One of the Greatest Albums You May Not Have Heard Yet
It had been one of the biggest and most public break-ups in rock history.
During a summer appearance at Knott’s Berry Farm in Southern California, Phil Everly smashed his guitar and stormed off-stage, leaving his brother Don to finish the set.
And that was the end of the Everly Brothers.
Or so it seemed. But in the years that followed neither of the brothers could get much of a solo career going. And they were family, after all. Tempers cooled, time passed and in 1983, after a ten-year absence, the Everly Brothers decided to reunite.
They kicked off their comeback with back-to-back concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where the duo had remained popular through the years. Those two shows were then edited into a television special that played on HBO to critical raves and good ratings.
Not content to simply be an oldies act playing nothing but memories, the duo also decided to record an album of new material. The result was EB’84, an album that could stand on equal footing with anything they had recorded during their golden age.
The project was produced by Dave Edmunds (who had covered a few of the Everleys songs with frequent collaborator Nick Lowe). Some of the best and brightest in rock lined up to take part. Paul McCartney contributed the album’s first track, “On the Wings of a Nightingale.” From the opening notes, it was clear the boys had not lost a step. Released as single, the song returned the boys to pop charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
The rest of the album is classic Every Brothers. Here’s the track list with the composers:
- “On the Wings of a Nightingale” (Paul McCartney)
- “Danger, Danger” (Frankie Miller)
- “The Story of Me” (Jeff Lynne)
- “I’m Takin’ My Time (Rick Beresford, Patrick Alger)
- “The First in Line” (Phil Kennerly)
- “Lay, Lady, Lay” (Bob Dylan)
- “Following the Sun” (Don Everly)
- “You Make It Seem So Easy” (Don Everly)
- “More Than I Can Handle” (Pete Wingfield - Mike Vernon)
- “Asleep” (Don Everly)
Musician included Dave Edmunds, Albert Lee, Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney and Richard Tandy.
The best thing about the album is that it has the classic sound of the Everly Brothers but doesn’t feel retro or dated.
If you love Everly classics like “Wake Up Little Susie,” “Bye Bye Love” and the rest, you owe it to yourself to give this album a listen.
