Gram Parsons & The Flying Burrito Bros. Sleepless Nights (LP, 180g Vinyl, Ltd.)

(Elemental Music) 12 tracks, 180g Virgin Vinyl, Limited Edition

Three years after Gram Parsons' untimely death, his frequent duet partner Emmylou Harris helped arrange the release of this collection of outtakes - three songs he recorded with Harris in 1973 for his final solo album, Grievous Angel, and nine more recorded live in the studio with the Flying Burrito Brothers in 1970.
Anyone hoping to find the great lost Gram Parsons song is out of luck here; all 12 tracks are covers of old country classics, with the exception of “Honky Tonk Women” (which at least sounds like a C&W classic in this arrangement) and “The Angels Rejoiced Last Night” by the Louvin Brothers, which is as spiritually uplifting as ever with Harris' pure, clear voice.
The three tracks with his duet partner are the best, while most of the tracks with the Burritos sound like demos, and while some of them are inspired (especially the heartfelt versions of “Sing Me Back Home” and “Green, Green Grass of Home”), most of the time both Parsons and the band sound like a solid bar band in the middle of a Wednesday night set - more than competent, but less than inspired. Sleepless Nights was certainly a labor of love and is a worthwhile purchase for die-hard fans, but newcomers would be better off listening to the Flying Burrito Brothers' masterpiece The Gilded Palace of Sin or one of the two solo albums G. P. or Grievous Angel.