Customer Reviews

Satan Is Real

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
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The cover is worth the sticker price alone. Truely, one of the great album covers of all time. As the liner notes will attest, the Louvins concieved & built it themselves, risking serious injury when the kerosene coated rocks began to explode behind them. Prophetic as that sounds, if this record were a book, you could judge it by the cover. The contents are truely as haunting, campy, beautiful & passionate as that manic expression on Brother Ira's face.

Sinners be warned, this is Gospel music. So yes, there is that cloying, BE SAVED OR DAMNED message behind it all. But these passive-agressive tactics are undermined by the Louvin's bittersweet sound. These guys sing like hell bent angels, clinging desperately to the darkest, lonely cloud in Heaven's outlands. Behind the unintentional camp of self penned ditties like, "Satan Is Real" is a deep rooted cry for mercy. The barnstorming glee of "There's A Higher Power" follows & is as infectious as Hank Williams' classic, "I Saw The Light".

Much has been said of this albums' influence on the late, Gram Parsons. His faithful rendition of "The Christian Life" is an obvious example. But I can't help but wonder what the Louvin's thought of the likes of GILDED PALACE OF SIN. Their sacred sound is all over it. So if you're a Burritos/Parsons fan---this is indispensible.

My personal favorite is "He Can Be Found". Not only does it represent this duo at their subtle best, but when each brother takes their solo, it's likely to stop you in your tracks. It's the waving grass over the fire & brimstone of "Satan's Jeweled Crown" & "Drunkard's Doom". Another standout is, "Are You Afraid To Die" which is as raw & honest as popular music gets in any genre.

Since hearing this, I've sought out a few other Louvin Bros. albums, but keep coming back to this one. Without a doubt SATAN IS REAL is their masterpiece. Brush your religious prejudices aside & dig down deep into the grave of this one. You're certain to be rewarded.

It's easy to look at the album cover (certainly one of the most bizarre I've ever seen) and write the Louvin Brothers off as a cornball hillbilly act. That would be a grave mistake; their music in general, and on this album in particular, rings with power and honest emotion. This album includes "The Christian Life", made famous a few years later by the Gram Parsons-era Byrds (and one of my favorite songs, incidentally), a cover of the Carter Family's "Kneeling Drunkard's Plea", and the truly moving "He Can Be Found", as well as the title track, supposedly inspired by an actual testimony given at a revival meeting at the Louvins' boyhood church. And those are just the highlights; the rest of the album is just about as good.

This is an album that literally should not be judged by its cover; the Louvins are in deadly earnest, and they proclaim their faith with conviction. Definitely worth listen, or two, or three...

This is such sincere music - It's not the very best quality production, at time it's downright campy, but you can certainly feel the conviction in Ira and Charlie Louvin's voices in this collection of country gospel. Perhaps you've been sheltered from the experience of attending a revival meeting on a hot summer night in a little Baptist church - This is what it sounds like when they have the 'special music'. For example, check out the organ accompaniment on "The Kneeling Drunkard's Plea", or the spoken 'testimony' during the title track.

The Louvin Brothers set the standard for harmony singing in the genre, and indeed it's mighty good here, as they confront the Prince of Darkness himself. Good stuff.

...but this is a really good cd. Forget the bizarre cover (designed, I heard, by the Louvins themselves) and listen to the beautiful singing. Even Bill Monroe admitted Ira Louvin had one of the all-time great tenor voices, and Charlie's is great too (check out "He Can Be Found"). And I'm not a church-goer, but the religious theme does seem to bring out the best in the boys. If you're a Louvin Bros. fan (or a fan of brothers/duet singing), and you've put off getting this cd because of the cover or the the overt religiousness, take a leap of faith and try this really excellent disc.

I got this album expecting a campy laugh, as I am into odd and bizarre music. Sure, it is over the top, but it is also passionate and beautiful. The Louvin Brothers put their heart and soul into the music, and the harmonies are quite fantastic. I was throughly unexpected to be moved by this, as I am an atheist, but I oddly was. The songs are about regret, sin, death, redeption, and are done with odd amounts of power the the cover barely suggest at all. Hell, even Gram Parsons is a fan of this album, as the Byrds covered "The Christian Life" for the groundbreaking "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" LP. It is preachy and over the top to be sure, but is at the same time deeply passioned and moving. I originally bought this album mainly because I found it cheap and thought it would look funny in my CD wallet. Like many I was expecting as much a campy laugh on the album as the cover delivers, but was pleasently surprised.

The Louvin Brothers have done the world a great service by providing us with an album cover which once and for all settles the age-old debate over Satan's realness. I have seen the album cover, and folks, believe me when I tell you that Satan is as real as rib-eye gravy! All the more amazing is that the Brothers Louvin were able to schedule a photo shoot with Beelzebub himself, in view of his hectic schedule: he's currently midway through a lecture tour of east coast colleges, after which he reports to Hollywood to film a new set of TV ads for Underwood Ham. Don't be put off by the fact that Satan appears in this photo as a 12-foot inflatable rabbit doll, painted bright red, sporting an Elvis-style hairdo, and a pair of eyes cut and pasted from an early photo of Wally Cox. And don't let's forget about the music! The Louvins singing style is best described as a cross between the Everly Brothers and a group of hungry alley cats. Enjoy!

Don't get me wrong; when I saw the cover art, I cracked up. But I kept my mind open and decided to listen to it, just for the hell of it. The music is actually pretty powerful, as an atheist I almost feel the power of Christ compelling me... NOT! But I like it nonetheless.

There is nothing in music like sibling harmonies, and there are no sibling harmonies quite like the Louvins'. Talk about that "high, lonesome sound"! This contains some of the Louvins' very best recordings, including the original "The Christian Life", two songs I'd always known through Emmylou Harris ("Satan's Jeweled Crown" & "The Angels Rejoiced Last Night"), and the wonderful "The River Jordan". After you get the "When I Stop Dreaming" collection, consider this beauty.

Coming to this album from the world of folk-rock, via the recently discovered (for me) Gram Parsons has been quite a shock: I had always dismissed country singing as corny but the music on this album is brave, brilliant and awesome. As a Christian I know it is true as well, I just never heard it expressed so powerfully. The Louvins display rock-solid harmonies which just take your breath away on every track. To say the songs are heart-felt is almost an insult to the intensity of passion they breath into the lyrics. The themes may sound risibly old-fashioned - The Kneeling Drunkard's Plea etc but there is no doubting the integrity of what must be one of the first concept albums. A veritable treasure.

NOT ONLY AM I REVIEWING SATAN IS REAL BUT ALSO TRAGIC SONGS OF LIFE, AND OTHER CDS BY THIS GREAT BROTHER TEAM.. IRA AND CHARLES REALLY KNEW HOW TO HARMONIZE AND I THOROUGHLY LISTENING TO THEM WHETHER IT BE BALLADS, LOVE SONG, OR THEIR GOSPEL MUSIC.IF YOU LIKE TO HEAR GREAT HARMONY, THEN YOU WILL LOVE TO HEAR THESE BROTHERS SING SONGS LIKE ALABAMA,BORN AGAIN,, NEARER MY GOD TO THEE, WHAT IS HOME WITHOUT LOVE AND A TINY BROKEN HEART..I HAVE SEVERAL CDS, ALBUMS BY THESE TWO AND REALLY ENJOY THEM.