The Everly Brothers - The Everly Brothers [Mono] (1958)

[Rock & Roll]

Talk about the early days of rock 'n' roll and where it all began, and it is only a matter of time before The Everly Brothers will come up. Don and Phil pioneered an odd blend of rock 'n' roll, country, folk, and pop mashed together into something irresistible to teens at the time. The vocal harmonies, now legendary, are known to have influenced many artists, among them The Beatles, Robert Plant, Simon & Garfunkel, and even pop group a-ha. Their debut album is a mixed bag in terms of quality, but has enough charm to keep it interesting. Like many artists of the time, covers were a large part of the duos repertoire, and the album opens with a rocking version of Ray Charles' 'This Little Girl Of Mine'. It is pretty standard of rock 'n' roll in 1958, but the vocals immediately stand out, with the harmonies cutting through. It's a great album (and career) opener, and leaves the listener wanting more. In a move that wouldn't be seen on modern albums, track two is a slow crooning number, really dropping the energy. 'Maybe Tomorrow' gives Don Everly a chance to show he can write as well as perform, but the two songs certainly stop the momentum of the album dead. 'Bye Bye Love' follows, one of their best known songs, and salvages the album before the listener loses interest. It wasn't written by the brothers, but was written for them, and today is cited as one of their signature tracks. Even today is understandable why, with its catchy vocal line, but also the excellent guitar work. It isn't amazing by today's standards, but for the time the way the guitar weaves in and out of the plodding double bass and simple snare tapping was amazing. After another soppy waltz timed moment in 'Brand New Heartache' (those teen girls loved that stuff in 1958) it is onto some rock 'n' roll numbers, with the trio of 'Keep A Knockin'', 'Be Bop-A-Lula' and 'Rip It Up'. These songs would later become rock 'n' roll standards representing the time period, but at this stage they were recent songs. The brothers put their rockabilly stamp on them, with 'Keep A Knockin'' in particular having a totally different energy to the rocking original, especially in how constrained the piano solo is. 'Be Bop-A-Lula' doesn't have the slinkiness of Gene Vincent's original, instead sounding like a sing-along version. The voices are thin and youthful and high-pitched in places, and don't yet have the softness the brothers would later have. 'I Wonder If I Care As Much' (another Don original) is possibly the best ballad on the album, taking on folk phrasing and style. 'Wake Up Little Suzie' is next (arguably the best know Everly's song), and bursts out the speakers. Again written for them, the songs bristles with energy and charm, and you'd be hard pressed to find a rock fan that doesn't know the tune. You can hear early Beatles here more-so than any other song on the album, and you realise how much these two brothers influenced the musical revolution brewing in England at the time. It ends with the traditional song 'Hello Doll Baby' which is possibly the weakest song on the album. As important and influential as this album was at the time, it certainly isn't a masterpiece, but groups like The Everly Brothers were the first cowboys in the new wild west. They forged the identity of music to come by taking what they knew and turning it into something new, and not every experiment was successful. They did the heavy lifting so that bands over the next few years already knew would work and what wouldn't - and for that alone they will always be important.

Opeth - Blackwater Park (2001)

[Death Metal (Progressive)]

Ahh the 90's - a whirlwind of a decade for metal music. Grunge was a wave that blew mostly all genre's out of the water re popularity. In Australia it also co-incited with the emergence of what was called 'Alternative Music' - a very broad description but it was in some ways for the youth to rebel, via the introduction of some bands that just rocked out in a 90's way. This didn't require a great deal of thought. The fact it was mostly Oz content was the attraction and they filled the live venues for years. The fightback for metal came in the second half of the 90's with what was called 'Nu-Metal'. Offering an alternative to the trad metal offerings. But again simple, no thought, catchy tunes that caused a lot of pushback. Anyway the history lesson has gone for too long. During this time, there were always these metal bands surging on under this wave of attention, that would resurface at the end of the Grunge/Nu-Metal fad for the most part. One such band that gave me a lifeline back to metal was Opeth and indeed an absolute classic in their catalogue - Blackwater Park. Since TheBigBlack discovered this and shared, I've since gone back and listened to their back catalogue and can see how they landed at this record. Just an incredible kaleidoscope of amazing song writing, brilliant technical application of the music, sublime vocal and soulful interludes. It starts with 'Leper Affinity'. Clocking in at just over 10 minutes it set the mood for the rest of the record. While an absolutely brilliant track on its own, in some ways the content provides the listener elements of what they can expect to hear on the remainder of the record. Flat out aggression, those death vocals spitting out razors in your ears, right down to the opposite of soulful, tempo down, vocals. The way those song transitions between a number of tempo/rhythm changes is amazing. Next up 'Bleak' is in a similar vein although on the aggressive side. By now you must be hooked. 'Harvest' at track 3, as you will see from the acoustic start is a time to take a breath and focus on Mikael's unbelievable vocals. It did take me a while for this song to grow on me as it was so different. If I'm honest as much as I like albums as Damnation, this track is a left a little wanting. In any case it leads us to 'The Drapery Falls'. My favourite track on the record. The mostly guitar driven intro lasting around 2.30 minutes is amazing. The remainder of the song, particularly when the death vocals come into play just wrack with your brain to try and keep in touch with what is actually being played here. There are so many layers. I won't go through each track from here on, in detail but you should by now have an appreciation for how refreshing this band is to the metal scene. Sure they have left the underground scene but when attending their live converts after this, not sure they have any concern. Clearly in my Top 10 of all time.