The Everly Brothers' Warner Bros. output: S/D, C/D

That one and "Roots" are the two must-haves. "Gone Gone Gone," "In Our Image" and "The New Album" (which contains the incredible "I'll See Your Light," originally recorded '65) are also very good.

I'd suggest getting "Two Yanks" and "Roots" and the box "Heartaches and Harmonies," because there's plenty of great unissued stuff included on the box. You got that, you have what I consider the best of the Everlys.

The one original on here is totally awesome too: "I Wonder if I Care Anymore" with that vauguely psychedelic guitar noise throughout and a general wasted vibe. so nice.

my dad played in bluegrass bands in the 60s and still collects mandolins and dobros and stuff. recently i was trying to connect w/him over music and see what kinda stuff he was into and he told me the Dillards were his ultimate heroes when he was around my age.

They don't have a psych album per se, but "The Everly Brothers Sing" includes a number called Mary Jane, which is perhaps their most overtly psych moment. It's about...oh you guessed.
"Sing" also includes the genuinely wonderful "Bowling Green", and a very ill-advised cover of "Whiter Shade Of Pale". I wrote about the Evs' mid-late 60s output on my blog awhile back:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/small_circle/15693.html#cutid1

Roots rules

Stormy if you don't already know it, try Merle Haggard's Jimmie Rodgers tribute album Same Train, Different Time.

I've not heard their version of "Whiter shade of pale" since 1978 (when I was eight), when the tape we had it on got chewed up by our car stereo. Hearing it would probably take me straight back to Harpenden in my mind. I always remember it as being quite a good version, but I suppose you don't make good judgements when you're eight.

xpost

And I kinda wonder whether the entire album wasn't actually done in L.A. Maybe the more pop stuff like "Don't Run and Hide" and "Like Every Time Before" was done w/ Hollies? Dunno, it all sounds similar to me. I need to get the reissue, since I (ha ha) was able to burn a CD from a pristine original WB LP, and it sounds great ! And when you compare the EBs' versions to the Hollies', the EBs versions just kick the Hollies' ass, frankly, so much more depth.

it starts with a wicked trippy cover of Tumbling Tumbleweeds - the only other version of the song i've heard is Michael Nesmith's, itself pretty tripped out - long drawn out droney vocals. the entire thing is immaculately produced. nice country flourishes. a few more rockin' songs. i could easily compare this album to a Gene Clark album. it's that good.

i lied about Sunset Towers being super duper amazing. i didn't realize at the time that i'd downloaded a 2fer with the self titled album in front of sunset towers. the s/t is the one w/tumbling tumbleweeds. i just found the record of sunset and it's nice, though not as amazing. the stand out track is Souther California by far

Roots!

"it's everly time" + "a date with the everly brothers" is really where it's at.

the albums seem spotty to me, i'd stick w/ the singles collections. "man with the money" is great.

<3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3j0f299IiA

search: Bowling Green

post-WB period, but I picked up a reissue of "Stories We Could Tell" recently - they're kinda hazy singer-songwritery early 70s shaggy-haired end-of-the-road record. Has a couple of clunkers but some nice moments too.

Selfish question: How is this comp as an overview of this period?

Walk Right Back: The Everly Brothers on Warner Bros. 1960 to 1969

http://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/the_everly_brothers/walk_right_back__the_everly_brothers_on_warner_bros__1960_to_1969/

Does this hit most of the high points, or would I be better off getting individual albums?

That's a great overview. I love it.

There's my next batch of eMusic credits spoken for then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReJWLGxh_pU

Since I last wrote on this thread, I managed to get hold of the two Bear Family box sets "The price of fame" and "Chained to a memory" which seems to be everything the Everlys recorded for Warners and RCA afterwards, including out takes and rarities galore and a very strange live album from 1970. Even a half hearted strum through "The weight". Very very good, if slightly exhausting. There's pretty much a whole album's worth of material after "Roots" which was either only singles or unreleased - two versions of "Mr Soul" for instance.

It's odd, for years you couldn't get any of the EB mid to late 60s stuff on CD and then Rhino issue that 5 cd "Original albums" series with "Two Yanks" and "Roots" in it. Nice bargain really.

"Muskrat" is pretty great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDTtLbXHN8E

where to start with these dudes? I feel like I should know their stuff

fwiw I kinda hate "Wake Up, Little Susie"

I'd recommend a compilation of their '50s Cadence singles (I have this one on CD, but the sound quality is middling) and the 2-CD Walk Right Back: The Everly Brothers On Warner Bros. 1960 To 1969 compilation. if you like what you hear on the Warner comp, a lot of their Warner albums are available as twofers. my favorite album of theirs is Songs Our Daddy Taught Us (on Cadence), a collection of acoustic country/folk ballads that hails back to old brother harmony duos like the Louvin Brothers and the Blue Sky Boys. Roots is also as great as people say it is; it's their answer to west coast country-folk-psych-rock, and it's a good complement to the Dillards' Wheatstraw Suite and the first Dillard & Clark album. there are still a lot of Everly Bros albums I haven't heard, so maybe someone else can do a better job of summarizing.

The Everly Brothers Sing Great Country Hits is also great, and the album tracks don't often show up on compilations

underrated Warner Brothers track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG6pDRZ9q-4

Two Yanks In England is the Everly's doing a bunch of Hollies' obscurities alongside the odd original and lesser-known British Invasion hit, backed by the Hollies, Jimmy Page, James Burton etc...

hmm love both those Dillard-related albums unregistered mentions - Roots it is!

XPS Oh yeah, if you're into The Beau Brummels, Ron Elliot is all over the Everly's stuff from '67-'70.

Get "A Date With The Everly Brothers".

i am probably not the person to ask b/c i might be one of the world's biggest E.B. fans (i have all of their albums on one format or another, and i like the ones that other folks don't seem to like), but I'd say you might want to start with one of these albums:

- It's Everly Time!
- Roots
- Beat & Soul

but yeah the "walk right back" compilation is A++++++

if you like the warner bros stuff i'd recommend going deep and getting those bear family box sets. so what if you have to sell a kidney to afford them?

The Everly Brothers Sing Great Country Hits is also great

Weird, I was just listening to this. Their version of "Send Me the Pillow that You Dream On" is positively sublime.

i even like their last two albums, much more obviously "country-rock," where they do some singer-songwriter stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pass_the_Chicken_%26_Listen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stories_We_Could_Tell

hell, i even like all of the comeback albums (not to the same extent though)

stories we could tell has this minor classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xl_kMvlzV0

i should say, "last two albums before their first break-up"

re. their comeback albums, i've always liked their cover of this dire straits song (which actually might have been released before the D.S. version?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkFcQRiFL68

that's knopfler on lead guitar, of course

o wait heres the studio version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIW_GTe9K1E

good trippy melancholy everlys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNB3UVAShZc