Sleepless Nights | ||||
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Compilation album by | ||||
Released | April 1976 | |||
Recorded | 1970 (with the Flying Burrito Brothers) 1973 (with Emmylou Harris/Grievous Angel Sessions) | |||
Genre | Country rock | |||
Length | 37:28 | |||
Label | A&M | |||
Gram Parsons chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
Christgau's Record Guide | B− [2] |
Sleepless Nights is a posthumous compilation album by Gram Parsons. Credited to Parsons and his former band The Flying Burrito Brothers, the band appear on nine of the album's twelve tracks (not appearing on "Brand New Heartache", the title track and "The Angels Rejoiced Last Night"). The album features no original songs; the majority are covers of vintage country songs; the exception is The Rolling Stones' song "Honky Tonk Women".
The songs that comprise Sleepless Nights were collected from two sources. In early 1970, the Flying Burrito Brothers, featuring Parsons, recorded several songs for an anticipated no-nonsense country album. [3] The album was ultimately never released due to Parsons’ departure from the band. Nine of Sleepless Nights’ tracks come from these sessions. The remaining three songs are from the summer 1973 sessions for Grievous Angel , Parsons’ final solo album, and feature duets with Emmylou Harris on The Everly Brothers' song "Brand New Heartache," the gospel-etched "The Angels Rejoiced Last Night", and Boudleaux Bryant's "Sleepless Nights".
The album has received mixed reviews. Robert Christgau noted that the songs “were outtakes for a reason”, but nonetheless gave the album a B− rating. [4] Some of the highest praise for the album is due to the inclusion of the three tracks featuring Harris and omitted from the 1973 album Grievous Angel; "Sleepless Nights" (allegedly the original title for the Grievous Angel album), "The Angels Rejoiced Last Night" and "Brand New Heartache". [1] [3] Rolling Stone has referred to the album as "sluggish and dispirited", due in large part to Parson's impending departure from the group which lingered over the recording sessions. [3] Chris Hillman has long maintained the nine Burritos tracks were simply practice sessions and never intended to be released.
Ingram Cecil Connor III, known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist. He recorded as a solo artist and with the International Submarine Band, the Byrds, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, popularizing what he called "Cosmic American Music", a hybrid of country, rhythm and blues, soul, folk, and rock.
The Flying Burrito Brothers are an American country rock band best known for their influential 1969 debut album, The Gilded Palace of Sin. Although the group is perhaps best known for its connection to band founders Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, the group underwent many personnel changes and has existed in various incarnations. Now officially known as The Burrito Brothers the band continues to perform and record new albums.
The Gilded Palace of Sin is the first album by the country rock group the Flying Burrito Brothers, released on February 6, 1969. It continued Gram Parsons' and Chris Hillman's work in modern country music, fusing traditional sources like folk and country with other forms of popular music like gospel, soul, and psychedelic rock.
Grievous Angel is the second and final solo studio album by Gram Parsons, compiled from summer 1973 sessions and released four months after his death from a morphine and alcohol overdose in September 1973. Prominently featuring a young Emmylou Harris, Grievous Angel received great critical acclaim upon release but failed to find commercial success, a fate shared with Parsons’ previous efforts solo and with The Flying Burrito Brothers. Grievous Angel peaked at number 195 on the Billboard charts. Despite its modest sales, it is viewed as a successful example of the hybrid between country and rock and roll Parsons called "Cosmic American Music".
GP is American singer-songwriter Gram Parsons' debut solo album, and the only one released during his lifetime. It was originally released in a gatefold sleeve in 1973. GP received critical acclaim upon release, but failed to reach the Billboard charts. In the original Rolling Stone review, which individually covered both GP and its follow-up, Grievous Angel, the reviewer praises Parsons' vocals and delivery paraphrasing Gram's lyrics, "boy, but he sure can sing".
The Complete Reprise Sessions is a box set released in 2006 featuring both of Gram Parsons's early 1970s solo albums, GP and Grievous Angel. The box set features interviews and previously unreleased alternate takes.
Close Up the Honky-Tonks is a compilation double-LP by country rock band The Flying Burrito Brothers, which was released in 1974. By this time, the Flying Burrito Brothers no longer existed, having been dissolved by Rick Roberts in 1973.
Last of the Red Hot Burritos is the fourth album by country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1972. By the time this album was recorded, "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow and Bernie Leadon had left the band, leaving Chris Hillman as the sole founding member. In their places, Hillman recruited Al Perkins and Kenny Wertz respectively. Wertz had previously played with Hillman in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The band also added two guest musicians for their fall 1971 tour in Byron Berline and Roger Bush from Country Gazette. This lineup toured until Hillman left the band in October 1971, leaving the rights to the band's name to Rick Roberts. Once Hillman departed, A&M Records apparently lost faith in the group. Instead of allowing a Roberts-led version of the band to record a new studio album, A&M released this live recording. It fulfilled the band's contract, but it was subsequently dropped from the label.
Live 1973 is a live album by Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels. It was recorded at Ultra Sonic Recording Studios in Hempstead, New York on March 13, 1973 during a live radio broadcast from WLIR-FM, a station located in Garden City, New York. The timing of the recording thus sandwiched it between Parsons' only two solo studio albums, GP, and Grievous Angel, although it was not officially released until 1982, long after Parsons' 1973 death at age 26.
Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons is a 1999 tribute album to pioneering country rock musician Gram Parsons, co-produced by his one-time singing partner, Emmylou Harris and featuring cover versions of songs written/co-written by or popularized by Parsons, performed by Harris, Beck, Wilco, The Pretenders, Cowboy Junkies, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Lucinda Williams, David Crosby, Steve Earle, Chris Hillman and many other artists. The album was released from Almo Sounds and benefited Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation's "Campaign for a Landmine Free World."
Gram Parsons Archives Vol.1: Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969 is a live album by the country rock band the Flying Burrito Brothers. It was recorded on April 4 and 6, 1969, at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. It was released by Amoeba Records as a two-disc CD on November 6, 2007. Comprising 27 tracks, the album includes several songs not previously released by the band, such as "She Once Lived Here" and "You Win Again".
Hot Burritos! The Flying Burrito Brothers Anthology 1969–1972 is an album by the country rock band the Flying Burrito Brothers. It was released in 2000. A forty-three song compilation on two CDs, it includes all of their first three albums — The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969), Burrito Deluxe (1970), and The Flying Burrito Bros (1971) — along with eleven additional songs.
Sacred Hearts and Fallen Angels: The Gram Parsons Anthology is a compilation of Gram Parsons's albums from 1968 to 1976 and was released in 2001. It features segments from the International Submarine Band, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and his solo albums, and includes unreleased live tracks and non-LP tracks. Emmylou Harris, Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes, and Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn of The Byrds contributed to the liner notes.
Neil Lanny Flanz was a Canadian pedal steel guitarist who grew up in Montreal. In the mid-1960s he moved to Nashville and played on the Grand Ole Opry. He later lived in Florida and Austin, Texas. The Austin Chronicle dubbed Flanz' playing style as "country traditionalist". He is perhaps best known for his performance as a member of Gram Parsons' Fallen Angels. He played and toured for over 30 years with artists including Marcia Ball, Emmylou Harris, Charlie Louvin and Joe Sun. Flanz was inducted into the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 2016.
"Cash on the Barrelhead" is a song written by Charlie and Ira Louvin, known professionally as the Louvin Brothers, which was first recorded and released in 1956 as the B-side of "You're Running Wild". The single came at a high point in the Louvins' career, and the song's rollicking honky-tonk feel has led it to be frequently covered both in recordings and live performances.
Georgia Peach is the first release by Burrito Deluxe. After John Beland retired The Flying Burrito Brothers in 2000, original member of that band "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow put together a new lineup with Carlton Moody and Tommy Spurlock. As Beland still had rights to the name, the band decided to call itself Burrito Deluxe after the Flying Burrito Brothers' second album. In addition to a mixture of original tunes and covers, the album contains several redone version of Flying Burrito Brothers and other songs associated with Gram Parsons.
"Dim Lights, Thick Smoke " is a country song written by Joe Maphis, Rose Lee Maphis, and Max Fidler. It was originally recorded in December 1952 by the bluegrass duo Flatt & Scruggs, and later released by Joe & Rose Lee Maphis in 1953 as a single.
"Lazy Days" is a 1967 song by Gram Parsons which he recorded with three groups: The International Submarine Band, The Byrds in 1968 and The Flying Burrito Bros. in 1970.
"Sleepless Nights" is a song written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant first sung by The Everly Brothers, in 1960, whose arrangement is the basis for every cover.
Bernie Leadon is an American musician and songwriter. In addition to his solo album and recordings with Eagles, Hearts & Flowers, Dillard & Clark, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, he has been featured as a performer and composer on many albums by other artists.