THE EVERLY BROTHERS
In Our Image / Two Yanks In England (CD 2fer, Warner Brothers)
Quite some time ago, Warners let it be known that they were going to reissue the Everly's mid '60s albums as CD twofers; 1965's Rock 'n' Soul / Beat 'n' Soul were to make up one CD and 1966's In Our Image / Two Yanks In England another and presumably 1967's The Hit Sound of The Everly Brothers / The Everly Brothers Sing would have been the third. So far these have failed to materialise with no apparent release date imminent. So why should that matter? For the Everly Brothers, the years 1965-7 marked the period
between the advent of the British invasion sound and their reinvention as a country act (with 1968's
Roots album). In the intervening years they tried their hand at the various styles that were then becoming current. They managed to do this without sounding like dated fifties throwbacks and in
In Our Image and Two Yanks In England , achieved a very high level of quality.
Yanks indeed featured (bar two songs) an album's worth of beautiful Hollies numbers which at that time were as yet unrecorded by the Hollies themselves. Also, the backing band featured both Jimmy Page and John-Paul Jones in session player mode. From the opening salvo of the fuzz fuelled 'Somebody Help Me', it is clear that the Everlys have bought into the new sound, 'Wake Up Little Suzie' it ain't! Cuts like 'I've Been Wrong Before', 'Don't Run And Hide', 'Hard Hard Year' (again with presumably Page's sensitive guitar work), 'Like Every Time Before', 'Have You Ever Loved Somebody' sound as though they were tailor written for the brothers. The sound and production is immaculate. They do a cool version of the Manfreds 'Pretty Flamingo', giving it their own particular harmony vocal depth. One of their own tunes 'The Collector' is a beautiful mid
'60s flavoured pop ballad, a bitter-sweet flavoured key progression and sensitive guitar work make this perhaps the most mature song they had written to that date. In Our Image which preceded Yanks in '66 is both a worthy precursor to the rounded sublimity of its successor but works well in its own right. Opening with a blistering 'Leave My Girl Alone', big jangling electric guitars are all over it. Featuring tracks like the funked-up rocker 'The Power Of Love', and the absolutely pounding original version of 'The Price Of Love' (a UK hit) the pop pleasers like 'Glitter And Gold' and 'It Only Costs A Dime' and some lovely slower numbers which allow them to stretch out such as 'June Is Cold As December' and 'The Doll House Is Empty', this is another under-recognised gem of an album. I got so frustrated waiting for the CD reissue I bought original vinyl copies (try www.rock2.gemm.com, they're not overly expensive on original vinyl). They were reissued in the '70s, but have yet (I think) to make a CD appearance. As an example of how pre-Beatle people responded to the changing times, these are prime examples. Once heard, you will never hear the Everly Brothers in quite the same way again. Get these remastered onto CD at once please, what's the hold-up Warners??
Paul Martin