1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #141. The Flying Burrito Brothers - Gilded Palace Of Sin (1969)

The Flying Burrito Brothers - Gilded Palace Of Sin

Label – A&M
Producer – The Burritos, Henry Lewy and Larry Marks
Art Direction – Tom Wilkes
Nationality – USA
Running Time – 37:02

Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)

1. Christine's Tune
2. Sin City
3. Do Right Woman Do Right Man
4. Dark End Of The Street
5. My Uncle
6. Wheels
7. Juanita
8. Hot Burrito No 1
9. Hot Burrito No 2
10. Do You Know How It Feels
11. Hippie Boy

Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons left the Byrds and formed the Flying Burrito Brothers. “The Gilded Palace of Sin” , their first album, picks up where they had left off on the Byrds’ record “Sweetheart Of The Rodeo”. It has been called the “finest and most influential albums the genre would ever produce”. That said, I just couldn’t get into the record that much. That’s not to say that I didn’t like it – just not something that makes me want to go back for another listen any time soon. That’s not to say that this record wasn’t incredibly influencial in that it help create the country/rock genre. While it barely registered on the pop culture radar in 1969, literally dozens of bands (the Eagles most notable among them) would find their inspiration from this record and go on to far greater success. The movement in mainstream country music was clearly influenced by Parsons and Hillman with artists like Travis Tritt, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, and Randy Travis steering country music back away from easy-listening pop and closer to Parsons' vision of "Cosmic American Music."
As I mentioned, “The Gilded Palace of Sin” was not a commercial success – and to date, the RIAA has not even certified it gold. However, its impact on popular music has grown exponentially over the years. The most visible example of this is perhaps The Eagles, who took the innovations of Sweetheart of the Rodeo and The Gilded Palace of Sin into MOR territory, yielding financially lucrative results. During the 1980s, the New Traditionalist movement in mainstream country music was clearly influenced by Parsons and The Gilded Palace of Sin, with artists like Travis Tritt, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, and Randy Travis steering country music back away from easy-listening pop and closer to Country/Rock.
For many years, the album was oddly never re-issued in its entirety on compact disc in the United States. In 2000 this finally changed. In 2003 the album was ranked number 192 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
It is recommended with caution.


You can purchase the vinyl LP here