Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody: Very Best Of The Righteous Brothers

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Music reviews of Unchained Melody: Very Best Of The Righteous Brothers

Music Review: 3 of the most soaring love ballads ever committed to wax
Rating: 4 Stars

"You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" is probably the most hauntingly beautiful and powerful love ballad ever recorded; this one completely ambushed us near the end of 1965. The duo's name had been floating around for a few years - but there was nothing in pop music history to prepare people for the sound of this song, which cemented their reputation [possibly] forever.

"Just Once in My Life" a song of similar ilk, but less intense, less drawn out, less soaring, though some folks liked it even better. I remember Pete T, the starting center on our HS football team [who also put the shot in track], was particularly enamored of this one, along with "Tired of Waiting for You" by the Kinks.

"Ebb Tide" I always was under the impression that this was a remake of an older song, but never found if this was actually true. Many of the best 60's balladeers were doing similar material, along with their more original material (Gerry and the Pacemakers, Chad and Jeremy, the Beatles), but for older-style songs, the Righteous Brothers were generally several cuts above. "Unchained Melody" is another one like this. Both might have hit big in any decade from the 40's until the present.

On their 3-4 best cuts, the sound these guys ended up with is so big, full, glorious, and unbelievably soulful! Every note and transition is pregnant, seething with energy, seeming both self-contained and bursting out. Several of these songs touch the sky, and beyond. There's truly an unearthly magnificence to them.

"Hung On You" I only heard a couple of times - I was ready to make it one of my favorites, but never got the chance as the radio stations in NE Ohio just didn't air it for very long, or very often.

Some of the later songs they influenced were "I Don't Wanna Lose you, Baby" (Chad & Jeremy), "All Strung Out on You" (Nino Tempo and April Stevens), the more folky "Look What You've Done" (the Pozo-Seco Singers). Even Johnny Rivers was touched - when he finally entered his ballad phase ("Poor Side of Town", Baby, I Need Your Loving", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix") - though without harmony vocals, his sound didn't approach theirs like it otherwise might have. And let's not forget Britain's [the] Walker Brothers, who sounded very much like a watered-down version of their American "cousins".

I still haven't heard their version (the first?) of "Little Latin Lupe Lu". I can't imagine that it tops the other low charting version (the Kingsmen - in my opinion their best song, even beating "Louie Louie"); I can't imagine it could be more so-so than Mitch Ryder's - then I've always been lukewarm about him.

P. S. Favorite cheek-to-cheek dance songs of the mid-60's . . . we were there: "The Way You Look Tonight" (the Lettermen); "Long Lonely Nights" (the Four Seasons); "(I'm) On the Outside Looking In" (Little Anthony and the Imperials); "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" (the Righteous Brothers); "This Boy" (the Beatles); "Mr. Lonely" (Bobby Vinton).

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