The Burrito Brothers are one of the surviving branches of the puzzling family tree that depicts that numerous line-ups of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, adamant on keeping late 60s-early 70s hippie country-rock alive. Their new album The Magic Time Machine of Love is a smörgåsbord of musical references that have one thing in common: melody is king.
Kicking off with a spoken word bit of cosmic music poster boy Gram Parsons, they get in at the deep end by using the Keith Reid's unused verses for a reinvention of A White Shade of Pale, followed by a few nods to Arlo Guthrie's Coming Into Los Angeles in Captain Bobby Stout. These guys know the songbook of the psychedelic era inside out, enabling them to throw in blink-and-you'll-miss them quotes - although no one would have expected David Bowie's Fame coming out of left field.
Music has the ability to conjure up the picture of a bygone era and that is what The Magic Time Machine of Love intends to do, not so much as a longing for the past, but as a reminder that dreaming of, and working at, a better future is actually a cool thing to do. A Peace Song is needed again, but relaxing a bit with a Whiskey Woman does not hurt either. They picked the Beatles' deep cut What Goes On for inclusion. It would have been cooler had they chosen for the same named song by The Velvet Underground, but the old rift between the US East and West Coast might have gotten in the way once more.
The Burrito Brothers:
Chris P. James: vocals/keys
Bob Hatter: guitars
Tony Paoletta: pedal steel
Peter Young: drums
Guest musicians: Jon Corneal, Ian Dunlop, Al Perkins
The Magic Time Machine of Love is released via Think Like A Key Music (CD, digital).
Tracks:- Intro: Gram Parsons
- A Whiter Shade Of Pale
- Captain Bobby Stout
- Pride Of Man
- Peace Song
- Used To Do
- Gram Praises
- More And More
- What Goes On
- Time Machine
- Whiskey Woman
- Tales Of Desire
- Number 19
- Right Where We Belong
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