favourite Parsons?

[Drederick Tatum]

as in Gram Parsons.

either of his Flying Burrito Brothers albums for me. probably Gilded Palace of Sin. those covers are pretty amazing and Hot Burrito #2 sounds like could've been done by The Band. actually, that would've been a pretty awesome collaboration. pity he had to go and die.

[Tompz]

i only have the "sleepness nights" album i think it is

its ok

[saz]

grievous angel, sweetheart of the rodeo, exile on main st., live with the fallen angels '73, and the cosmic american music rehearsal tapes are pretty sweet. too bad keith and anita got him hooked on heroin.

[abcdefz]

Alan Parsons is playing in Reno soon.

[Drederick Tatum]

exile on main st.

too bad keith and anita got him hooked on heroin.

while somewhat influential, Parsons isn't on Exile... and was asked to leave Nellcote. and btw, Brian Jones was already dead so he can't be credited either. as far as the heroin goes, thats all personal choice. those two survived it, but Parsons didn't seem to have the strength, which is a pity cause he was really good at making music.

[HEIRESS]

pffffft hot burrito #2 has been the ole myspace song for a good two weeks now

I never got to go to one of the "flying burrito brothers" restaurants in new zealand
pity.

[Drederick Tatum]

...only after you stole Going Up The Country from me.

[HEIRESS]

that was the creepiest coincidence ever

we were touring around in our van and I had that song on a mix cd, so the next internet cafe we hit I changed myspace to it DIDNT EVEN LOOK AT YOUR PAGE

[saz]

while somewhat influential, Parsons isn't on Exile... and was asked to leave Nellcote. and btw, Brian Jones was already dead so he can't be credited either. as far as the heroin goes, thats all personal choice. those two survived it, but Parsons didn't seem to have the strength, which is a pity cause he was really good at making music.

uh, yes he is. not on every track, but he is there. and he helped write a lot of those songs with keith, when mick was off with bianca, in a tiff because gram was keith's newest and closest friend, and jagger felt very threatened and jealous by their bond. gram and keith were not only drug buddies, but practically brothers, joined at the hip 24/7, shooting up and passing out together in the same bed. never again would the band churn out the lush country licks, ballads and melodies which stand out on exile. gram did eventually vacate the south of france, but after receiving a barrage of verbal abuse and nastiness from mick. mick was pissed not only because of the wedge that parsons created between him and keith, but also because keith, parsons, mick taylor, and the rest of the band just wanted to jam all night long and work out the songs into the wee hours of the morning, whereas mick is very organized, business like, cut to the chase, in and out of the studio etc. he had no control whatsoever during exile and it drove him crazy. exile was the moment in which keith and gram ruled. it was also the beginning of the peak of the band's serious drug phase - even bill became a massive pot head during exile, and everyone was stoned, coked up, drunk, or on smack, except for stu. and yeah no shit, brian was dead. and ry cooder was also long gone, but he had already told the twins to 'fuck off', lol. but fortunately for them, they still had parsons, mick taylor, then eventually ronnie wood and billy preston to rip off, or to deny, or not share songwriting credits and royalties with. anyways, it's no state secret that in the late 60s and early 70s, keith and anita got a kick out of getting others onto the needle, ie michael cooper and gram parsons. those two survived it? lol (http://www.robertmknight.com/photos/new/11-KeithRichards.jpg) barely (http://www.joeambrose.net/i/anita.jpg).

[Drederick Tatum]

uh, yes he is. not on every track, but he is there.

where's the source on this?

[saz]

'gram parsons lived with us for quite a long time - before that too, in england, and then his wife came down as well.' - pallenberg, mojo rolling stones special edition

'i learned so much from gram about country music- though he was amazed i knew anything about it at all. he was very encouraging, and we were always knocking around ideas. when guys who play guitars and write songs hang around, that's what they do - you get up in the morning, have a bit of breakfast, pick up a guitar and before you know it you're swapping ideas of all kinds, musical, lyrical, spiritual and criminal, ha ha! gram is on exile in spirit, but playing? not that i can remember. though i can't swear he's not on there because a lot of things were done when i was asleep.' - richards, mojo rolling stones special edition

"not entirely surprisingly, the pair's bond tweaked the sensitivities of richard's closest associate. 'mick is one of the most insecure people i've ever met,' says stanley booth, 'and gram just freaked him out. here's this guy from waycross, georgia who has cooler clothes, cooler records, knows more about music - it was like mick was going down the fast lane at 100 miles an hour, and somebody passes him at 200 miles an hour, and he goes, 'what was that?'.' 'he would say these shitty things to gram. we were sitting on a couch one night at stephen stills' house, where mick, keith and little mick [taylor] were staying. we had various bimbos hanging around doing god knows what, and mick delivers the message to gram that some of the girls have been complaining about people not being very tidy around the house. and i'm staring at mick saying this, in disbelief, thinking, he would be picking up his teeth if he were saying this to me.'" - john harris, mojo rolling stones special edition

"parsons was around for the stones' 10-day 'goodbye britain' tour of march 1971. after spending much of the summer in london, he and gretchen burrell then flew to the south of france, and spent two months living in nellcote, keith and anita's rented abode-cum-zoo-cum-studio. it was here that dominique tarle captured a series of beautifully romantic portraits of the parsons/richards partnership: the pair, sitting under a twinkling chandelier at some ungodly hour, passing the guitar between them and seemingly singing in close harmony. in one of the pictures, mick jagger is a deeply awkward presence: sitting to keith's right, his mouth resolutely closed, seemingly oozing the mixture of confusion and prickliness that parsons brought out in him. whether parsons actually appeared on exile on main st. has long been unclear: richards once reflected that 'he probably was on sweet virginia and a couple more tracks'; the album's engineer, andy johns, recalled gram parsons being in the nellcote's basement for the recording of tumbling dice." - john harris, mojo rolling stones special edition

[Drederick Tatum]

so apart from his influence which is obviously undeniable, it's unclear. shame Richards' memory is as muddled as his speech. so really who knows, maybe he plays lead on the majority of tracks or maybe Mick in his bitterness had parts that Parsons perhaps did play edited out. essentially, its all pretty ambiguous and irrelevant. great album and talented guy.

[saz]

nah man, he's on there for sure. it's neither ambiguous or irrelevent. engineers are the most reliable, and unbiased sources for who played, and who played what at recording sessions. it's a shame that the realm of session logs for the stones is so murky, considering the beatles are very clear (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e347/brizbiz/beatlesrecordings.jpg) on this. that's interesting you raised the idea about mick possibly erasing some of his parts, considering that's what happened to jones' lead riff on honkey tonk women. anyways, i've always strongly suspected that gram did some backing vocals, and some acoustic guitar. eventually, pretty much everyone did have to leave nellcote, other than the band, family members, engineers etc. regardless, this album was born from gram and keith, and they've done nothing like it since.