A few days ago when writing about Fairport Convention I told you that Prog Rock would never be part of my musical landscape. Now any Prog fan out there could quite reasonably ask “if that’s so what are you doing with a Peter Gabriel album ?” and it would be more than fair of them to ask that. Apart from the obvious fact that it’s an album by the former singer of Uber-Proggers Genesis this album also features Phil Collins (Genesis), Robert Fripp and Tony Levin (King Crimson) and Kate Bush (carrying all her Pink Floyd connections) it’s almost a who’s who of Prog. But I have a mitigating circumstance…

Legend has it (and this may or may not be true but whatever, it’s a good story) Peter Gabriel wanted a particular guitar sound on one track and that guitar sound was that of The Who’s Pete Townshend. When approached Townshend was unavailable but is said to have responded “ask that fella from The Jam, he sounds just like me anyway” (meeeeooooow). Which is why, on the song “And Through The Wire”, we have the conspicuous and unmistakable sound of Paul Weller playing guitar on a Peter Gabriel album. This was May 1980, The Jam had not long gone straight in at number 1 with “Going Underground”, they were halfway between “Setting Sons” in November 1979 and the release of “Sound Affects” in November 1980, just 2 months later they went straight in at number 1 again with “Start!”, they were at the height of their powers, I was obsessed with them, of course I was buying the Peter Gabriel album. Prog be damned, this was Weller !

As a song by itself “And Through The Wire” is really like nothing else on this album. It’s a stomping rock song and Weller knocks out a riff that would have graced and been welcome on any Jam song. But of course I had to listen to the rest of the album, and d’you know what ? I liked it…I already knew the single “Games Without Frontiers” and had liked that too but then there was “Intruder” to start with, Phil Collins banging out a tub-thumping rhythm over which Gabriel eerily intones the thoughts of a burglar about his line of “work”…”Family Snapshot” is the assassination of JFK seen from the shooters point of view…and the album ends on the anthemic “Biko” about South African anti apartheid activist Bantu Steven Biko.

The Paul Weller connection is what drew me in to this album but I must have been starting on an interest in electronic music (Bowie’s Berlin period, the Human League, The Normal we’re all on my record deck around this time) and this album happened for me at a time when it had a chance of making an impression, and it did. It still gets spun regularly around these parts. I’ll still never succumb to Prog Rock tho’.

And Through The Wire - https://youtu.be/k0UJtixnii8

Here’s our second encounter with Gram Parsons. We last met Gram back in March when we were talking about his influence over The Byrds and the making of “Sweetheart Of The Rodeo”. Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman had fired Gram Parsons from The Byrds in the summer of 1968. Parsons had refused to take part in The Byrds tour of South Africa citing his opposition to that countries policy of apartheid. Hillman suspected he just wanted to stay in the UK and hang out with his new friends, the Rolling Stones.

Later that year Parsons and Hillman reconciled and after Hillman left the Byrds, due to some financial jiggery-pokery by their management, he hooked up again to form the Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram. The band was rounded out by bassist (Hillman had switched to guitar) and keyboardist Chris Ethridge (who had played with Gram in the International Submarine Band) and the wonderfully named pedal steel man “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow. Drummer “Fast” Eddie Hoh proved a little too fast and loose with certain substances and was replaced by a succession of session drummers before finally being replaced by another ex-Byrd, Michael Clarke.

“The Gilded Palace of Sin” was recorded during November and December 1968 at Hollywood’s famed A&M Studios. It expanded on Hillman and Parsons groundbreaking fusion of rock and country with The Byrds. Most of the songs were written by various combinations of band members but 2 covers were included, not country songs but two soul classics written by Chips Moman and Dan Penn, “Do Right Woman” and “Dark End Of the Street”, the country-soul fusion that Gram called "cosmic American music."

The album begins with two Burrito’s/Parsons classics, “Christine’s Tune” (track 1 side 1 perfectly setting expectations) kicking things off and sounding almost like The Monkees. It’s the story of a lady with a checkered reputation Gram and Hillman met in LA (she sadly later died in a car accident). Following that is “Sin City” which paints a lurid picture of life in Vegas as an allegory for life in general. These two songs perfectly set out the Burrito’s sound, a slick marriage of rock and country before you hit the two soul covers we’ve already mentioned, "cosmic American music" incarnate.

Over on side 2 are two more Burrito classics. “Hot Burrito #1” and “Hot Burrito #2” were written by Gram Parsons and Chris Ethridge during the same session and address Gram’s break up with his girlfriend Nancy. #1 is a lovely ballad where #2 is more uptempo. Chris Hillman is alleged to have said of Gram Parsons; “I only heard two great vocals out of that guy: ‘Hot Burrito #1’ and ‘Hot Burrito #2”. While being a very debatable statement you can’t help but be impressed with Gram’s voice on both. 

Elsewhere songs such as “Juanita”, “Wheels” and “Do You Know It Feels To Be Lonesome” set Parsons as a songwriter of some standing. There are a couple of clunkers here (“My Uncle” and “Hippy Boy” I could happily live without) but they don’t really detract from the overall experience. Ultimately “The Gilded Palace Of Sin” flopped. The Burrito’s toured extensively, and even opened for the Rolling Stones at Altamont, but fame and fortune were not be theirs. Among those in the know it confirmed Gram Parsons status as a purveyor of great American music ahead of his two early 70’s solo albums and tragic demise. The Burrito’s carefully crafted mix of rock and country sparked something in other musicians and was a huge influence, particularly upon the Eagles.

Hot Burrito #2 - https://youtu.be/su3a6SYmWtM

The Fleur De Lys (or Les Fleur De Lys as they were occasionally known) were a ‘60s rock band formed in 1964 in Southampton. They never had anything even approaching a hit but, whether by pure luck or devilish design, they made two singles which are now regarded as Mod/Freakbeat classics. “Freakbeat" is a very loosely defined genre, but is used to describe the more obscure, harder edged artists of the British Invasion era, their records often using Fuzz-guitar effects. The singles “Circles” and “Mud In Your Eye” are classics of the genre.

I’ve known those two songs for a long time from various Psych/Freakbeat compilations and would love to own copies of the singles. But if I wanted either then I’m looking at around £1000 so that’s probably never happening. This compilation was released in 2022 (on lovely Orange vinyl BTW) and collects together the bands out-put in all their incarnations (Rupert’s People, Shyster and Chocolate Frog were all names they worked under) including both sides of those two sought after singles.

“Circles” was released on the ultra hip (now and then) Immediate label. A cover of a Who song originally titled “Instant Party”, it’s one of those rare occasions where the cover version is better than the original recording. It adds a fuzz-wah guitar part that The Who’s version didn’t have. Other than that it’s a pretty straight cover, just better. By the time they released “Mud In Your Eye” just 8 months later the band had moved to Polydor records. This one features pounding drums, Beach Boys-ish harmonies and a proper fuzzed-up-freakout guitar solo. There should also be an honourable mention for their version of “Hold On” (released under the name of Rupert’s People and co-written by band member Gordon Haskell. More on him later). It’s a song that did the rounds in the late 60’s as I also own a version by South African singer Sharon Tandy (on which the backing band is the Fleur De Lys) and an absolute belting version by Ipsissimus (their only release). Rupert’s People had a good knock at it.

Much of everything else that’s here is pretty run of the mill 60’s beat pop which explains why they never came close to a hit. It’s a thorough collection with great sleeve notes. Interesting side note is that Gordon Haskell, who we mentioned earlier,  went on to play with King Crimson (he was at school with Robert Fripp) and in 2001 had the Xmas No.2 single with "How Wonderful You Are”. Most bands don’t get to leave anything like as good as those two mid 60’s singles behind so they can hold their heads up among a slew of other wannabees at the time.

Mud In Your Eye - https://youtu.be/zf4Jh_AgqYY