sensibility with country roots and a touch of soul, cutting far deeper than most of the alt-country bands they inspired. In the early 1970s Parsons became a solo artist; his two studio albums GP and GRIEVOUS ANGEL are masterpieces that also kick-started the career of another progressive-country icon, his duet partner Emmylou Harris. Unfortunately, Parsons's long-standing substance abuse finally killed him in 1973 at the age of 26, a monumental waste of talent.

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