The Gilded Palace of Sin

The Gilded Palace of Sin
Studio album by The Flying Burrito Brothers
Released	February 1969
Genre	Country rock
Length	37:24
Label	A&M
Producer	Henry Lewy, Larry Marks
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
The Flying Burrito Brothers chronology
The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969) Burrito Deluxe (1970)
Gram Parsons chronology
Sweetheart of the Rodeo with The Byrds (1968) The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969) Burrito Deluxe (1970)

The Gilded Palace of Sin is an album by the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1969. It continued Gram Parsons' and Chris Hillman's 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.

Album details

After the release of the The Byrds' groundbreaking Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Gram Parsons left The Byrds on the eve of a South African tour. Chris Hillman, the group's bass player, soon left as well and eventually joined Parsons in a new band, The Flying Burrito Brothers, as guitarist.

Their first album as The Flying Burrito Brothers was The Gilded Palace of Sin. Most of the songs were written by Parsons and Hillman at a house in the San Fernando Valley dubbed "Burrito Manor." Parsons and Hillman delivered some of their most celebrated compositions. The two R&B standards covered on the album, "Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman", are examples of a country-soul fusion that Parsons would often refer to as "cosmic American music."

"My Uncle" and "Hippie Boy" address then-contemporary countercultural concerns: the draft and the 1968 Democratic National Convention riots. Rather than playing in an orthodox fashion, 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.

Influence

Like Sweetheart of the Rodeo, The Gilded Palace of Sin was not a commercial success - to date, the RIAA has not certified it gold. However, its impact on popular music has grown over the years, influencing, for example, the Eagles. During the 1980s, the New Traditionalist movement in mainstream country music was clearly influenced by the The Gilded Palace of Sin, with artists such as Travis Tritt, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, and Randy Travis.

Even today, the influence of The Gilded Palace of Sin remains the alternative-country movement, often referred to as 'alt-country.' Bands like Wilco, Son Volt, Whiskeytown, and the Jayhawks as well as individuals 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. In 2003 the album was ranked number 192 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing

Side One

1. "Christine's Tune" (Parsons, Hillman) - 3:04
2. "Sin City" (Parsons, Hillman) - 4:11
3. "Do Right Woman" (Chips Moman, Dan Penn) - 3:56
4. "Dark End Of The Street" (Chips Moman, Penn) - 3:58
5. "My Uncle" (Parsons, Hillman) - 2:37

Side Two

1. "Wheels" (Hillman, Parsons) - 3:04
2. "Juanita" (Hillman, Parsons) - 2:31
3. "Hot Burrito #1" (Ethridge, Parsons) - 3:40
4. "Hot Burrito #2" (Ethridge, Parsons) - 3:19
5. "Do You Know How It Feels" (Parsons, Barry Goldberg) - 2:09
6. "Hippie Boy" (Hillman, Parsons) - 4:55

Personnel

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

with

• Jon Corneal: drums (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 7)
• Popeye Phillips: drums (tracks 8, 9, 11)
• Eddie Hoh: drums (tracks 2, 10)
• Sam Goldstein: drums (track 6)
• David Crosby: backing vocals (track 3)