Another Side of This Life (The Lost Recordings of Gram Parsons 1965-1966)

Another Side of This Life surfaced in 2000 like a forgotten roll of film. More than a snapshot, this collection serves as a thin photo album, stretching from March 1965 to December of 1966. It captures that time in the musical climate when folkies filled the coffeehouses and hip dens of New York's East Village. Like other singer/songwriters then, Gram Parsons had no qualms about covering his contemporaries. He takes on Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Codine" with less vibrato than the original, but his vocals are lofty and powerful in the choruses. And though he obviously doesn't sing Fred Neil's songs with the same gritty gusto, there is something charming about hearing his boyish and buttermilk-smooth voice croon "That's the Bag I'm In." But his own songs like "November Nights" or the slow and jazzy "Zah's Blues" shine brightest. Autobiographically poetic lyrics like "I wore my youth like a crown/ And watched the sun comin' down" give an early glimpse of the greatness that Parsons was capable of long before becoming a Byrd, Burrito Brother or country-rock martyr.