The Flying Burrito Brothers – The Gilded Palace of Sin: #886 of best 1,000 albums ever!

Why is The Flying Burrito Brothers’ The Gilded Palace of Sin on my best 1,000 albums ever list?

A crucial late ‘60s rock and country album that would influence much of what was coming in the ‘70s. And, bonus: a great listen all the way through.

What does The Flying Burrito Brothers’ The Gilded Palace of Sin mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?

The name of this band, The Flying Burrito Brothers, loomed vaguely in the backdrop of my musical and cultural awareness for many years as some funny curiosity. I probably classified them lazily as a hippie band without really knowing their stuff, and would have likely responded with “probably they played at Woodstock?” had I been asked. (Side note: no one asked. But still.)

At some point, I became obsessed with The Byrds, and that lead me to connect the dots with Gram Parsons, the fantastic singer-songwriter who was part of both bands (in addition to the International Submarine Band!).

And glad I am that the dots connected they were, as Yoda surely would have intoned.

Which is all to say: The Gilded Palace of Sin is a crucial album to check out, if you’re interested in late 1960s rock and country, and it’s a major influence on what would be coming across popular music in the ‘70s. And, bonus: it’s a great listen all the way through.

“Hot Burrito #2” (and, yep, if you’re wondering, there’s a “Hot Burrito #1” on The Gilded Palace of Sin as well) has such a great lived in feeling, with its rollicking piano, fuzzed up slide guitar, and particularly its relaxed but confident and powerful vocals.

I’m not a natural fan of country music, particularly from the last 30 years or so, frankly. “Sin City” is exactly the country music that attracts me. On top of being rock solid musically while having, again, that fantastic lived in feel — as though you were sitting in on a live set at a local honkytonk where you’re catching the most incredible band no one had ever heard of, that’s your little secret – it has a certain integrity to it that’s equally hard to put your finger on but you feel it in the music.

Or, as Yoda would put it: good, it is.

Wise words, indeed.

“Christine’s Tune” starts out sounding like an Allman Brothers Band song, but this being a different kind of Brothers song, it quickly takes its own unique form, peppy country rock and slide guitar that makes you want to hit an open Western road on a glorious blue sky day, leaving all “jealousy and doubt” and “devils in disguise” telling “dirty lies” behind.