Flying Burrito Brothers "Devils In Disguise"

I recently added a review of the 2012 U.K. release Devils In Disguise to my Flying Burrito Brothers page. According to Amazon.com, the album is about to be released on CD in the U.S. on May 6th, and on limited-edition vinyl on May 19th. It is reportedly an unofficial and unauthorized release.

Devils In Disguise is a live album recorded in Philadelphia in 1971, around the time of the release of the self-titled third album. The lineup consisted of Chris Hillman, Bernie Leadon, Rick Roberts, Al Perkins (replacing “Sneaky Pete” Kleinow on pedal steel) and Michael Clarke. This CD is sourced from a popular bootleg, which in turn was sourced from a July 1971 live radio broadcast on WMMR-FM. (The first track, “Six Days On The Road”, fades in at the middle). This concert finds the post-Kleinow, pre-Country Gazette quintet performing very much in an old-fashioned country mode, mostly in contrast to the relative slickness of the third album. The exceptions are Gene Clark’s “Tried So Hard” and the Roberts-penned “Four Days Of Rain” and “Colorado”, which noticeably possess a Southern California folk-rock vibe indicative of the time period. Otherwise, the band was seemingly continuing in the same “Cosmic American Music” vein as the first two albums recorded with Gram Parsons. Perkins did a fine job playing the pedal steel, and got his own showcase on “Steel Guitar Rag”. The band did a few bluegrass instrumentals (“Shenandoah Valley Breakdown”, “Dixie Breakdown”), foreshadowing the Country Gazette-aided sounds of Last Of The Red Hot Burritos, which was recorded within months of this concert. Devils In Disguise preserves a decent concert by this little-known FBB lineup.


The Flying Burrito Bros - Devils in Disguise: 1971 Live Broadcast

Flying Burrito Brothers "Devils In Disguise" (Smokin' SMCD911) 2012

Track Listing:

1. Six Days On The Road
2. One Hundred Years From Now
3. My Uncle
4. Four Days Of Rain
5. She Made Me Lose My Blues
6. Shenandoah Valley Breakdown
7. Why Are You Crying
8. Dixie Breakdown
9. Can't You Hear Me Calling
10. White Line Fever
11. Colorado
12. Steel Guitar Rag
13. Christine's Tune
14. Do Right Woman
15. Dark End Of The Street
16. Tried So Hard
17. Hot Burrito #2
18. Wake Up Little Suzie

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