The Everly Brothers

In 1972, the Everly Brothers signed with RCA Victor after over a decade of recording for Warner Bros., and the move came at a significant moment in their career. The Everlys were still writing and recording new music, but their audience saw them almost exclusively as an oldies act, and Don and Phil were eager to present themselves to contemporary listeners. The Everly Brothers' two albums for RCA, Stories We Could Tell and Pass the Chicken & Listen, have been reissued on a single disc by the British Acadia label, and the albums show two sides of this legendary act. 1972's Stories We Can Tell is a successful effort to expand the duo's musical boundaries: Don's composition "I'm Tired of Singing My Song in Las Vegas" bluntly summed up how they felt about the nostalgia circuit, while appearances by Ry Cooder, Graham Nash, David Crosby, and John Sebastian helped cement their credibility with younger rock fans. And from the swampy mood of "Green River," the sly jazzy slide of "Up in Mabel's Room" and the widescreen tragedy of "Christmas Eve Can Kill You" to the solid boogie of "Three-Armed Poker-Playin' River Rat" and the contemplative country shuffle of the title cut, Stories We Could Tell left no doubt the Everlys still had plenty fresh and exciting to say. 1973's Pass the Chicken & Listen isn't as impressive; produced by Chet Atkins, it feels like an attempt to guide the Everly Brothers into the smarter side of contemporary country, and while the picking is sound and the selection of material is good, Don and Phil don't seem especially engaged, and the album was released only a few months before the brothers' bitter breakup. Featuring new liner notes by Alan Robinson, this disc certainly does right by an important but little explored side of a great duo's career, though the first half of this disc is ultimately more entertaining than the second. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide