Detail of a movie poster for Hal Roach's Bungalow Boobs, 1924
So, after familiarizing myself with the Everly Brothers' early work on Cadence Records, I was curious to see how they made the transition to their new label Warner Brothers in 1960. So I ordered a copy of the twofer CD with the brothers' first two WB records, It's Everly Time and A Date with the Everly Brothers. I'm glad I did - these two LPs are great! Both recorded during 1960, they are packaged with a couple additional singles that were recorded at the same time but released the following year - there's a baffling number of classic songs here, all recorded within the space of a few months.
It's Everly Time was a huge success right out of the gate, released at the same time as their big single "Cathy's Clown" (which, oddly, was not included on this LP). But they made an even better LP just a few months later when they released A Date with the Everly Brothers - the second record was superior because it contained songs almost exclusively from the brothers' two best sources, (a) the songwriting team of Boudleaux & Felice Bryant, who had written the Everlys' big hits for Cadence, and (b) the Everlys themselves.
A Date with the Everly Brothers has the great singles "Cathy's Clown", "Lucille", "Always It's You", and "Stick With Me Baby". But the craziest thing about the record is the number of amazing songs were never even released as singles. The Bryants turned in one of their best-ever compositions, "Love Hurts", for the record, and the Everlys hit it out of the ballpark with their amazing harmonies. But the song wasn't selected as a single - the label gave it to Roy Orbison the following year, and his version made the Top Ten. Equally baffling is that the album's amazing lead-off track, Phil Everly's "Made to Love", was not selected as a single. Its bouncy pop sound may well have been a bit ahead of its time - it almost has a British Invasion sound to it. With an amazing chorus and an evocative lyric in which Phil's father sits him down and tells him to see girls as sexual objects, it has "hit single" written all over it. The Everlys did fine with their singles in 1960 - "Cathy's Clown" was a #1 smash - but the omissions show the wealth of great material the Everlys were working with at the time. I definitely recommend seeking out these albums!
"Made to Love" by the Everly Brothers
3 comments:
Bungalow Boobs! I love that show! I was just checking out your awesome blog and thought I would leave a comment. I love the Title Fight feature - very funny. I'm excited for the next installment.
You should do a post that caters entirely to me and write about good indie running music. I pretty much have every mix you ever made me on my mp3 player, but even some of those get old after a few miles. I need new material! What does today's modern girl run to? We want to know!
Bungalow Boobs. Just had to say it again!
Thanks for the comment, Gwyn. It's funny that you mention jogging - I just recently recommended the new Frightened Rabbit record as a good one for jogging for the fairly constant just-above-midtempo pace it has over its entire length. Take a listen to the track I posted and let me know what you think.
If you want a jogging mix, remind me the next time you visit (hint!hint!) and I'll burn you something.
Bungalow Boobs!
I will do just that! Frightened Rabbit sounds like good running music... aren't they famous for running fast and stuff? The perfectly paced running song is "Sound of Settling" by Death Cab for Cutie. And maybe "My Only Offer" by Mates of State.
I will hold you to your jogging mix offer. Oh, how I want to visit you guys! Reading Faith and Mindy's endearing little repartee via blog comments makes me sad to be so far away. *sigh* We're trying to figure out our summer plans... maybe they could somehow fit in a trip to Utah?
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