When
Gram Parsons
split from
the Flying Burrito Brothers
in 1970, the band went through a series of changes before eventually disbanding two years later. By the time
Live in Amsterdam
was recorded in 1972, the remaining original members,
Chris Hillman
and
Michael Clarke
, would be gone, leaving
Rick Roberts
as the only
Burrito
with even a remote connection to the group's early days. For the tour and subsequent album,
Roberts
carried on with
Byron Berline
,
Kenny Wertz
, and
Roger Bush
-- all of whom had been touring with the band already -- as well as a banjo player and a new bass player, drummer, and pedal steel guitarist. What you get are a few recent tunes, some
country
standards
, a handful of
classics, and a fair amount of
bluegrass
. And while the
portion of the show -- also prominent on the live
Last of the Red Hot Burritos
(1972), the last recording with
Hillman
Clarke
-- is solid, it isn't necessarily what fans would be looking for from a
Burrito Brothers
album. Furthermore, the band in general seems to be more at home with the music of
Flatt & Scruggs
Bill Monroe
than with the "cosmic American music" of the
Parsons
-era
Burritos
. That point is made all too clear by some of the limp versions of songs from the first two recordings. Still, there are some decent moments -- the
choices are at the very least competent, while
' lovely
"Colorado"
is the equal of its studio counterpart and
Paul Siebel
's
"She Made Me Lose My Blues"
is first-rate.
sports some nice
picking and may interest fans of
, but as a
Flying Burrito Brothers
record, it works simply as a curiosity or a document of what should have been their final days. ~ Brett Hartenbach