Flying Burrito Brothers

Flying Again - Columbia 1975

Tracks: 1. Easy to Get On / 2. Wind and Rain / 3. Why Baby Why / 4. Dim Lights, Thick Smoke / 5. You Left the Water Running / 6. Building Fires / 7. Sweet Desert Childhood / 8. Bon Soir Blues / 9. River Road / 10. Hot Burrito #3

Comments:

Actually I had decided to stop delving into what The Flying Burrito Brothers had released after the former Byrds members Michael Clarke and especially Chris Hillman had left the group. But very often you do change your mind along the way, and considering that The Flying Burrito Brothers” released in 1971 actually was a pretty strong and somewhat overlooked album, I did decide to give the sequel "Flying Again" from 1975 a chance and see what it had to offer. After all there were two original members (Chris Etheridge and Pete Kleinow) and another former Byrds member, Gene Parsons, in the line-up.

Let it be said at once; this is not FBB as they were in the beginning. You can’t help missing the great vocals from Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, and the songwriting really is far less interesting than what it used to be. This does not mean that "Flying Again" does not have its moments. Especially two songs stand out positively. The group provides a fine soulful version of "You Left the Water Running" and "Building Fires" is unexpectedly different and arranged atypically for the group. The rest of the songs are, however, characterized by too much niceness and predictability, and all good reason should attribute that I leave the group with this, still, decent album. But since "Flying Again" has been released as port of two original albums on one CD together with the sequel "Airborne" and I shall return with a few comments about this album too at some point.

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