Apallingly Uninformed "Pro" Reviewer - Amazon Gimme a Break!
Added 4/23/2009
As another customer has warned below, do not be misled by the professional Amazon reviewer's comments above. I'm pretty sure that it's the majority consensus among music critics and fans that know Parsons' music, that Parsons was not likely to have run out of gas after the first few albums he made. His immense talent was just maturing when he died, and it's almost certain that he would have continued to make at least a few more tremendous albums. As for the product review calling his life story a "Southern Gothic saga", that just makes me ill. Here's a pretty good definition of "Southern Gothic" literature from Wikipedia: "Southern Gothic authors commonly use deeply flawed, grotesque characters for greater narrative range and more opportunities to highlight unpleasant aspects of Southern culture, without being too literal or appearing to be overly moralistic." I don't know of any fans or critics that know Parsons work and the story of his life that could associate terms like "grotesque", or even "deeply flawed" with Parsons. Sure he led a hard-drinking rock star life, but was this "Southern Gothic", i.e. "grotesque" and "deeply flawed"? I thinks that's a load of bunk. They're just sensationalizing something that happened after he was already dead (cremated in the desert) and trying to cash in on this one relatively insignificant event, since it may hold some lurid appeal to some demographic. Parsons work was rich in melodicism, profoundly poetic, and deep with feeling. Certainly, he took the pleasures of the bottle too far like so many other great creative talents. Not a minor point, but not something that rises (or descends) to the level of "gothic" or "grotesque". My advice: if you have an interest in Parsons, start with his music (a great intro: "Sacred Hearts & Fallen Angels: The Gram Parsons Anthology"), read a bit about his life, then watch the movie. But whatever you do, before you form an opinion about Gram Parsons, definitely consult more knowledgeable critics than the one Amazon hired.
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Farther Along
Added 2/21/2009
For any fan of Gram Parsons this is a must have. The film is not your usual "Star" documentary. However, for me, it brought a kind of strange closure and a greater understanding of who Gram actually was. I am all the more grateful for having experienced his art because of it. Since I live near where he rests, I visited and made several rubbings of that place. When my wife & I visited there was no vase, as shown in the film, just a circular marker. I understand that this has been changed to, perhaps, a more fitting monument to his memory. I don't expect to visit the site again. All I need is the honesty of his voice. Finally, I would ask that those of us who love his music sign the petition to have Gram inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. An honor he so richly deserves.
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Great video
Added 12/19/2008
This video is excellent. Contains interviews with Gram Parsons' family, friends, and contemporaries, as well as nice photos.
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GRAM PARSONS "FALLLEN ANGEL" DVD
Added 11/8/2008
THIS IS AN EXCELLENT AND VERY COMPREHENSIVE DOCUMENTARY/BIOGRARPY OF AN AMERICAN, "COSMIC AMERICAN MUSIC" LEGEND, GRAM PARSONS. IT COVERS GRAM'S LIFE FROM CHILDHOOD, THROUHGOUT HIS LIFE AND CAREER. IT COVERS HIS BIRTH IN WINTERHAVEN, FLORIDA. HE WAS BORN TO A WEALTHLY SOUTHERN FAMILY WHO OWNED NEARLY HALF OF THE ORANGE GROVES IN FLORIA. IT COVERS THAT HE MOVED TO WAYCROSS, GEORGIA AS AN EARLY CHILD, AND THE INFLUENCE THAT HIS SOUTHERN UPBRINGING HAD ON HIM.
THIS DVD CONTAINS INTERVIEWS FROM FAMILY MEMBERS, FORMER BAND MEMBERS. IT FEATURES: PETER BUCK, JAMES BURTON (OF ELVIS'S TCB "Taking Care of Business" Band), EMMYLOU HARRIS, CHRIS HILLMAN (OF THE BURRITO BROTHERS), PHIL KAUFMAN, BERNIE LEADON, AVIS PARSONS III, GRETCHEN PARSONS CARPENTER (GRAM'S WIDOW), DIANE PARSONS, POLLY PARSONS, KEITH RICHARDS (OF THE ROLLING STONES), AND DWIGHT YOAKAM.
HE WAS A SON OF THE SOUTH, PLUS AN AMERICAN MUSIC LEGEND!!!
GRAM'S MUSIC WAS LEGENDARY FOR BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN COUNTRY MUSIC AND ROCK AND ROLL. HE LIKED TO CALL IT "COSMIC AMERICAN MUSIC".
HIS MUSIC WAS VERY UNIQUE AND SPECIAL!!! A LOT OF HIS MUSIC HAD GOSPEL UNDERTONES OR INFERENCES.
GRAM'S MUSIC PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND DURING MOST OF THIS DVD.
THIS DVD CONTAINS PARTIAL PERFORMANCES BY GRAM. IT CONTAINS A GOOD PARTIAL PERFORMANCE OF GRAM SINGING "HOT BURRITTO #1 (I'M YOUR BOY). YOU CAN SEE THE SINCERITY AND "PURE EMOTION" HE PUTS INTO THIS EMOTIONAL SONG ABOUT LOVE AND LOST.
THIS DVD COVERS HIS MUSICAL CAREER IN THE INTERNATIONAL SUBMARMINE BAND, THE BYRDS, THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS, AND HIS SOLO ALBUMS (WITH EMMYLOU HARRIS SINGING ALONG).
MOST OF HIS CAREER WAS SPENT IN CALIFORNIA. HE LOVED THE JOSUHA TREE NATIONAL PARK.
THIS DVD COVERS HIS EARLY DEATH AT THE JOSUHA TREE PARK LODGE. IT COVERS THE CONTROVERY OVER THE STEALING OF HIS BODY, WHERE IT WAS PARTIALLY BURNED IN THE JOSUHA TREE PARK. ACCORDING TO HIS MANAGER, GRAM HAD MADE A PACT WITH HIM, THAT IF EITHER ONE DIED, THEY DIDN'T WANT TO BE PUT IN THE GROUND, BUT INSTEAD BE CREMATED WITH THEIR ASHES SPREAD IN THE JOSUHA TREE PARK. HIS MANAGER STOLE GRAM'S BODY AND ATTEMPTED TO BURN IT IN THE JOSUHA TREE PARK, BUT HE LEFT IT THERE, AND ONLY PART OF HIS BODY ACTUALLY BURNED.
HOWEVER, A REMAINING FAMILY MEMBER (APPARENTLY WITH THE AUTHORITY) HAD THE REMAINS OF GRAM'S BODY COLLECTED AND HAD THEM SENT TO NEW ORLEANS, WHERE THEY WERE BURIED IN METARIE, NEAR NEW ORLEANS.
THIS IS A GREAT DVD, ABOUT A GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC LEGEND, WHO DIED WAY TOO SOON. HOWEVER, HIS MUSIC WILL LAST FOREVER!!!
THIS IS A GREAT DVD ABOUT THE STORY OF THE LEGENDAY GRAM PARSONS AND HIS LEGENDAY "COSMIC AMERICAN MUSIC".
THE BOOK "TWENTY THOUSAND ROADS" THE BALLAD OF GRAM PARSONS AND HIS COSMIC AMERICAN MUSIC, IS AN EXCELLENT COMPANION TO THIS DVD. THE DVD AND THE BOOK ARE BOTH GREAT, AND I RECOMMEND THEM BOTH!!!
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GRAM PARSONS "FALLEN ANGEL" DVD
Added 11/7/2008
THIS IS AN EXCELLLENT DOCUMENTARY/BIOGRAPHY OF THE LEGENDARY GRAMS PARSONS, WHO BRIDGED THE GAP BETWEEN COUNTRY MUSIC AND ROCK AND ROLL, AND BECAME KNOWN AS "THE FATHER OF COUNTRY ROCK" OR AMERICAN 'COSMIC' MUSIC, OR "ALTERNATIVE COUNTRY. IT IS VERY COMPREHENSIVE, AND VERY WELL PERSENTED MAKING IT A VERY ENJOYABLE DVD TO WATCH AND ENJOY.
GRAM WAS BASCIALLY A SOUTHERN BOY, BORN TO A RICH FAMILY IN WINTERHAVEN, FLORIDA, WHO MOVED TO WAYCROSS GEORGIA AS AN EARLY CHILD, AND GREW UP IN WAYCROSS GEORGIA. HIS FAMILY WAS ONE OF THE WEALTHLIST FAMILIES IN THE SOUTHEAST, AND WAS INTO THE ORANGE GROVE AND ORANGE BUSINESS.
HIS MUSIC WAS AND STILL IS VERY SPECIAL AND UNIQUIE!!! HIS MUSIC PLAYS DURING THE BACKGROUND DURING MOST OF THIS DVD.
It covers Gram's family before he was born, it covers his live from childhood and all throughout his career and even his death and events after his death.
The dvd features inteviews from family members, former band members, friends, former managers, including: Peter Buck, JAMES BURTON(HE WAS ELVIS PRESLEY'S "TCB" GUITARIST AND IS IN THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AS AN INDUCTED "SIDEMAN", EMMYLOU HARRIS (SHE WAS IN GRAMS LAST 3 ALBUMS -"GP", "GRIEVOUS ANGEL" AND GRAM PARSONS AND THE FALLEN ANGEL BAND (LIVE), CHRIS HILLMAN (HE WAS IS THE FLYNING BURRITO BROTHERS BAND WITH GRAM), PHIL KAUFMAN, BERNIE LEADON, AVIS PARSONS III, GRETCHEN PARSONS CARPENTER (GRAM'S WIDOW), DIANE PARSONS, POLLY PARSONS, KEITH RICHARDS AND DWIGHT YOAKAM.
THE DVD COVERTS HIS SUCESS WITH THE BYRDS, THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS, AND HIS HIGHLY ACCLAMIED SOLO ALBUMS (WHICH FEATURED EMMYLOY HARRIS): "GP" AND "GRIEVOUS ANGEL"
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The Hard Times And Great Lyrics Of A Troubled Man
Added 6/2/2009
The main points of this review have been used to review Townes Van Zandt CDs in this space. They can serve here as well in this very well done documentary by Margaret Brown on the hard times and great lyrics of a very troubled man.
Readers of this space are by now very aware that I am in search of and working my way through various types of American roots music. In shorthand, running through what others have termed "The American Songbook". Thus I have spent no little time going through the work of seemingly every musician who rates space in the august place. From blues giants, folk legends, classic rock `n' roll artists down through the second and third layers of those milieus out in the backwoods and small, hideaway music spots that dot the American musical landscape.
I have also given a nod to more R&B, rockabilly and popular song artists then one reasonably need to know about. I have, however, other than the absolutely obligatory passing nods to the likes of Hank Williams and Patsy Cline spent very ink on more traditional Country music, what used to be called the Nashville sound. What gives?
Whatever my personal musical preferences there is no question that the country music work of, for example, the likes of George Jones, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette in earlier times or Garth Brooks and Faith Hill a little later or today Keith Urban and Taylor Swift (I am cheating on these last two since I do not know their work and had to ask someone about them) "speak" to vast audiences out in the heartland. They just, for a number of reasons that need not be gone into here, do not "speak" to me. However, in the interest of "full disclosure" I must admit today that I had a "country music moment" about thirty years ago. That was the time of the "outlaws" of the country music scene. You know, Waylon (Jennings) and Willie (Nelson). Also Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and Jerry Jeff Walker. Country Outlaws, get it? Guys and gals ( think of Jesse Colter)who broke from the Nashville/ Grand Old Opry mold by drinking hard, smoking plenty of dope and generally raising the kind of hell that the pious guardians of the Country Music Hall Of Fame would have had heart attacks over (at least in public). Oh, and did I say they wrote lyrics that spoke of love and longing, trouble with their "old ladies" (or "old men"), and struggling to get through the day. Just an ordinary day's work in the music world but with their own outlandish twists on it.
All of the above is an extremely round about way to introduce the "max daddy" of my 'country music moment', Townes Van Zandt. For those who the name does not ring a bell perhaps his most famous work does, the much-covered "Pancho And Lefty". In some ways his personal biography exemplified the then "new outlaw" (assuming that Hank Williams and his gang were the original ones). Chronic childhood problems, including a stint in a mental hospital, drugs, drink, and some rather "politically incorrect" sexual attitudes. Nothing really new here, except out of this mix came some of the most haunting lyrics of longing, loneliness, depression, sadness and despair. And that is the "milder" stuff. Not exactly the stuff of Nashville. That is the point. The late Townes Van Zandt "spoke" to me (he died in 1997) in a way that Nashville never could. And, in the end, the other outlaws couldn't either. That, my friends, is the saga of my country moment. Listen up to any of the CDs listed below for the reason why Townes did.
Townes Van Zandt was, due to personal circumstances and the nature of the music industry, honored more highly among his fellow musicians than as an outright star of "outlaw" country music back in the day. That influence was felt through the sincerest form of flattery in the music industry- someone well known covering your song. Many of Townes' pieces, especially since his untimely death in 1997, have been covered by others, most famously Willie Nelson's cover of "Pancho and Lefty". However, Townes, whom I had seen a number of times in person in the late 1970's, was no mean performer of his own darkly compelling songs.
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Beautiful
Added 7/23/2008
I saw this movie in a theatre, and got a copy of the DVD because I liked it so much. It's beautiful. I don't think I would enjoy it if I were not already a fan of his music, however.
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The best singer/songwriter you never heard of
Added 6/5/2008
In depth, touching, disturbing, beautiful portrait of a tortured genius. See and hear the genius of Townes Van Zandt, the best singer/songwriter you never heard of.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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