#425

Impressions: I’m not a well-informed on country music. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs in the ’70s, so country music was at the time the butt of many easy jokes (think of the “Bob’s Country Bunker” scene in The Blues Brothers.) It also didn’t help that most of my early exposure to country was from cheeseball TV variety shows like The Mandrell Sisters or Hee Haw and that lots of today’s country is completely awful. Despite all this, I still enjoy some classic country and so-called alt-country in small doses. Luckily, Grevious Angel is an rock/country hybrid which might make it more agreeable to my palette. Let’s play it… “Return of The Grievious Angel” starts off okay in a honky-tonk sort of way, but really comes together when Emmylou Harris starts singing. Her amazing voice is the tide that lifts all the songs and gives them some authenticity. Parsons, who died of a drug overdose before the album was released, is a more straightforward vocalist with a folky bent; as evidenced on the more rock-driven “I Can’t Dance” and the sad tale of a runaway bride in “$1000 Wedding.”  The band shows off their chops on the live(ish) “”Medley Live from Northern Quebec” switching smoothly from ho-down to cry-in-your-beer mode effortlessly. The oft-covered “Love Hurts” here is as good as it could be, and, the heartbreaking “In My Hour Of Darkness” is as apt a last track as you could imagine. Well-played and feelingly sung, this is probably one of the best rock/country hybrid albums of the ’70s, that even a Yankee like myself can enjoy.

Starred Songs: “Hearts On Fire,” “$1000 Wedding,” “Return of the Grevious Angel”
Sneaky Track: “In My Hour of Darkness”
Will you listen to this again? Yes
Should this album be on the list? Yes.
Summary: Influental ’70s rock/country blend sounds natural and takes on an added poignancy with Parsons death.