Howard Bellamy - guitar vocals; David Bellamy - guitar, vocals; John LaFoundry - keyboards; Don Helms - bass; Juan Perez - drums; Randy Farrell - guitar; Danny Jo Jones - pedal steel
Featuring material that is absent from the other 1984 Silver Eagle recordings of the Bellamy Brothers show, this set, at LA's popular Palomino club (the second of two recorded there) is a little more rock 'n' roll and a little less country than those captured in the Midwest.
The Brothers, who were one of the few country acts to truly cross over to the Billboard Pop charts, play an interesting and enjoyable mix of more obscure tracks: "I Love It," "When I'm Away From You," "Diesel Café," and "World's Greatest Lover." The Bellamys had a strong West coast following, and the Palomino shows were a homecoming of sorts for the Florida based brothers.
The energy starts flowing when more of the crowd pleasers are pulled out, including "Strong Weakness," "Lovers Live Longer," "For All The Wrong Reasons, " "Redneck Girl" (heard here in two different versions),
"It's Hard To Be A Cowboy These Days," "Reggae Cowboy," and a rousing closer, "Rockabilly."
Howard and David Bellamy grew up in Florida, where their parents had a successful orange grove plantation. Their father was a country swing musician on the side, and the boys grew up in a musical family listening to their father's country music, their older sister's rock 'n' roll, and the calypso music that the migrant works on their parent's farm would sing while in the fields.
After attending college at the University of Florida, Howard landed a job playing organ for Percy Sledge ("When A Man Loves A Woman") and, later, Little Anthony & The Imperials. When David got out of school, the two brothers formed a soul band called Jericho, and relocated to Atlanta.
Eventually, they moved back to Florida, and one of David's songs, "Spiders & Snakes," would end up in the hands of popular country artist Jim Stafford. Stafford liked the song enough to record it, and the two brothers soon saw success when the song soared to the top of the country charts, and, eventually, number five on the pop charts. The success of "Spiders & Snakes" (also included here) got them a spot on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and brought them to the attention of the Nashville A&R brass.
The group signed with Curb Records in 1976, and the initial singles were released to little fanfare or success. Then, when a roadie for Neil Young named Larry Williams (who had been a friend of Howard's) gave them one of his songs, "Let Your Love Flow," the brothers immediately cut it.
Curb, knowing a hit when it heard one, released "Let Your Love Flow" as a single, and within a few months the Bellamy Brothers had a number-one hit on both the country and pop charts.
They would continue recording and touring but didn't see another major hit until 1979 when they wrote and recorded the massive country hit "If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body (Would You Hold It Against Me)." The title of the song, the brothers later revealed, came from Groucho Marx, who oft used it on his TV show You Bet Your Life.