“GP” by Gram Parsons - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1973 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s

The debut solo LP from the 26-year-old finally arrived in January ’73 after a lot of stop-start stalling since 1970. The idler had been gallivanting in places various, notoriously spending distracted months in the South of France with his pal, Keith Richards, and the Rolling Stones. Against the odds, he snapped out of his drug-related malaise and proved his doubters wrong with this LP, finding a fair degree of focus, and giving his song-writing talent a chance to shine. Emmylou Harris proves to be a find, and her vocal duets with Gram ensure that these relationship dramatizations are as believable as they are enjoyable. Sadly, Gram’s sudden burst of productivity in 72-73 proved to be a false dawn. “GP” turned out to be the only new-music album released in his lifetime – by September ’73 his life was over and yet another young talent had tragically been lost to drugs.

The Jukebox Rebel
19–Sep–2007

Tracklist

A1	[02:40] Gram Parsons - Still Feeling Blue (Gram Parsons) Country
A2	[03:13] Gram Parsons - We’ll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning (Joyce Allsup) Country
A3	[04:58] Gram Parsons - A Song For You (Gram Parsons) Country
A4	[02:53] Gram Parsons - Streets Of Baltimore (Tompall Glaser, Harlan Howard) Country
A5	[04:59] Gram Parsons - She (Gram Parsons, Chris Ethridge) Country
B1	[03:38] Gram Parsons - That’s All It Took (Darrell Edwards, Charlotte Grier, George Jones) Country
B2	[03:54] Gram Parsons - The New Soft Shoe (Gram Parsons) Country
B3	[02:57] Gram Parsons - Kiss The Children (Gram Parsons) Country
B4	[03:38] Gram Parsons - Cry One More Time (Peter Wolf, Seth Justman) Blues Rock / Soul Rock
B5	[02:29] Gram Parsons - How Much I’ve Lied (Gram Parsons, David Rifkin) Country
B6	[03:52] Gram Parsons - Big Mouth Blues (Gram Parsons) Blues Rock / Soul Rock

ratings by TJR