The Everly Brothers

Too late now, but it's kind of sad that no one attempted or was able to execute an American Recordings-style project w/the Everlys doing stuff like "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" or some sad Beck songs.

Didn't Don and Phil loathe each other after a point? That might have been a harder task than just talking Johnny Cash into covering a few 90s songs.

Yeah, they had problems that seemingly only went away when they sang onstage. Iirc, Paul Simon personally asked them to open on the last Simon & Garfunkel reunion tour. They agreed, but travelled separately, only did a four song set, and to Simon's surprise, their first show was unrehearsed, as they hadn't been in the same room together in years.

Yeah, some bad, Beach Boys-level stuff apparently, although I shielded my mind and can’t recall much of it.

Yeah, they had problems that seemingly only went away when they sang onstage. Iirc, Paul Simon personally asked them to open on the last Simon & Garfunkel reunion tour. They agreed, but travelled separately, only did a four song set, and to Simon's surprise, their first show was unrehearsed, as they hadn't been in the same room together in years.

There's a sad, funny comment on that experience in one of Simon (or maybe Garfunkel)'s interviews after the fact, something like, "Man, I thought we had problems."

They famously broke up in 1973 at Knott's Berry Farm when one of them smashed a guitar on-stage and stormed off. I didn't much about it beyond that but I looked it up this morning and there is more to the story.

Love the Everly Brothers, for those looking for CD's, the best compilation to get for content and sound quality is the DCC Compact Classics reissue of The Everly Brothers' Best which has 18 tracks including one from their WB years, "Cathy's Clown." Rhino also had Cadence Classics: Their 20 Greatest Hits which I would recommend first except it sounds a little thin and piercing. Beyond that, the two-CD Walk Right Back: The Everly Brothers on Warner Bros. 1960–1969 is a great supplement to their Cadence stuff. They still had plenty of gems from their uneven Warner Bros. releases. The best LP is probably Roots, probably one of the first real country-rock albums - love that album, but regardless their Cadence singles remain their best.

Simply one of the greatest pop music acts of all time.

I suspect that Paul Simon felt, as we might feel, that the Everlys were too great, really, merely to be supporting him. (Or then again, maybe he didn't.)

Search: 'Bird Dog'. And the rest.

Agree w birdistheword's picks, although I had no probs w audio of Cadence Classics (on my lo-fi gear).
Xgau pick, which I've never seen:
This Is the Everly Brothers [Music Club, 1996]...All of the key moments are on this collection, which lists for $10, and while some may prefer the $20, 31-cut Laserlight triple-CD, I find that too soon their harmonies start sounding neat rather than sharp. This is their very best, epitomizing a strain of pubescence that can't be trusted to repress its horniness past the end of the song. To their elders they're always polite. With their peers they fuss, fight, and--in their all-they-have-to-do-is-dreams--fuck around. A

dang, xgau having some difficulty repressing his horniness at the end of his "song" there to, lol

the two-CD Walk Right Back: The Everly Brothers on Warner Bros. 1960–1969 is a great supplement to their Cadence stuff. They still had plenty of gems from their uneven Warner Bros. releases. And they easily fit between Byrds, Beatles, and some of Brian Wilson's orchestral tendencies (also soundtrack influences), w/o seeming to strain for trendiness. How's that 80s album produced by Dave Edmunds??

Varese Sarabande did a few nice comps of the Cadence stuff. I got my Dad the "18 Singles" set, and I recall it sounding nice.

how's that 80s album produced by Dave Edmunds??

Better than xgau judged. The self-written material ranges good to excellent, McCartney's song almost entombed in Edmunds' tinsel.

Too bad eddhurt isn’t here to stan again for Two Yanks in England.

Two Yanks In England is good, and could have been great had they picked a few better songs ("Fifi The Flea"--ick)*

*Playlist fiends could probably program a better version with select cuts like future Who cover "Man With Money" and future Bryan Ferry cover "Price of Love" from surrounding albums.

Iirc,eddhurt was a big Hollies Stan, so there's his love for the LP explained.

Lol at “Fifi the Flea,” although I think dow likes that one too.

I only just now heard their cover of "Mr. Soul" - Jack Nitzsche producing, Ry Cooder on slide. Wow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPU9JK5AnEc

always thought he was gonna live forever-ly

Varese Sarabande did a few nice comps of the Cadence stuff. I got my Dad the "18 Singles" set, and I recall it sounding nice.

Yeah, there's a two-CD compilation that neatly collects every master from their Cadence recordings. If you're already a fan, it's a logical, economical choice. For someone new, just having a concentrated selection of the "hits" will be a stronger introduction. The DCC disc just sounds great, which is why I have it - I love the vintage vacuum-tube sound of the playback console used for the mastering.

Richard Thompson does a great cover of "Price of Love" and a soundboard recording from the famous "tour from hell" (his last with Linda in 1982) was included on Rhino's expanded 'Handmade' edition of Shoot Out the Lights. I didn't know that was an Everly Brothers single - IIRC it was a hit in the UK but not in the US - and that sent me looking for that Warner comp I mentioned. Also Jimmy Guterman's rave about Roots sent me looking for that one - compare it to Songs Our Daddy Taught Us which is a similar concept and to be fair a good, solid album, but I think Roots showed how they became richer interpreters in some ways even as their popularity began to fade.

Don't forget Bryan Ferry's version of "Price of Love," with Chris Spedding's huge twang guitar riffs>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWMNnVI8Wcg

People You Thought Were...

Also, pretty amazing that Margaret Everly - Don and Phil’s mom - is still with us. In 2019, when she was 99 years old, she did this fascinating interview about the Everly lives: https://t.co/fA41cSKQe1

— Annie Zaleski (@anniezaleski) August 22, 2021

Wow! I’ll bet Ike is long gone though.

In the article they say he died back in the '70s.

Never knew Don’s first name was Isaac like his dad, whose proper first name I didn’t know either.

Also, did someone say Chris Spedding?

While she was busy cutting hair, her sons would soon be busy cutting records.

I see what you did there, knoxnews.com

Lol at “Fifi the Flea,” although I think dow likes that one too. O hell no; eddhurt sent me a dub of Two Yanks, but the Hollies dumped too much crap (incl. the worst kind of pseudo-Dylanesque mid-60s verbiage, although the Brothers seemed unfazed, so maybe it wasn't really the worst). Should maybe listen again to their original and the one they wrote w Sonny Curtis.

Linda Thompson on fb:

Farewell Don Everly.
After a spectacular Everly Brothers concert in London, I went to the after party. Albert Lee introduced me to Don, who held my hand in a crowded bar, complimented my singing, and sang Dimming of the day to me. It’s a wonder I didn’t die on the spot.
They were my first musical loves. There’s never been a better sound than they had.

Wow, would love to have heard them cover ‘Dimming of the Day’.

The U.S. obituaries seem to cover the same ground - the NY Times one is the most comprehensive - but the Guardian's by Michael Gray (the same author of those Dylan books maybe?) is a good read, adding plenty of details others didn't.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/22/don-everly-obituary

My favorite quote excavated in several obits is Keith Richards calling Don "one of the best rhythm guitar players I ever heard" — the force of his strumming is the second-most distinctive thing about their songs imo, after the harmonies.

His memoir devotes a whole paragraph to Don's playing.

Absolutely. Early on when I was first learning about rock history, Robert Palmer's book An Unruly History... had a sidebar or paragraph on power chords, and it singled out the opening of "Bye Bye Love" as a perfect example. I think the only other example he used was either a Stones record or a Pete Townshend Who record. That alone got me to pay more attention to the guitar parts rather than focus completely on the vocals.

Guardian obit was good, thanks. Wondering who wrote “Cathy’s Clown” now. Obit and streaming services say Phil and Don, Wikipedia says just Don, don’t recall every reading anything about it, guess I can look at 45cat or something.

i believe wikipedia on this one

In November 2018, a judge ruled that Don was the sole writer of "Cathy's Clown", as Phil had relinquished his rights sometime before June 1980. Acuff-Rose Music, which owned the song publishing, and BMI (the brothers' rights society) removed Phil's name from all the royalty statements. In 2011, Don filed to regain ownership, with the estate of Phil following in 2014.[6]

Yes, those acoustic guitar intros- influenced by Bo Diddley, I think- really make the songs.

Great points about guitar work.

And Michael Gray - what a writer - his DYLAN ENCYCLOPEDIA is a wry labyrinth.

Have Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris weighed in yet?

Here Don mentions the direct lineage from Bo: https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/thats_old_fashioned_capturing_the_sound_of_the_everly_brothers

Yeah, Chet Atkins bragged about exposing Pat Boone fans to Bo via the Bros.

Cool.

Here is your prior post about FtF:
Rolling Country 2006 Thread

Oh jeez, how did you remember that? I sure didn't And I just got this Edd tape, incl the Everlys' Two Yanks In England (orig 1966, reissued by Collectors Choice 05), which Edd brought up when we were first discussing The Outsider on the Rolling 2005 Thread...I can dub it for you, Frank, if you're still curious about the Everlys (and prob Roots and Songs Our Daddy taught us would be illuminating, but I don't have those). And yeah, they sound like the Daddys of the Rodneys. (icnl The Outsider and what he was doing when if not before he and his Cherry Bombs were hanging out with Nick and Carlene and Dave and Rockpile). They sound perfectly at home, invading the British Invasion. I do wish they did a few more of their songs and a few less of the Hollies, or more of the Hollies' hits, rather than some that are clunky verbose,in that shadow-of-the-Beatles-and-Dylan-damaged 60s way, neither making it as passionately adolescent wordspew, nor a show of chops, dognose But! Edd adds rather exhilarating (also mid-60s) bonus tracks, and I gotta admit the Hollies wrote several of my fave raves even before that. Like "Fifi The Flea." One of those that (like even some of the best Beatles and Dylan) would look not so hot as words on paper, but the tune and the singing add sooo much.

But I also mentioned in the post that Edd added some other good mid-60s EB tracks to the tape, and even then the results were pretty uneven.

So “Fifi the Flea” was not a fave rave after all.

Apparently it was! But can't bring myself to play it again, not yet.

Too soon?

Was really hoping “Cathy’s Clown” was an actual co-write, for the purposes of a certain other thread.

Don does a Louvin Brothers song on that solo album!

Just found their cover of "Lucille" (one of their first recordings for Warner Bros., during the brief span when they were still managed by Wesley Rose). Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman" would consciously 'borrow' that guitar part a few years later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CshTqvzg8m8

Good point. Always liked that “Lucille,” not sure if I made that connection.

Speaking of Richard & Linda and Don, somehow I just came across this Nanci Griffith(RIP) record Other Voices Too which has pretty good covers of both “Wall of Death” and “Walk Right Back.” She is an artist who is new to me, sorry to say, so not sure if everybody already knows that record or not.

Although I can’t tell if these are great covers or just okay covers of songs I love.

Quoted by Tyler on Twitter
Cale: "When we formed Thc Dream Syndicate l needed to
have a strong sound. I decided to try using guitar strings on
my viola, and l got a drone that sounded like a jet-engine!
PlyinS the viola in lhe just intonation system was so
exciting. The thing that relly amazed me about it was that
we played similarly to the way The Everly Brothers used to
sing. There was this one song which they sang, in which they
started with two voices holding one chord. They sang it so
perfectly in tune that you could actually hear each voice.
They probably didn't know they were singing just intonation,
but they sang the right intervals. And when those intervals
where in tune, as they were in The Everly Brothers and our
group, it is extremely forceful.
Cool, but whether or not the Bros had the term "just intonation," in some sense they knew what to do, or they couldn't have been as consistent in their EB Sound as they were.

My takeaway is that the songs are so strong that I can usually at least tolerate and ofter enjoy most covers even if or especially if they are basically just trying to replicate the original versions. For me the canonical cover version I heard first and though nothing of the song until I finally heard the original was the Nazareth version of "Love Hurts."

I love "Love Hurts" so much that I even like the Nazareth cover, though the Joan Jett cover of the Nazareth cover is better.

That Dave Stewart/Amy Lee one isn't that hot tho.

Can’t say I expected this. Nor did I expect it to be good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4rEapho03g

Interesting

A very sweet 1984 production. Like a cushion of synth clouds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dg0vgbFY60

Written by Jeff Lynne to no one's surprise