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For years now, we've touted Intervention Records' superlative work in the vinyl reissue front. The team's attention to detail, impeccable artwork, and stellar sonics across genres have given them a reputation in the reissue world as one of the best. Their established quality in the LP world happily extends to the digital realm, as well.
Intervention recently released a stereo-only hybrid SACD of The Flying Burrito Bros.' Burrito Deluxe - one of the formative albums of the country-rock genre which, though it may be hard to hear at first fifty years on, drastically changed the landscape of all the genres it fused. For their sophomore album, the band's original songs were joined by a country classic ("Image of Me," popularized by Conway Twitty), a gospel standard ("Farther Along"), and tunes by Dylan ("If You Gotta Go") and the Stones (the first recording of "Wild Horses"). Longtime readers might remember we first covered this title back in 2018. It follows Intervention's reissue of the band's debut The Gilded Palace of Sin.
Burrito Deluxe featured Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman, "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow, Bernie Leadon, and Michael Clarke plus guests including Leon Russell (tickling the ivories on Leadon and Parsons' "Man in the Fog" and the Glimmer Twins' "Wild Horses"). It would prove Parsons' final album with the group.
The hybrid SACD (playable on all CD players) has been mastered direct to DSD from what the label has promised is the best available source: a 1/2" safety copy of the original A&M Records master. Whatever magic Kevin Gray at CoHEARent Audio worked on this disc results in a dynamic and remarkably clear presentation of this legendary album - especially when it comes to the beautiful bass playing by Hillman that glues the album together.
On the presentation front, Tom Vadakan has restored the original artwork which is presented in a standard SACD super jewel box. Though the four-page booklet could have been substantiated with liner notes or further information rather than the simple reprint of the original artwork inside, it's appropriate that Intervention's resources went to making this music as compelling and enveloping as possible.
This hybrid SACD pressing is sure to please the most scrutinizing of audiophiles, and if you're a longtime fan of Burrito Deluxe , you owe it to yourself to hear this excellent disc. You can order your copy directly from the label, or from Amazon U.S., Amazon U.K., and Amazon Canada.
The Flying Burrito Bros., Burrito Deluxe [Hybrid Stereo SACD] (originally released on A&M Records LP AMLS 983, 1970 - reissued on Intervention Records SACD 707129301512, 2020)
- Lazy Days
- Image of Me
- High Fashion Queen
- If You Gotta Go
- Man in the Fog
- Farther Along
- Older Guys
- Cody, Cody
- God's Own Singer
- Down in the Churchyard
- Wild Horses
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I hope they do the rest of the Burritos catalog.
If you missed the first one, Intervention offers a two-pack of the first two Burrito CDs for $54.
Got it and was very disappointed by the muddy sound. Lots of bass, yes, but Sneeky Pete's steel and Chris Hillman' mandolin are almost inaudible. I can't believe this accurately represents the best available source. But, if so, it might have been better to start with an existing release (such as the UK's Out Of The Blue comp, which also has tons of bass but also has a sparkling high end).