GRAM PARSONS
Another Side Of This Life (Sundazed)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

---

Before there was the Cosmic Cowboy, there was the Harvard undergrad bitten by the folk music bug. That's the Gram Parsons captured on these home recordings from 1965-66, and it's a fascinating glimpse at an artist just two years before, as a member of the Byrds, he would help lead popular music in newe directions, which others continue to explore to this day.

In fact, if credit for the Americana movement can be laid at any single doorstep (unlikely as that may be), there's probably a better arguement in favor of Gram Parsons' than any other. Some of the reasons why can be found on this disc, where, despite relative inexperience and minimal recording conditions, he is found already carving out a distinctive musical identity by drawing from a broad range of sources. The folk revival, R&B, blues, pop and orginal material are all fodder for Parsons' creative expression at this point, as they would continue to be. The sharp turn toward country & western music isn't much in evidence yet, but it was soon to come, and would be the final ingredient in his evolution.

Had he not died in 1973, there may have been ingredients yet to come. We can't really know, but we can appreciate who he was and what he did. Another Side Of This Life presents another facet in the jewel that was Gram Parsons.

Track List:

Codine * Wheel Of Fortune * Another Side Of This Life * High Flyin' Bird * November Nights * Zah's Blues * Reputation * That's The Bag I'm In * Willie Jean * They Still Go Down * Pride Of Man * The Last Thing On My Mind * Hey Nellie Nellie * She's The Woman I Love * Good Time Music * Brass Buttons * I Just Can't Take It Anymore * Searchin' * Candy Man

© 2001 - Shaun Dale