Safe at Home
,
Gram Parsons
' first full-length album (and the only LP he would record with
the International Submarine Band
), today sounds like a dry run for the
country-rock
he would later perfect with
the Byrds
and
the Flying Burrito Brothers
; it's also a major changeup from the
psychedelically
shaded
pop/rock
of
the ISB
's hard to find debut singles. In many ways, the album sounds more purely "
country
" than
Parsons
' best-known work;
the Burritos
' crucially important
R&B
edge had yet to make its presence felt in
Gram
's music, and on these sessions the
rock
influence is often more felt than heard (probably due in part to the presence of Nashville session veterans who pitched in on piano and pedal steel). But
' considerable gifts as a songwriter were already evident on tunes like
"Blue Eyes"
"Luxury Liner,"
and while there's a touch less grace in
's vocals than on his best work, his passion, understated wit, and deep love for
music are always in the forefront. And while
is the star of this show, his bandmates --
John Nuese
Bob Buchanan
on guitars,
Jon Corneal
on drums, and future
Burrito
Chris Ethridge
on bass -- are solid, soulful, and firmly in the pocket throughout. If
sounds like a rough draft for
' later triumphs, it's also a fine record on its own terms, and leaves little doubt that
's leader had something special right from the start. [
Sundazed
's 2004 reissue of the album adds an unreleased bonus track, the
Marty Robbins
/
Guy Mitchell
hit
"Knee Deep in the Blues,"
and a new liner essay from
biographer
Sid Griffin
, as well as brief notes from
Tim Connors
of the "Byrdwatcher" website.
Bob Irwin
also remastered the album, and it sounds notably different from
Shilo
's previous CD release; each version has different amounts of studio chatter prefacing songs, and the
edition has more echo and a slightly wider stereo "spread," though there also seems to be a touch more distortion in the high end, especially audible in the vocals, though it's still a listenable presentation of an album that's lost none of its charm with the passage of time.] ~ Mark Deming