#462: The Gilded Palace of Sin [The Flying Burrito Brothers, 1969]

A landmark album of country rock, The Gilded Palace of Sin is characterised by its close harmonies, trembling pedal steel guitar and a preoccupation with sin and spirituality. It's hard to know how sincere the latter is. The devil in Christine’s Tune is likely a metaphor, the appeal to Jesus’ love on Hot Burrito #2 is, on second listen, clearly an appeal for secular love, but the concern with sin, as on Sin City, seems real. Perhaps this arises from a combination of taking drugs and a latent guilt around taking said drugs. I speculate only because of the poppies and marijuana emblazoned on the suits on the cover. As per usual, I gravitate towards the more upbeat numbers, especially the opener Christine’s Tune, where Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman swap lead vocal duties, coming together in close harmony on the chorus, but I find My Uncle too silly to enjoy. Otherwise, the songs are unsurprisingly a little country-ish, so your enjoyment of this album will depend on your tolerance towards country cliches. A solid effort, nevertheless. 3.2/5.