Don Everly - Sunset Towers (1974)
Tracklist
A1 Melody Train 2:37
A2 Jack Daniels Old No. 7 3:35
A3 Warmin' Up The Band 3:35
A4 Helpless When You're Gone 3:29
A5 Did It Rain 3:15
B1 Brand New Rock & Roll Band 3:13
B2 Takin' Shots 4:02
B3 The Way You Remain 3:16
B4 Evelyn Swing 2:04
B5 Southern California 4:15
Companies, etc.
Pressed By – Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Terre Haute
Credits
Girl-group Backing Vocals – Cynthia Bullens*, June D. Williams*, Jessica Cleaves, Lani Groves, Shirley Brewer, Stephanie Spruill
Bass Guitar – Joe Osborne*
Drums, Percussion – Pete Gavin
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Ray Smith*
Keyboards, Synthesizer – Jean Roussel
Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Piano – Albert Lee
Producer – Tony Colton
Steel Guitar – Buddy Gene Emmons*
Male Vocals, Male Harmony Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – Don Everly
Written-By – Albert Lee (tracks: A2, A3), Charles Nicholas Hodges (tracks: A2, A3), Don Everly (tracks: A4, B4), Peter Leslie Rowney (tracks: A2, A3), Raymond Barry Smith (tracks: A1 to A3, A5, B1 to B3, B5), Tony Colton (tracks: A1 to A3, A5, B1 to B3, B5)
Notes
Promotion Copy stamped at the top of the label unlike Don Everly - Sunset TowersBarcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (A Side Runout): T1 ODE SP 77045 T1 RE-1 D6
Matrix / Runout (B Side Runout): T1 ODE SP 77046 T1 A10
Pressing Plant ID: T1
As Aussiebob says, this isn't an album for Everly purists. Instead, the two albums from 1970 and 1974 feature some bruised lyrics, a mish-mash of musical styles, a spattering of piano ballads, some country and western and straight out rock. Much of it is, to be frank, undistinguished. Don Everly did not become a Waitsian bar-room poet after his sugar-coated career with Phil. But he was an engaging character, with a surprising range of song-writing skills.
The highlight for me is the surreal "Safari" from the eponymous 1970 album, a track which prefigures Paul Simon's Graceland by incorporating elements of black South African music in the context of a somewhat overwrought but strangely compelling mia culpa about apartheid. Elsewhere, "the Eyes of Asia" is pleasant, laid back country, "Omaha" has hints of 1970s Beach Boys, while "February 15th" is almost an epic, with its light guitar-piano interplay segueing into a form of raga, before sadly petering out.
Some of the later songs are fragmentary, but engaging. "Thinking it Over" - for some reason hits home, as does "Only Me" which hints at mental disorder and alienation. There is some psychological meat here, sometimes. And there is love - as with "Helpless When You're Gone." There is elegy, with the overblown, but quite fun "Southern California" and there might even be protest, with the war-lament "Takin' Shots."
All of these are competent songs, some are bordering on the excellent. But none really make it. Still, Don's solo career, short though it was, had some merits that have been widely overlooked. I liked his efforts to branch out, to experiment ("Safari" really should be heard) and his raw appeal to emotion.
Nothing spectacular here, but for more adventurous Everly fans, this is well worth hearing.
The highlight for me is the surreal "Safari" from the eponymous 1970 album, a track which prefigures Paul Simon's Graceland by incorporating elements of black South African music in the context of a somewhat overwrought but strangely compelling mia culpa about apartheid. Elsewhere, "the Eyes of Asia" is pleasant, laid back country, "Omaha" has hints of 1970s Beach Boys, while "February 15th" is almost an epic, with its light guitar-piano interplay segueing into a form of raga, before sadly petering out.
Some of the later songs are fragmentary, but engaging. "Thinking it Over" - for some reason hits home, as does "Only Me" which hints at mental disorder and alienation. There is some psychological meat here, sometimes. And there is love - as with "Helpless When You're Gone." There is elegy, with the overblown, but quite fun "Southern California" and there might even be protest, with the war-lament "Takin' Shots."
All of these are competent songs, some are bordering on the excellent. But none really make it. Still, Don's solo career, short though it was, had some merits that have been widely overlooked. I liked his efforts to branch out, to experiment ("Safari" really should be heard) and his raw appeal to emotion.
Nothing spectacular here, but for more adventurous Everly fans, this is well worth hearing.
Don't buy this disc thinking (as I may have subconsciously) that you're getting something like a couple of Everly Brothers' albums with various people filling in for the missing Phil. It's not that.
Don goes off on his own here on several fronts. Starting with a strange arrangement of "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" featuring backing by what sounds like a gospel choir and featuring in places an unusual sliding-note vocal style, you'll figure out quickly that this sure ain't the Everly Brothers you remember. This particular tune didn't really work for me but, thankfully, things got better --- not actually all the way up to "very good", but better.
Don wrote exactly half of the 22 tracks here and many of the songs may grow on me over time, but it will take a few listens. The vocal stylings, some of the arrangements, and some of the subject matter (i.e., just about everything) are decidedly different from his work with Phil and will take a little getting used to, especially on the first of the two albums, Don Everly.
After hearing these two solo albums (originally released in '71 and '74) on this two-on-one-disc (plus a bonus track) release from Raven Records, my initial reaction is that The Everly Brothers were a duo greater than the sum of its parts. (Apologies to Phil whose solo work I'm even less familiar with.) [Raven, RVCD-74]
I may upgrade this rating and revise my comments after further listening.
Don goes off on his own here on several fronts. Starting with a strange arrangement of "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" featuring backing by what sounds like a gospel choir and featuring in places an unusual sliding-note vocal style, you'll figure out quickly that this sure ain't the Everly Brothers you remember. This particular tune didn't really work for me but, thankfully, things got better --- not actually all the way up to "very good", but better.
Don wrote exactly half of the 22 tracks here and many of the songs may grow on me over time, but it will take a few listens. The vocal stylings, some of the arrangements, and some of the subject matter (i.e., just about everything) are decidedly different from his work with Phil and will take a little getting used to, especially on the first of the two albums, Don Everly.
After hearing these two solo albums (originally released in '71 and '74) on this two-on-one-disc (plus a bonus track) release from Raven Records, my initial reaction is that The Everly Brothers were a duo greater than the sum of its parts. (Apologies to Phil whose solo work I'm even less familiar with.) [Raven, RVCD-74]
I may upgrade this rating and revise my comments after further listening.
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