LP :: Detail

Love Nest  (1958)

Columbia CL-1121 (Mono), CS-8057 (Stereo)

     

Liner Notes:

TO THE HI-LO'S
By Steve Allen

Whoever first shouted, for the joy of it,
if not the meaning, was Adam to the Hi-Lo's.
Or Adam to us all may first have sung and
     later talked. But now we all hear this,
This one voice sliced four ways, this
sound almost unbearably pleasant.

There have been good quartettes before: The Merrymacs
There are quartettes now who are good: The Freshmen.
But wild harmonic variations we are
hearing from these men: Gene, Clark, the Bobs
That open fresh meadows of mathematical possibility
and flood them, washing our brains with honey,
Closing our eyes and making us shake our heads
     with the unbelief that the rare champions evoke.

Hear them sing a note in unison then commit it
     to one voice
Striking off in three bold new directions,
     never losing contact with the root.
Hear them rub two notes together, making sparks
     form in the dark behind our eyes.

Hear them float, like a bubble in the happy air, a
     chord familiar and then, when you
     think you know what you're hearing,
Lace a delicate change through it, a cascade of
     tones that slips into the body of the chord
     like rich cream through iced-coffee in the sun.

Can you remember firsts? I remember the
     first time I heard the Hi-Lo's. It
     was in California. Warm green misty afternoon.
     Racing along the freeway to the Valley.
     The top was down on the car and the wind
          was licking my eyes. In my ears swam the
          sound of Where Are You?, the rich
          marshmallow high-calorie sound these men
          produce. That sound gave the car new
          horse-power and I turned the radio up
          higher and sang along like a goof.
          I wanted to pull back on the steering
          wheel and float up into the air
          but I just roared along splashing music all
          over the road.

In this album there is no wrong done. There is
          just the constant blend unequalled this
          side of the rainbow's harmony. The four
          parts run sometimes straight like stratified
          rock and then there's the earthquake-trace
          and the lines explode out and away
          and in and out and tie you in delicious
          knots of appreciation. They'll do it to
          you with But Beautiful and Dancing on
          the Ceiling and they'll do it to
          you once again with This Heart of Mine which
          is double-tracked to drive the golden spike
          in deeper and nail you down for good which
          is a scene from the picture "This Is as
          Good as It Gets."

On My Romance there's an a capella start and
          you therefore have the chance to concentrate
          on the fantastic harmonic profundity of the
          only and unbelievably four voices. The word
          "twinkling," you will note, twinkles! And
          this isn't just what they used to call close
          harmony. They can spread out like guys diving
          for cover and still sound like four cats ending
          up in the same foxhole.

Dig the kaleidescoping blend on The Lamp Is Low.
          You shake the box and there are changes and
          they're always surprising in their very logic.
          Dig the A flat intro and double-take your head off
          when they start the chorus in A natural.
          They feature stereophonic breathing - both lungs -
          And all the time get a load of the taste, the taste
          in material: Music for Lovers and Wee Small Hours
          and Fairyland and Yesterdays wherein they say
          see-questered and not suh-questered, these eggheads
          of harmony.

Wait till you hear them sing Wait Till You
          See Her. You'll take another
          look at her next time you do see her because
          great art makes us appreciate the familiar.

Love Nest in some hands could have become trite
          by now but no problem here. It's all
          as fresh as a yellow chick on spring grass
          and Sayonara to you, Charlie.

Impossible is. I mean you hear the words and
          you hear the music and speaking for the
          composers and lyricists represented herein I
          would like at this time to take off my hat
          or my whole head and bow low in gratitude.

There is one man four times. There are four men once.
But we are here in the realm of abstract physics
          because a new personality results from the
          combination of these four and it's not
          what the old arithmetic would lead us to expect.
          It's a new man from another planet. A superman,
          a wondrous monstrous creature called Hi-Lo's . . .
          See. He Walks. Let us pay him homage. He is one
          of a kind.

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