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Artist: The Everly Brothers
Album: The Songs Of The Everly Brothers
Label: Sundazed
Release Date: 01/15/2016
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The Everly Brothers
The Songs Of The Everly Brothers
Album Reviews | April 22nd, 2016
Sundazed Records attractively
designed double LP, The Songs of
The Everly Brothers, is a feast of
recordings that show Don and Phil
Everly as highly skilled songwriters
and masterful singers. This
collection focuses on 36 home and
studio demos made mostly for
Cadence Records in the late 1950’s
and early 1960’s, though side four
includes some nice solo material
from Don in the early 70’s.
With extensive liner notes by
Andrew Sandoval, the Grammy
nominated producer and engineer
who has chronicled the history of
the Everly Brothers for more than
20 years, we get a strong sense of
the stories behind each of the demos and their relevance to the arc of their career
hits. Sandoval provides interesting information about how the development of early
home recording equipment made creating demos like these possible for the Everlys
and other musicians of the time. Often, there is a stark intimacy to these recordings as
2. if the listener is right in the room with Don and Phil.
Each side contains nine tracks, the rst focusing on recordings from the 1950’s. The
rst track, “Life Ain’t Worth Living” is stunning for its tight vocal arrangement and
sweet, romantic style, for which the Everlys were well known. Only brothers could sing
harmony this close and this perfect. The results are sublime. “Give Me A Future”
foreshadows “Bye Bye Love” with its chunky acoustic guitar ri , or “chicken rhythm.” “I
was really in uenced by Bo Diddley at that time, guitar wise. I was trying to sound like
that…” recalls Don.
“Maybe Tomorrow” is a standout track and wound up as the ip side to “Wake Up
Little Susie.” At the time, only Buddy Holly compared in terms of craft. “I Didn’t Mean
To Go This Far” shows their growing maturity as songwriters. “We were writing those
heartfelt songs,” says Don. “It had a lot to do with being really romantics at heart.”
On side two, “All I ask Of Life” is sweet and yearning. “Dancing On My Feet” is a rocker
that brings to mind some of the more lively cuts o of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska,
the boss having acknowledged the Everlys as major in uences. The minor keyed “Since
You Broke My Heart” has a dark feel with a rumba rhythm and captivating falsetto
vocals. Phil’s solo cut “When Will I Be Loved” was apparently nished over a root beer
at an A&W Root Beer stand and shows his evolution as a songwriter. “Phil came into
his own as a songwriter shortly after the duo signed with Cadence, and his output
soon outstripped Don’s in quantity,” notes Sandoval.
On side three, Phil’s solo demo “Who’s To Be The One” is a prime example of the
intimacy of these home recordings. The “ghostly vocal echoes” transport the listener
right back to 1958. “Her Love Was Meant For Me” is another excellent solo piece from
Phil notable for the way he taps a beat on the body of his guitar. The chord changes of
“Since You Broke My Heart” anticipates garage rock classics such as “Gloria.” Also
appearing is another version of “Maybe Tomorrow” and it’s impossible to choose
which is better.
The Everly’s in uence stretched far and wide. One can easily imagine a young Pete
Townshend picking up on the strumming styles of “You’re The One”, another minor
key rocker. Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones has acknowledged learning open D
and E tunings from Don for wider chord voicings, which were instrumental in
propelling the songs of both groups. Their incredible harmony work would in uence
the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, Simon and Garfunkel, Tom Petty and
many more.
Side Four mostly shows solo material from the early 1970’s just before Phil and Don
separated as a working duo. By this time, their voices had changed and dropped in
pitch. Gone are the teenage tones, now replaced by slightly deeper, more adult
sounding voices, but the sense of plaintive longing remains. The Everly Brothers would
not perform together again until 1984, o cially retired in 2005, and Phil passed away
in 2014.
The Songs of The Everly Brothers is not meant to be a starting point for getting to know
their hits, but rather a ne collection of recordings that demonstrate their magisterial
skills as songwriters. The Everly Brothers’ lyrics speak to timeless, universal themes of
love and loss, and their awe inspiring vocal harmonies make this a collection well
worth owning for anyone interested in the canon of American folk, pop and rock.
– Michael Cobb
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