Search - Everly Brothers :: It's Everly Time

Kentucky duo at the peak of their career

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 06/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Everly brothers had several hits on the Cadence label, notably Bye bye love and All I have to do is dream, before signing to Warners in 1960. They started very successfully and this album presents their first two albums for Warners, plus other tracks recorded then, but not necessarily released then. Every track here was recorded between March and November of 1960, in the days when it didn't take long to record each song to the required quality standard.



The first album (It's Everly time) begins with So sad to watch good love go bad, one of their classic hits. Most of the other songs were written by the Bryants. One of these, Sleepless nights, is pure magic. I believe it to be, along with Love Hurts (see later), the best song they recorded that wasn't released as a single by them. It has since been covered by (among others) Emmylou Harris on her Pieces of the sky album, and by the Judds on their River of time album.



The second album (A date with the Everly Brothers - studio album, despite the title) includes Lucille, a cover of the Little Richard classic which they also had a hit with, and ends with Cathy's clown. Despite being the biggest hit they ever had, there are very few covers compared to some of their other hits. The most notable, by far, is Reba McEntire's country version, in which the words are adapted to take Cathy's view of the situation. The other important song here, Love Hurts, has been recorded by many artists in many different musical styles, and has been a pop hit for other artists, including Nazareth.



The bonus tracks include singles not released on either of the LP's - Ebony eyes, Walk right back and two versions of Temptation - and other tracks which remained in the vaults at the time, though all were eventually released except one of the versions of Temptation, available here for the first time. Actually, the rare version sounds like an inferior version of the famous version.



The tracks not specifically mentioned all fit the general Everly sound of the time, and it is these tracks that are the real reason to buy this. While none of them are outstanding, they are all very enjoyable.



Sleepless nights and the famous tracks can all be found on Walk Right Back: The Everly Brothers On Warner Brothers, 1960-1969, although if you're only interested in the early part of their sixties music, you might prefer this twofer anyway."