Country-rock, to me, is like jazz-fusion...it seemed like a good idea at first, but it didn't take long for the whole thing to turn limp. After
Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, Michael Nesmith's tracks with the Monkees (not familiar with his solo albums), Rick Nelson ca. 1969-72, and a few random others. As far as the Burritos, I love
Gilded Palace Of Sin and
Burrito Deluxe, but I get the impression that these two are all you need and that everything else is for Pure Prarie League fanatics only.
This is absoulutly the greatest hippie country rock lp ever made.
That's because Cody and his guys weren't sleepy folkies like the Eagles and the rest. They borrowed from Buck Owens' Bakersfield sound, Bob Wills' hillbilly boogies, Sun rockabilly, and maybe a pinch of R&B. Just like today's alt-country acts, it didn't take much for most country-rockers back in the early '70s to turn all soft and folky. Cody was a little more focused than that. They were from Detroit, they didn't fuck around.
I have this album, it's pretty uneven, but when they were on, they were DEAD on. "Hot Rod Lincoln" (their one pop hit from 1972) sounds good on oldies radio these days, and the flipside ("My Home In My Hand") updated rockabilly far more convincingly than Robert Gordon. Hell, even David Johansen loved 'em (well, at least I saw a photo of him from his New York Dolls days where he's wearing a Cody T-shirt).
Honorable mention go to a slew of Doug Sham releated lps.
I just heard
Doug Sahm & Band for the first time fairly recently, on a CD reissue...it's not as intense as the garagey Tex-Mex stuff with the Sir Douglas Quintet, but it amazes me how well it's held up. Most diehard Sahm fans think this LP is a lowpoint of his career - well, it's no "She's About A Mover," but if you GOTTA listen to laid-back country rock it may as well be on a Doug Sahm album. I like it.