Oh no … am I caught in a rut?
This is another late 60s album from a rock act who were "past their prime". Regular readers know I love albums put out when acts were no longer selling records if for no other reason than it gives them a chance to experiment or try different things.
Back in "what Frank is listening to #105" I said this in relation to these types of recordings: It is also from a "genre" of music I like …. the genre being: former rock and pop stars from the 50s recording more "meaningful", introspective and experimental music in the late 60s. Link Wray, Del Shannon, Dion, Elvis, Jerry Lee, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Bobby Vee, Lou Christie, The Everly Brothers, Pat Boone and Gene Vincent all put out fine records in the late 60s which were largely ignored by the record buying public.
The Everly Brothers are not interested in going "introspective" … after all it could be argued they already had as their big 50s hits were up-tempo mediations and observations on teen dilemmas and heartbreak as potent as anything by done by Chuck Berry. Instead on this rather conservative looking album they discover (or try their hand at) psych pop.
But first by way of bio: from what Frank is listening to #65
The influence of the Everly's cant be underestimated – their twin harmonies influenced the Beatles, Beach Boys, Hollies, Simon and Garfunkel etc. They also were not afraid to mix it up a bit and put some straight country on rock albums and vice versa and really pioneered ( in the mid to late 60s) what became known as "country rock" … about the same time if not before Gram added his magic touch to the same..
As biographies go … they had the usual problems of good ol southern boys (Kentuckians) … pills, broads etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everly_Brothers
So what we have here is a psychedelic pop album by the Everly Brothers. There are baroque touches with the strings and a little country sometimes recalling "The Association" but mainly it's MOR pop psych (not that there is anything wrong with that) with one ear turned to London. The London thing is not unusual as the Everly Brothers had been very popular in England throughout the Beatles ascendancy. Their vocal harmonies would be perfectly suited to psychedelic pop and this album does in fact sound a little like The Hollies who were experimenting with their own psychedelic pop … which of course is funny as The Hollies were trying, at one time, to sound like a beat version of The Everly Brothers.
The production is slick though a little offbeat. Producer Dick Glasser worked with Jackie DeShannon, Andy Williams, The Ventures, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, James Darren and others. Gene Page would orchestrate for Barry White, Johnny Mathis, Elton John and others . Billy Strange was a session guitarist who had worked closely with Nancy Sinatra and would work with Frank Sinatra, Brian Hyland, Bobby Vee, and Elvis. All were veterans of the Hollywood musical scene.
The brothers can sing, the band can play (Al Capps on guitar mainly, Terry Slater on bass) and with Billy Strange doing some of the arranging something's going to come up roses.
Tracks (best in italics)
- Bowling Green – Slater – 2:50 – a great piece of Kentucky rural pop via London written by the Everly's bass player, an Englishman. The song has also been recorded by The Gosdin Brothers, Glen Campbell, Neko Case and We Four. Very catchy and a minor hit for the Brothers … their last in the US Hot100.
- A Voice Within – Slater – 2:23 – Another contemporary (1967) sounding song.
- I Don't Want to Love You – Everly, Everly – 2:48 – a big ballad that has a lot going on with tempo shifts and harmonies … this could be The Hollies doing cabaret and there is nothing wrong with that. A great song.
- It's All Over – Everly – 2:23 – this is a dreamy return to their songs of teen heartache of the early 60s. A bit slick and overproduced but not offensive … a different version of this song had appeared on an earlier album.
- Deliver Me – Moore – 2:35 – a familiar sounding song with a touch of blue eyed soul a la Mitch Ryder with the hand claps and pulsating beat or something like 60s era Neil Diamond. Think "Cherry Cherry".
- Talking to the Flowers – Slater – 2:57 – if you are "talking to the flowers" you are probably in 1967 or schizophrenic. This song is very much of the times … I'm not sure what their traditional audience made of this (then again they didn't buy the album – no one did). The young hip audience also would also have bypassed this. A pity it's a good piece of flower power inspired psych pop much like The Association. It probably could be amped up a little emotionally … if Brian Wilson had produced it we would really have something.,
- Mary Jane – Slater – 3:01 – wtf – fuzz guitar (courtesy or Glen Campbell and James Burton apparently), crazy congas, fairground music, and a suspect lyric. If I didn't know it was the Everly Brothers I could guess but I would still have to do a double take. Incredibly, this was released as a single …
- I'm Finding It Rough – Lyons, Thomas – 2:47 – a cover of a song by obscure English freakbeat band "Hat & Tie". How the Everly's found out about it I have no idea but I suspect it had something to do with bass player Slater as he was English and had joined the Everlys in 1963. A good cover. The original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=255UvDvigso
- Do You – Slater – 2:47 – mid tempo MOR pop with modish overtones … very much in The Association mode (again).
- Somebody Help Me – Edwards – 2:01 – more fuzz guitar but to less effect … not nasty enough. A cover of a Spencer Davis group song that had been on an earlier Everly's album also (why – I don know).
- A Whiter Shade of Pale – Brooker, Reed – 4:55 – yep the Procol Harum song … and a very credible version … all 5 minutes of it!
- Mercy, Mercy, Mercy – Zawinul – 2:28 – written by jazz keyboardist Joe Zawinul in 1966 for his band leader, jazz saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. A great song but this kind of deep soul sounds odd coming from the Everly Brothers.
This is a very ambitious album, if for no other reason than it, was aimed squarely at the charts with the "now" sound. It doesn't always succeed but it has its fair share of good moments … and I have the other Everly Brothers albums … so … it's a keeper.
Singles
Bowling Green #40
Album
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Singles
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lGI8CFN_9I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcTCobPJHeY
and attached
I Don't Want to Love You
attached
- They (the Everly's) are the cousins of actor James Best ... Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in The Dukes of Hazzard.
what Frank is listening to #185 – THE EVERLY BROTHERS – Sing – (Warner Brothers) – 1967
