The second of two Bottom Line concerts captured for the King Biscuit Flower Hour, this show was recorded when the much-ballyhooed Alessi Brothers were poised to break through to the global music-fan masses. They never quite made it, but they did make some enjoyable and popular music during this time, and built a loyal cult audience that eventually took their sales into platinum status.
This show, like the early one also taped on February 25th, 1978, may not have won over any critics but the fans loved it, and it gave the Alessi Brothers a massive international radio audience, as it…entire summary
Bobby Alessi - vocals, keyboards
Billy Alessi - vocals, guitar
Jimmy Rippentone - lead guitar
Rafael Goldfeld - bass
Bob Riley - drums
Adam Ippolitto - keyboards, vocals
Dana Krall - vocals, percussion
Carlos Rodriguez - congas, percussion
The second of two Bottom Line concerts captured for the King Biscuit Flower Hour, this show was recorded when the much-ballyhooed Alessi Brothers were poised to break through to the global music-fan masses. They never quite made it, but they did make some enjoyable and popular music during this time, and built a loyal cult audience that eventually took their sales into platinum status.
This show, like the early one also taped on February 25th, 1978, may not have won over any critics but the fans loved it, and it gave the Alessi Brothers a massive international radio audience, as it was heard on over 600 stations. The brothers, Billy and Bobby, never became massive household names during their heyday as pop stars, but they did manage to sell over eight million records between their initial band (Barnaby Bye) and a number of their own albums on A&M Records and Quincy Jones' Warner Brothers imprint, Quest.
The band had a #7 hit in 1977 in England with a song called "Oh Lori," which failed to chart in the U.S., although five years later they reached #71 with a different song, entitled "Put Away Your Love." So, they were one-hit wonders on both sides of the pond, though they did it with two different songs.
Good looking and vocally in sync with each other (as many siblings are), they provided a bubble-gum brand of pop that, because of their good musicianship, often slipped into light jazz. Most of time, they were derivative of Hall & Oates, although neither of the brothers could sing as well as Daryl Hall. Although they did a lot of session work as back-up singers (including one track for John Lennon's Double Fantasy LP), they eventually became better known in the music industry as arrangers, working with both Elton John and Paul McCartney.
The two brothers had a loyal but small cult audience through the late-'70s and early-'80s, but eventually turned their focus to advertising jingle work. They have written and recorded popular national jingles for Diet Coke, Ford, Twix, and Slim Fast.
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