Album Of The week - this - week is - BILLY JOE + NORAL "EVERLY"
"At first glance, this is a very odd record: an American punk superstar and an easy-listening chanteuse perform stripped-back Everly Brothers covers. It is hard to imagine Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong andNorah Jones even sharing the same vocal booth, let alone harmonising with straight-arrow sincerity through murder ballads, sentimental weepies, corny cowboy songs and country laments.
This is a straightforward track-by-track recreation of the Everly Brothers’ classic Songs Our Daddy Taught Us, with Armstrong taking Don Everly’s lead role and Jones singing Phil's high harmonies. Younger brother Phil sadly died shortly after this tribute album was released, on 3rd January 2014 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease brought on by smoking.
Even back in 1958, the original was considered an unusual album, risking the rocking duo’s pop-idol status by digging into music from their childhoods. There’s something about the spookily intimate blend of harmonies, sparse acoustic arrangements and directness of the material that makes it sound like a record out of time. Armstrong has said that he “stumbled upon” it a couple of years ago and became obsessed." - Neil Mc Cormick of the Telegraph
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