The Gilded Palace of Sin

The Gilded Palace of Sin is an album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1969. Widely considered to be one of the finest and most influential works in rock history, it continued Gram Parsons' pioneering work in modern country music, fusing traditional sources like folk and country with other forms of popular music like gospel, soul, and rock & roll.

By 1969, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, and others had already built the foundation of the agrarian movement in rock & roll; Dylan through "The Basement Tapes" and John Wesley Harding, and Parsons through his work with The International Submarine Band and The Byrds. After the release of the groundbreaking masterpiece, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Parsons left the group on the eve of a South African tour. Chris Hillman, bassist for The Byrds, soon left as well and eventually joined Parsons in his new band, The Flying Burrito Brothers as guitarist.

Their first album as The Flying Burrito Brothers was The Gilded Palace of Sin, where Parsons arguably did his best work. Most of the songs were written in conjunction with the vastly more disciplined Hillman at a house in the San Fernando Valley dubbed "Burrito Manor"; consequently, Parsons delivered some of his most celebrated compositions. This uncharacteristic focus extended to his personal life; during recording, he had reunited with his longtime girlfriend and daughter Polly, only to desert them once more shortly thereafter. The two R&B standards covered on the album, "Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman", are perhaps the clearest examples of his unique country-soul fusion that he would often refer to as "cosmic American music."

At its core, The Gilded Palace of Sin is a refinement of the blueprint established by Parsons and Hillman on Sweetheart of the Rodeo, eschewing the fiddle-dominated sound of the latter for a grittier, rockier approach. "My Uncle" and "Hippie Boy" address then-contemporary countercultural concerns: the draft and 1968 Democratic National Convention riots. Rather than playing in an orthodox fashion, visual effects artist-turned-pedal steel guitarist "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow often utilized a fuzzbox and/or played the instrument through a rotating Hammond Leslie amplifier, adding a psychedelic touch to several songs.

Like Sweetheart of the Rodeo, The Gilded Palace of Sin was not a commercial success - 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 Parsons' vision of "Cosmic American Music."

Even today, with Nashville moving further away from its country roots, the influence of Parsons and The Gilded Palace of Sin looms large over the alternative-country movement, often referred to as 'alt-country.' Bands like Wilco, Son Volt, Whiskeytown, and the Jayhawks as well as individuals as disparate as Dwight Yoakam, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris (Parsons' one-time singing partner), and Steve Earle all have recorded music that bears traces of The Gilded Palace of Sin. Even non-country artists like Elvis Costello have cited the album as a particular favorite, with Costello covering several cuts during his career.

For many years, the album was never re-issued in its entirety on compact disc in the United States. However, in 2000 the complete album was finally re-issued as part of a two-disc set, Hot Burritos! The Flying Burrito Bros. Anthology 1969-1972. In 2002, a new mastering was issued on a single-disc two-fer, Sin City: The Very Best of the Flying Burrito Brothers, which packaged The Gilded Palace of Sin with its successor, Burrito Deluxe, as well as a few outtakes from the same period.

Track listing

"Christine's Tune" (Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons)
"Sin City" (Hillman, Parsons)
"Do Right Woman" (Chips Moman, Dan Penn)
"Dark End Of The Street" (Moman, Penn)
"My Uncle" (Hillman, Parsons)
"Wheels" (Hillman, Parsons)
"Juanita" (Hillman, Parsons)
"Hot Burrito #1" (Chris Ethridge, Parsons)
"Hot Burrito #2" (Ethridge, Parsons)
"Do You Know How It Feels" (Barry Goldberg, Parsons)
"Hippie Boy" (Hillman, Parsons)

Musicians

Gram Parsons: lead vocal, rhythm guitar, piano, organ
Chris Hillman: harmony and lead vocals, rhythm guitar, mandolin
Sneaky Pete Kleinow: pedal steel
Chris Ethridge: bass, piano

with

Jon Corneal, Eddie Hoh, Popeye Phillips and Sam Goldstein: drums