Burrito Deluxe

1970's BURRITO DELUXE is the Flying Burrito Brothers' second and last album to feature the legendary Gram Parsons, who left--or was squeezed out, depending on which story you believe--halfway through the sessions. Surprisingly, the album doesn't suffer from the fracturing of the group, and the album is in many ways stronger than the debut, THE GILDED PALACE OF SIN. Two stunning covers by rock royalty show how far the band had traveled in their short career; both outshine the originals. The version of Bob Dylan's "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" has a relaxed, sexy saunter missing from the original, and the version of the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses"--which appeared over a year before the Stones' own version--is sublime, one of Parsons' most tender and expressive vocals. Elsewhere, the originals combine country and rock much more adroitly than the somewhat tentative debut. A country-rock milestone.