Walk Right Back: The Everly Brothers On Warner Brothers, 1960-1969

Everly Brothers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 14, 1993)
• Original Release Date: September 14, 1993
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002MHW
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,910 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

This 50-song anthology is the first overview of the Everly Brothers's decade of hit recordings for Warner Bros. Included are \Cathy's Clown

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The changing fortunes of the Everlys in the sixties, October 6, 2002

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Walk Right Back: The Everly Brothers On Warner Brothers, 1960-1969 (Audio CD)

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 but their popularity faded gradually. By the end of the sixties, only their most dedicated fans paid any attention to them - yet their music was always of a high quality. They continually updated their music, trying to reflect changing fashions, making this a very interesting compilation.

The first CD includes all but one of the big British and American hits (among them being Cathy's clown, So sad to watch good love go bad, Walk right back, Temptation, Cryimg in the rain, Don't blame me and Ebony eyes), together with some of their most interesting album tracks (especially Sleepless nights and Love hurts). See my review of It's Everly time//A date with the Everly brothers for more about some of these songs. Two of the last three tracks on this CD are covers of country songs written by Don Gibson (Just one time and Sweet dreams). Even at their most popular, they never really strayed too far from their country roots.

The second CD opens with The price of love, their last major British hit - it reached #2 in 1965, but I don't think it did anything in America. It was a brilliant, infectious song with a touch of R+B. At around that time, the Everlys were being compared to the Beatles, but the truth is that the Everlys were a major influence on the Beatles, so people got the comparison the wrong way round.

The remaining tracks, covering the second half of the sixties, see the Everlys experimenting with a variety of styles, including more country songs, albeit with a pop/rock beat.

This is a fine collection for those (like me) who's interest in the Everly brothers goes beyond their hit singles. If you only want their hits, you can get them elsewhere without all the other stuff.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Neglected gems, December 30, 2001

By 

matthewslaughter "matthewslaughter" (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walk Right Back: The Everly Brothers On Warner Brothers, 1960-1969 (Audio CD)

Although the material on this two disc set is no match for the classic Cadence recordings, there are some great songs on these discs. Everybody knows "Cathy's Clown," but maybe everybody should know where the original version of "Love Hurts" comes from (later to be butchered by Nazareth). Disc One features the same sound that made the Everlys so popular in the late 1950s, with neglected tracks like "Nancy's Minuet" showing their flair for more ambitious material (even if "Ebony Eyes" fails in this regard). The early tracks on the second disc feature a more Beatle-esque sound, showing them modifying to their sound for the marketplace by adapting it to that of the British Invasion, while still managing to keep that beautiful Everlys sound. The later tracks on disc two resemble "Notorious Byrd Brothers"-era country-rock with mixed success. While this set is lacking in "classic hits," the material is consistently strong and shows that despite the Everlys lack of popularity from the mid- to late-1960s, they were still evolving musically. People interested in today's alt-country need to check these discs out, particularly fans newly acquainted with Gram Parsons. Many of his staples ("Love Hurts," "Sleepless Nights," Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home," Little Richard's "Lucille") are on these discs.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compared to nothing...this is just great music, June 7, 2006

By 

Gordon Pfannenstiel (Russell, KS United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Walk Right Back: The Everly Brothers On Warner Brothers, 1960-1969 (Audio CD)

No doubt, the material the Everlys cut for Cadence is classic stuff...it defined the era in which it was released, and remains eminently listenable today; great songs, great voices, great arrangements, all state of the art in the late 50s.

Everyone is always quick to compare the Warner Brothers material to the Cadence material...and find the WB stuff lacking. That is a gross injustice. Simply stated, the Every Brothers were considered passe' in the wake of the British Invasion, just like Roy Orbison, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and a host of other 50s artists. Even King Elvis did not fare that well then. Many of the songs, performances and arrangements contained in this collection WERE hits, many more of them would have been hits had they been released by a "hot commodity".

Most of this material is just very, very good. To compare it to the Cadence material is silly and unfair; the times they were a'changin'. Honestly, this holds up very well when compared to the Candence sides. For the most part, they are great songs, well-arranged and (of course) well-sung. Overall, I think the Rhino 4-CD box covers this period a bit better; better song selection and better sound, but this is still a great collection and a great buy. Long live the Everly Brothers!