The Louvin Brothers

Tragic Songs of Life

Initially, The Louvin Brothers, composed of d'Ira and Charlie, started out singing gospel songs, before moving on to a very country sound, but with respect to their religious ideals. According to some, they started their "career" in the early 1940s, but the first single was Seven Year Blues / Alabama 1949, released by Decca, who would only bet on them once. They are reputed to have democratised the vocal technique of close harmony in country genre, but not only that.

Already signed ... read more

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die #3

The reviews were quite low on this, so Im happy to say this pleasantly surprised me.

The songs become extremely boring and repetitive as they progress, and the duo's vocals sound unpleasant.

I'll be honest, this brand of '50s & '60s Country/Gospel music satisfies a personal nostalgic charm. My grandparents used to make this same brand of music, and it always takes me back to hearing them perform when I was a kid. As for the actual material here, I'd say it's the usual sound you would expect from this genre- still decently performed though.

Although this was quite a pleasant project, I doubt I'll ever be hearing it again.

Some great songs on here...however the instrumentation and song structure never change leaving the back-end of this album feeling stagnant.

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OLD SCORE:

Kentucky .........................................1/1
I'll Be All Smiles Tonight ................1/1
Let Her Go, God Bless Her .........0.5/1
What Is Home Without Love ........1/1
A Tiny Broken Heart ......................1/1
In the ... read more

Chato demais

Not keen on their voices

a great country record unlike 90 precent of modern country

The Louvin Brothers are a duo that's passed my radar all my life. I haven't listened to much country, let alone country before the 80s, so I really had no idea what I was expecting. That being said, I've very quickly fell in love with close harmony the duo brings and the little embellishments the mandolin brings to the track. Overall, the backing track is always a pleasure to listen to.

The reason why this album blew me away however is in the stories they portray. Starting with the first three ... read more

Absolutely classic gospel country. The brother's vocal harmonies are wonderful and their simple, yet effective combination of acoustic guitar and mandolin makes for a great backdrop for their songs. The album has a variety of stories to tell, but admittedly the sound does get a bit repetitive by the end of the record. Still, I do consider this an essential piece of country music history and if you can't find this record, at least give a greatest hits a spin.

Uninspiring

Not a bad experience being fully honest i was expecting to hate this and it did have a bit of a rocky start for me

1001 AYMHBYD Marathon 3/1001

I guess this album was influencal and all but snoooore mimimimimimi this thing bored me out im sorry

Kentuuuuuuuuuuuuckyyyyyyyy. It’s alright, it gets very stale after a few tracks though, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

1001 albums you must hear before you die - #3

This album is the exact reason why I started doing this "challenge" : to discover music from artists I never heard before, and I believe that if I hadn't started it, i would never have discovered The Louvin Brothers. I also don't know much about the 50's, so this is a great exercise to exeprience a style that I really never heard : Country.

Since everybody said a lot of negative things about the genre, I went into this album with a lot ... read more

“Tragic Songs of Life” presents itself as a country gospel album with the sweetest of lyrics, but is ultimately destroyed by some ear-grating vocals that get real annoying real fast. This album has sort of a concept to it, as most songs are about misfortune and death but are written in a very sweet way that might get you to smile when your ears aren’t bleeding from the loud whining noises of the Louvin Brothers.
The album is number 3 on “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before ... read more

There are lots of great tracks here, but it gets very repetitive at the end.

1001 Albums to Listen to Before You Die: Album #3

I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of "early country", so I am probably a bit bias when it comes to The Louvin Brothers debut studio album "Tragic Songs of Life". When an album boasts a title like that, I expect something more along the lines of Sinatra's "In the Wee Small Hours"; an album that's rooted in heartbreak and tragedy. It would be a discredit to the album if I said it had no substance, but it's pretty ... read more

It's a good enough moodsetter, and I quite like the lyrics here. But god if the vocals aren't annoying! It took some time to get used to the nasal squeals for sure, and the playing is nothing remarkable either. I don't have much against it though, it's a sweet little country record. Just very standard... Good standard, but standard nonetheless.

Lembrou bastante o sertanejo, mas não consegui engolir esses vocais agudos e arrastados.

Pre-Everly Brothers Country vocal harmony. Though album is only 35 minutes long it can get a little repetitive if you're not much of a country fan, as it's a pretty basic contry music with bluegrass elements. Despite that it can still be fun to listen due to a good vocals, pleasant guitar play and lyrics about death, lost love and suffering, which can get sad like "Marry of the wild Moor" and unexpectedly morbid like "Knoxville Girl". If one includes drastic biography of ... read more