Flying Again

AMG Review of Flying Again

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

The last that had been heard of the Flying Burrito Brothers was a 1973 European tour organized by Rick Roberts, replacement for founding member Gram Parsons, with a few hired guns. But with Parsons's growing posthumous legend, the band's name retained currency, and former bassist Chris Ethridge and former pedal steel guitarist "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow retained legal rights to that name. They brought in guitarist/fiddle player Floyd "Gib" Gilbeau, guitarist Joel Scott Hill, and former Byrds drummer Gene Parsons, and relaunched the Burritos with this album of competently played country-rock. Words like "travesty" and "insult" have been used to describe it, on the grounds that Ethridge and Kleinow were trading on Parsons's reputation, but on its own, the album is an adequate, if unremarkable set. Just don't pick it up looking for the old glory. [Flying Again and Airborne were reissued together on a single disc in late 2006.]