Best of Everly Brothers: Rare Solo Classics

Between their breakup in 1973 and their reunion in 1983, Don and Phil Everly did a lot of recording on their own without achieving much in the way of commercial success, though Phil did reach the U.K. Top Ten in a duet with Cliff Richard on the excellent "She Means Nothing to Me" in 1983. You won't find that song here, but you will find 18 performances in 50 minutes of songs mostly released on singles — by Don on Hickory Records in 1976-1977, by Phil on Curb Records in 1980-1981. There's more of Don (who made the 1977 Brother Juke Box album for Hickory) than there is of Phil, but the tracks are all mixed up, the singers are not identified on the jacket, and we bet you'll have trouble telling them apart. One hint: Don, freed of the brotherly harmonies, usually likes to sing solo lead against backup choruses, while Phil often re-creates brother-like duo vocals. In either case, the brothers separately pursued a country-rock-pop style similar to what they did together. There are some good performances here, but as you might expect, this is a record more for Everly fans than first-time listeners.