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Rating: It's not just good wine that improves with age... Think of vintage guitars, the so-called Vintage guitars, like a '57 Fender Stratocaster or a '58 Gibson Les Paul; or, certain beautiful twenty-year-old girls who do not yet possess the maturity or sensuality that a beautiful forty-year-old woman can boast; or (if it's music we're talking about, as it is in this case), works so pioneering that what seemed cold, perhaps even glacial twenty or thirty years ago, appears much more understandable and close today. Okay, maybe this isn't exactly the case with this album, but I've been looking for an opportunity to start with a bang for some time, have the good heart to forgive me (in any case, the fact that the album in question has aged well is a fact).
So, it was 1978, Gino Vannelli had already recorded five albums, all more or less successful; however, the masterpiece was still missing, or rather the album capable of best synthesizing all his innate qualities as a musician and singer; hence comes "Brother to Brother" which, along with the subsequent "Nightwalker", perhaps represents the pinnacle of the Italian-Canadian singer-songwriter's musical career.
The album opens with the sign of rock, with a piece as aggressive as it is sophisticated like “Appaloosa”, with the fluid solos of Carlos Rios (guitar) and the present drums marking the rhythm of the song. It continues with “The River Must Flow”, another decidedly well-crafted song, with Vannelli's falsetto contrasting nicely with the female chorus intent on rhythmically marking the title words.
But it is with the following pieces that Vannelli gives his best; “I Just Wanna Stop”, which later became a classic (written by our protagonist's brother, Ross Vannelli) might seem at first listen like a piece written specifically to climb the charts, but it is, in fact, a very refined ballad, where Ernie Watts delivers a saxophone solo towards the end that sends shivers down the spine... A truly unique feeling!
Also worth mentioning are the beautiful “Feel Like Flying”, which almost repeats the emotional crescendo of “I Just Wanna Stop” and the title-track, where a powerful instrumental interlude (complete with a virtuosic electric bass solo by Jimmy Haslip that wouldn't even make the most hardcore Dream Theater fan frown) disrupts the song's flow, bewildering the listener, only to gently accompany them back to the melodic path thanks to the subsequent “Wheels of Life”, a piece endowed with extraordinary melodic richness.
The album closes with “The Evil Eye” (perhaps the album's weakest track) and the melancholic “People I Belong To” (of completely different substance), which Gino dedicates to his relatives, friends, and loved ones.
The highly sophisticated sound architectures of this album make it a unique work in its field even today, and the fact that perhaps no one has yet managed to reach it throughout all this time certainly makes one reflect.
It does not represent just the most significant achievement in Vannelli's excellent discography, it is also one of the highest peaks ever reached by the genre it belongs to.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Appaloosa (04:43)
Appaloosa, runnin' wild in the dead of the night
Appaloosa, you're the message of love and light
Apparitions, they grow wild in the plains of my mind
I get visions of the mountain that I must climb
Freedom ain't no illusion
A truth no money can buy
With your sweet absolution
I will follow my star
For the rest of my life
It goes on and on
Appaloosa, runnin' high in the heavens above
Appaloosa, you're the angel of God I love
Freedom ain't no deception
A truth no man can deny
With your love and direction
I will follow my star
For the rest of my life
It goes on and on
Appaloosa, Appaloosa, Appaloosa, Appaloosa
Appaloosa, runnin' wild in the wake of the dawn
Appaloosa, you're the spirit that turns me on
Appaloosa, Appaloosa, Appaloosa, Appaloosa
03 I Just Wanna Stop (03:38)
For your love
When I think about those nights in Montreal
I get the sweetest thoughts of you and me
Memories of love above the city lights
Ooh, I tried so hard to take it
But oh Lord my heart won't make it
I just wanna stop
And tell you what I feel about you babe
I just wanna stop
I never wanna live without you babe
I just gotta stop
For your love
When I think about the way the world must turn
I get the saddest thoughts for you and me
Memories of life and times go on and on
Ooh, I've tried hard to forget it
But of Lord my mind won't let it
I just wanna stop
And tell you what I feel about you babe
I just wanna stop
The world ain't right without you babe
I just wanna stop
For your love
Ooo, I've tried so hard to take it
But oh Lord my heart won't make it
I just wanna stop
And tell you what I feel about you babe
I just wanna stop
The world ain't right without you babe
I just wanna stop
For your love
06 Brother to Brother (07:19)
Brother to brother
Now we must join our hearts and hands
Yeah, if we love one another
We hold the key to the promised land
Think of all that we've been through
The shucks and jives and royal blues
Let us pray our time will come
When this world will live as one
Brother to brother
Now don't let the devil get you down
Oh 'cause it's bread and it's butter
That makes this whole damn world
Go round and round
Do you know where we went wrong
Tell me why the lines are drawn?
And let us break our bound'ries down
And live our lives on common ground
Oh mothers and fathers
Where will tomorrow's children be?
Oh brother, my brother
Let us live our lives in peace
Brother to brother
Brother to Brother
07 Wheels of Life (04:14)
The wheels of life are turning so much faster
The restless hands of time pass me by
There are dreams I'll never live to see
But as long as you believe in me
I'll still feel them on the way
As I take life day by day
Oh the wheels of time are turning so much stronger
The blues of days gone by weigh me down
But maybe love will come to rescue me
And I'll never set you free
Like the sea runs to the shore
I've come back yo you once more
The wheels of life
The wheels of life
The wheels of life
The wheels of life keep turning round and round
And if I should only have one tomorrow
It's a lifetime if I knew
I could spend that day with you
Ooh, the wheels of love will turn my world forever
I want you in my arms for all time
And maybe love will come to rescue me
And I'll never ever set you free
Like the sea runs to the shore
I'll love you forever more
The wheels of life
The wheels of life
The wheels of life
The wheels of life keep turning round and round
The wheels of life
The wheels of life keep turning so much faster
The wheels of life are turning so much stronger
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