Coachella Valley Weekly
Eleni’s Top 10 Records For 2022
#5. THE WILLIAMS BROTHERS “Memories To Burn (Regional Records)
When The Williams Brothers, identical twins Andrew and David, sing, they achieve that kind of familial harmonic blend that seems effortless. They began singing together as kids, showbiz was in their blood (their Uncle, Andy Williams, was an Easy Listening hit-maker with his own weekly variety show on TV). They were briefly teen idols in the early ‘70s, but a decade later they began carving out a career making music in the thriving L.A. scene. Between 1987 and 1993, they released three beautifully-wrought, harmony-heavy records before deciding to go their separate ways, at least professionally. Luckily, their producer, Marvin Etzioni (a talented musician in his own right, who played bass in the original incarnation of Lone Justice) remembered the brothers had recorded a few songs just for fun in the mid ‘90s. Once they located the tapes, Marvin and Andrew cleaned them up and edited a bit. The result was Memories To Burn,” a 10-song set that featured a few Marvin originals, a couple of Robbie Fulks favorites, covers from The Kinks, Iris DeMent, Buffy Sainte-Marie and a lone Andrew-David original. The pared-down production, features Andrew’s acoustic guitar, Marvin’s bass, pedal steel from the legendary Greg Leisz and Don Heffington behind the drum kit. The uncomplicated arrangements shined a spotlight on the brothers’ beatific vocals. This album is truly a gift. A lagniappe for longtime fans.