Brother & Sister

The Illinois brother-sister contemporary folk duo of Chuck & Mary Perrin recorded their debut album as a privately pressed LP, with a run of 500 copies. As was common for private pressings in those days, the production was basic, with just guitar and voice (with the exception of "To a Better Life," which has a minimal folk-rock arrangement with light percussion). But the sound was clear and spacious, and the music was pretty good close-harmony folk, somewhat reminiscent of a more naïve Ian & Sylvia or Stone Poneys. Though there's no rock instrumentation, it's far more folk-rock in inclination than it is traditional folk, both in the singing and the material, whether original or covers of songs by the Lovin' Spoonful, Eric Andersen, Donovan, and Ian & Sylvia themselves. The close harmonies have a nice slightly sad, bittersweet flavor, and Chuck Perrin's songwriting (whether working alone or in collaboration with others) has that mid- to late-'60s combination of romantic optimism and wary introspection. Though there's a slight callowness that keeps it from reaching a major-league level, it's a nice and attractive record, recommended to '60s folk-rock fans in the mood for the gentlest, most unplugged side of that genre. It's also better than their full-band, more soft rockish second LP, Next of Kin (recorded a year later). Both of those albums were combined onto one single-CD reissue, The Last Word, which also has a couple of songs that appeared on the 1970 various-artists compilation The Peoria Folk Anthology, Vol. 3. ~ Richie Unterberger