In the vinyl reaches of my record collection, nestled deep within a section I think of as Golden Age (though it means I, too, am turning 24karat) is a Cadence album featuring two visages of sculptural classicism, posed against a blue background that emphasizes their royalty to a youthful obsessive setting forth on his music collecting odyssey. It is the first album I ever bought, and though I don't remember where (possibly Klein's department store in Manhattan's Union Square), I do enjoy the thought that I couldn't believe I was getting so many hits in one place. And you didn't have to lift the needle for each one! I played it on a record player that I received for Christmas of 1958 in the shape of a conga drum; I don't have that phonograph anymore, but I still have the tattered and worn twelve-inch disc, scarred with many listenings and "All I Have to Do Is Dream"-ings.

The Best of the Everly Brothers is truly a magnificent collection. Covering Don and Phil's remarkable oeuvre in a year and a half of meteoric rise, each cut, a or b side, is a slice of what made the duo so irresistible. Here are… read more »