Grievous Angel

Grievous Angel
Studio album by
Gram Parsons
ReleasedJanuary 1974
RecordedSummer 1973
Studio
GenreCountry, country rock
Length36:14
LabelReprise
ProducerGram Parsons
Gram Parsons chronology
GP
(1973) 		Grievous Angel
(1974) 		Sleepless Nights
(1976)
Singles from Grievous Angel
  1. "Love Hurts"
    Released: February 1974
  2. "Return of the Grievous Angel"
    Released: February 1982
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Christgau's Record GuideA[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[4]
Tom HullA−[5]

Grievous Angel is the second and final solo studio album by Gram Parsons, compiled from summer 1973 sessions and released four months after his death from a morphine and alcohol overdose in September 1973. Prominently featuring a young Emmylou Harris, Grievous Angel received great critical acclaim upon release but failed to find commercial success, a fate shared with Parsons’ previous efforts solo and with The Flying Burrito Brothers. Grievous Angel peaked at number 195 on the Billboard charts.[6] Despite its modest sales, it is viewed as a successful example of the hybrid between country and rock and roll Parsons called "Cosmic American Music".

It was voted number 324 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[7] In 2012, the album was ranked number 425 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[8]

  1. ^ Deming, Mark. Grievous Angel at AllMusic. Retrieved 29 Nov 2005.
  2. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: P". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 10, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0857125958.
  4. ^ Scoppa, Bud (March 1, 1973). "Gram Parsons: GP/Grievous Angel > Review". Rolling Stone. No. 129. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  5. ^ Hull, Tom (April 1975). "The Rekord Report: Second Card". Overdose. Retrieved June 26, 2020 – via tomhull.com.
  6. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Gram Parsons at AllMusic. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  7. ^ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 131. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  8. ^ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time". Rolling Stone. 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2019.