Everly Brothers - The Everly Brothers Sing (1967)

Everly Brothers исполняют психоделию. Неожиданно, да? Послушал этот альбом опять-таки по рекомендации Патрика Кемпбелла, данной в его книге Psychedelic Days. Один из любимейших моих альбомов. На этой пластинке Братья Эверли исполняют песню I'm Finding It Rough, написанную Патриком специально для них. I'm Finding It Rough совершенно замечательная и, неожиданно, прото-панковская вещь, если не брать в расчет вокализы и, характерную для братьев, слащавую манеру исполнения.

Рекомендую.

Behind one of the drabbest album covers (and album titles) of 1967 lies a little psych-pop gem. Most people go running for the hills when they spot this album and really who could blame them? Can the casual record buyer justify purchasing an Everly Brothers album with a 5-minute rendition of "Whiter Shade of Pale" on it? How about a song called "Talking to the Flowers", conjuring up mental images of Phil Everly wearing a kaftan sitting cross-legged on the floor fumbling through sitar fingerings. Approach this album with an open mind, however, and you will find a delightful example of what US psych should be.

The beauty of the first side is that it sounds sophisticated and intricately produced without sounding particularly psychedelic. Album opener and modest hit "Bowling Green" is in the same melodic, psych-informed, country-inflected pop territory as the Beau Brummels' "Triangle". Everly original "I Don't Want to Love You" is a wonderful pop moment, with Phil's (or Don's, I can't tell which is which) ever-so-slightly-raga vocal wail leading from the second chorus into the darker bridge reminding the listener that yes, this is 1967. "Talking to the Flowers" may be the most well-known track here to UK psych collectors who would be familiar with the Rick Price cover. I prefer the original for its unbeatable harmonies and its oddly sincere lead vocal. So ends the first side. 'A little flower pop-ish, not too over-the-top', you think to yourself.

Then comes Side 2 opener and psychedelic monster "Mary Jane", also known as "how many overdubs can we smash into one song?". One would assume the Everlys singing a song with obviously-forced drug imagery would buy them a one-way ticket to Squaresville but this thing is blistering. Fuzz abounds, possibly courtesy of Glen Campbell (how are his session appearances so good and his solo work so...Jimmy Webb-ified??) while hyperactive congas are trying very hard to sound like tablas. The only thing that betrays this track from being considered almost a lost UK psych single is the occasional vocal twang that places this firmly back in the States. This is followed by "I'm Finding it Rough" a cover of a B-side from beyond obscure UK freakbeat band Hat & Tie (pre-Nirvana, of "Simon Simopath" fame and Cobain-fan ire). How on Earth the Everlys first heard this track is beyond me. Someone in their entourage was obviously hipper than hip, and it sure as hell wasn't Glen Campbell. A brilliant collision of jubilant vocals, overdubbed harmonies flitting about, modulated tom-toms, and an incessant fuzz figure doubled by woodwinds. This track sounds like power-pop went back in time and paid tribute to itself before it even existed (did I just describe the plot to 1989-1993 TV show "Quantum Leap"?).

The album ends with much-maligned covers of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", which sounds very incongruous on paper, i.e. these 2 songs share space on the same album!? I actually think both covers are quite good, though unnecessary given the brilliance of the originals that come before. Arrangements are by Gene Page, Al Capps, and Billy Strange, which is an odd but consequently magical grouping.

Yes, pre-Beatles pop stars were capable of making solid psychedelia, though it's probably a good thing that Neil Sedaka never tried.

~ by mag1c_hands from rateyourmusic

tracklist:

1. Bowling Green
2. A Voice Within
3. I Don't Want to Love You
4. It's All Over
5. Deliver Me
6. Talking to the Flowers
7. Mary Jane
8. I'm Finding It Rough
9. Do You
10.Somebody Help Me
11.A Whiter Shade of Pale
12.Mercy, Mercy, Mercy

bitrate/битрейт 128Kbps

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