MY well worn copy of gram parsons album grievous angel showing his portrait but not the original photo with Emmylou Harris — Looking well used – the cover of my vinyl copy of Gram Parsons Grievous Angel album

Gram Parsons – Grievous Angel

Of all the albums I have ‘reviewed’ in my Vinyl collection up to now I would say this is the most difficult. Views on it will always be subjective, so I am writing this as an objective view looking back fifty years rather than how I may have felt back then as I excitedly put my new purchase on the turntable. When an artist is in the process of reinventing the wheel then we are looking at a work in progress. With Gram’s untimely death we are never going to be able to see what he would have achieved, where he would have taken his country rock baby. This is his posthumously released final album. Much as I love this vinyl, I feel it is not quite the album he would have finally settled on had he lived. Also, this album contains only a couple of new songs. A couple of stronger songs should have found their way onto here. Yet, he has some remarkable material on ‘Grievous Angel’, performed with some band members that will go on with his legacy with Emmylou Harris. You sense he is still in rehearsal to a degree, still discovering where he wanted to go with his invention of a new genre.

It would be others that reaped the rewards of his labours and talent – The Eagles obviously, perhaps I am not sure that he would have personally settled with their take on country rock, although I am sure he would have cheered them on. Would his ideas have taken him onwards with Emmylou Harris or would he have gone back to a full-blown rock band playing his country themed style? We will never know. Emmylou goes on to have a remarkable career, protecting his legacy but not necessarily overly refining what he was trying to achieve. She became her own woman, using much that he had taught her, for that we are deeply grateful, certainly for never letting Parson’s name and talent be forgotten.

Parsons never had a say in the final make up of this album and no doubt Emmylou’s closeness to the production of this album affected just how it finally made the record stores – she gets only a cursory credit, yet Parson’s clearly must have seen this a collaboration album. It is rather sad that this final album package could not have been more celebratory of just what he and Emmylou had produced. Anyway, putting the cover to one side let us have another listen to an important album, influential to so many artists.

Let’s get the negative out of the way. The ‘Live’ from Quebec medley would have benefited by just having a studio version of him singing ‘Hickory Wind’ with Emmylou. ‘I Can’t Dance’ sounds like a filler put in because of a lack of new material. ‘Ooh Las Vegas’ should have been left for Emmylou’s later version. The song ‘Sleepless Nights’ appeared a couple of years later and should have been on this album although I can on hearing the emotion on this song understand why Gretchen Parsons may have vetoed it. Similarly, the two other songs from the session – ‘Brand New Heartache’ and ‘The Angels Rejoiced Last Night’ would have strengthened the overall album.

Such thoughts about one or two songs are dwarfed however by the gorgeous overall musicality of this album. This band is tight, crisp, note perfect, and professional – all world class musicians that were in tune with Gram’s vision. The production and mixing are done with care and love.

My copy of Gram Parsons album Grievous Angel from 1974 — Rear cover of my vinyl copy of Grievous Angel

‘Grievous Angel’ highlights what was lost with his death. There are moving songs on here with the harmony interaction between Emmylou and Parsons just as exquisite as anything before or since. We must of course start with THAT duet – ‘Love Hurts’. Is that the finest duet of all time? I am sure there are a vast number of listeners that think so – I am one of them. It is not often that you have to say something is pure perfection, but this is. Emmylou and Gram don’t just get inside the lyrics, they are playing them out, private feelings clearly being burned onto the public tracks – there is pain, such pain. I have seen Emmylou Harris many, many times but only once have I seen her singing ‘Love Hurts’. It was at Manchester Bridgewater Hall in November 2000. I genuinely felt she had tears by the end – I know we did. The emotion of this performance on ‘Grievous Angel’ has not diminished over the years. They surely weren’t faking it – no one is that good an actor.

‘Return of the Grievous Angel’ I heard Emmylou reprising around 1975 on a BBC radio broadcast with the Hot Band. The audience was mostly made up of Elvis fans for whom seeing Glen D Hardin and James Burton was the closest they could get to their ‘King’. That is an extraordinary performance, totally captivating as she poured her respect and admiration for Gram’s remarkable song into her take on it. This is Gram’s life distilled into one song. If you only could play just the one song to say what Gram Parsons was all about then this must be the one. It has a deep sadness about it as you feel he dearly loves his work and the people around him, but he sees his ‘Devil’ and he cannot shake it off to fulfil his rich talent. The line about heading out for a desert town has added poignancy. You could imagine this being the basis for a screenplay, truly cinematic in its scope. My favourite Gram Parsons track.

The first slow, emotional duet with Emmylou is ‘Hearts on Fire’. The way their voices and emotions intertwine is a pure delight. Emmylou soars around Gram’s more upfront vocal, at times stretching the words. Much as I wish his wife had authorised this album in more complete form you have to feel it must have been difficult to leave this track on, never mind ‘Love Hurts’. The chemistry between them on here as they play around with words they must have responded to in real life is beautifully apparent. Hearts on fire indeed.

‘$1000 Wedding’ is an older song that benefits from the arrangement and musicians on here, superior to the Flying Burrito Brothers version. This is a strange song, only making some sense by understanding it is autobiographical. It surely doesn’t tell the whole story. Parsons was a complex individual that inspired deep affection from many, but clearly, he could arouse other feelings by his actions. Is this an expression of regret? I can still not work out who was at fault here, who has the regrets if any. The song works because of that ambiguity, an intriguing lyric that again has a film score in it.

‘In my Hour of Darkness’ is a fitting final track, maybe the only one that could have ended this posthumous release. Emmylou Harris is credited as jointly responsible which is appropriate. Clearly a sense this is autobiographical but maybe coincidentally so as Parsons was reflecting deeply about lost friends at the time. Sadly, Parsons was not safely strumming his silver stringed guitar, time was running out. The hour of darkness never ended at this point. Parsons sings this with poignancy as Emmylou adds a sense of resignation that all is not going to turn out well. It ends on her sustaining a high note and Gram’s voice fades away.

Just as life turned out.