Search - Bobby & Laurie :: I Belong With You

The Everly Brothers of Australia?

Randall E. Adams | Los Angeles, CA United States | 01/04/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have a weakness for obscure Australian pop music from the 1960s. To a non-Australian, this set is a real find.Bobby & Laurie originally recorded individually as solo artists until 1965 which is when the bulk of the material on this generous disc was recorded. Paired up, they offered attractive two part tenor harmonies. They wrote a decent proportion of their material and selected canny outside material to cover, drawing mostly from southern U.S. rockabilly, country and r & b sources. Consider such items as "Trouble In Mind," a great version of "Crazy Country Hop" and a clever beat group rendition of the over-used "Goodnight Irene." They claim the distinction of being the only act at the time never to sing any Beatles songs onstage. They also manage to avoid Everly Brothers tunes here, but that's who you will be reminded of.A part of the credit for the enjoyability of Bobby & Laurie's music on this set must go to their backing band, the Rondells. This four piece outfit provided just the right sort of six string underpinnings to the two singers.The material on this CD consists of both sides of four singles, an album and an EP. To round things off, six tracks from their earlier solo careers are included. The most entertaining of these is Laurie Allen's "Wolf Man," surely inspired by Joe Meek's Screaming Lord Sutch records. After 1965, Bobby & Laurie moved to Albert Productions (also responsible for the Easybeats). This fine Canetoad collection does stops right there. Perhaps Albert can be induced to exhume some of their tapes."