STYLE: Country RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 82544-15706 LABEL: Capitol FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1
Reviewed by Mike Rimmer
In the fifties and sixties, Ira and Charlie Louvin had a reputation for the tightest and sweetest harmonies in country music and were very influential on another duo, The Everly Brothers. This album is probably better known for its cover than for the music it contains. The picture of the brothers standing in front of a depiction of Satan and the flames of hell has made it a so-bad-that-it's-good cult classic. The album itself contains a couple of songs that have become musical classics, demonstrating their close harmony singing on "The Christian Life" and a song that's near enough made it into the hymnal, "There's A Higher Power". Elsewhere on this 1959 album for Capitol Records there are a few sermon songs with a message for the sinner to heed, ranging from the title cut to "The Kneeling Drunkard's Plea" and "The Drunkard's Doom". You get the idea that these guys didn't mess around when it came to hitting people between the eyes with a bit of musical hell and damnation. It's very much of its time but is also charming in its own way. From a musical standpoint, these guys were the business.
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