The Cate Brothers
Band members Related acts
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- Earl Cate - vocals, guitar - Ernie Cate -
vocals, keyboards
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- none known
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Genre: rock Rating: **** (4 stars) Title: The Cate Brothers Company: Asylum Catalog: 7E-1050 Year: 1975 Country/State: Fayetteville, Arkansas Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: -- Available: 2 Catalog ID: Price: $8.00 Cost: $66.00
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Timing and plain old fashioned luck seem to be of the ingredients that routinely make or break musicians. Unfortunately, over a five year career, twin brothers Earl and Ernie Cate haven't had all that much of either.
Born and raised in Fayetteville, Arkansas, The Cates started their professional musical careers as members of The Dell-Rays. By the mid-1970s they'd decided to strike out on their own and at the suggestion of then manager Ron Stone, the brothers headed for Los Angeles.
Signed by Asylum Records, 1975's cleverly-titled "The Cate Brothers" teamed the brothers with producer Steve Cropper and an all star cast of sessions players including Donald 'Duck' Dunn, Levon Helm and Timothy B. Schmidt. Featuring all original material, the album offered up a wonderful mix of blues, country, rock and blue-eyed soul. Yeah, that's a pretty lame description, but propelled by the brothers' gutsy voices you just have to hear something like 'Union Man' or 'I Just Wanna Sing' to understand how well they mix the genres. Asylum quickly released a pair of singles; both which went top-40:
- 1975's 'Union Man' b/w 'Easy Way Out' (Asylum catalog number 45294) - 1976's 'Can't Change My Heart' b/w '' (Asylum catalog number)
The singles and a series of tours opening for acts like The Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac and Boz Scaggs generated considerable publicity, leading to slots on American Bandstand and The Midnight Special.
"The Cate Brothers" track listing:
1.) Time For Us - 3:51 2.) Union Man - 4:48 3.) Standin' On a Mountain Top - 4:16 4.) Always Waiting - 3:11 5.) When Love Comes - 3:53
(side
2) 2.) Can't Change My Heart = 2:48 3.) Easy Way Out - 3:53 4.) Lady Luck - 4:54 5.) Livin' On Dreams - 3:43
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Genre: rock Rating: *** (3 stars) Title: In One Eye and Out the Other Company: Asylum Catalog: 7E-1078 Year: 1976 Country/State: Fayetteville, Arkansas Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: sealed copy Available: 1 Catalog ID: 1912 Price: $12.00
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1976's "In One
Eye and Out the Other" continued The Cate Brothers'
partnership with the great r Steve Cropper sitting in the producer's chair. Like the debut, their
sophomore set offered up a mixture of blue-eyed soul and no-frills roots
rock. Brothers Earl and Ernie Cate remained first rate singers,
gifted with the kind of voices that were perfect for Stax, or Motown-styled
soul. Those talents were aptly displayed throughout the
set. Admittedly, song for song the album wasn't nearly as
impressive as their self titled debut, but the Cates were undoubtedly one of
the most talented groups out there. As good as the material was,
musically tunes like the title tune, 'Travelin'', and the percolating 'Give It All To You'
were a million miles away from what top-40
radio was playing at the time. Without a shadow of disco, or
vapid pop in the grooves, sadly that guaranteed the album would vanish without a trace.
"In One Eye and Out the Other" track listing:
1.) Start All Over Again (Ernie Cate - Earl Cate) - 3:52 Decent enough Memphis-soul styled number with some glistening harmonies. There's just something missing to give the tune that added X factor. rating: *** stars 2.) In One Eye and Out the Other (Ernie Cate - Earl Cate - Stev Cropper) - 4:08 If you ever wonder whether The Cates could get funk, then check out the title track. One of those tunes that should have been a massive hit. YouTube has a clip showing them performing the tune on the UK Top of the Pops television show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHhwAwqSP5k rating: **** stars 3.) Can't Stop (Ernie Cate - Earl Cate) - 5:05 No idea if it was Earl, or Steve Cropper on lead guitar, but 'Can't Stop' was a surprisingly touching ballad. With a glistening melody it may not have been my favorite tune (too sappy for my tastes), but it nice to see they could churn out a radio-friendly ballad. rating: *** stars 4.) Stuck In Chicago (Ernie Cate - Earl Cate) - 2:58 This was more like it - bluesy tale of regret and lost chances. 5.) Travelin' Man (Ernie Cate - Earl Cate) - 4:49 With a bouncy melody and Earl's gritty voice, 'Travelin' Man' was one of the album's highlights. rating: **** stars
(side
2) With the brothers alternating lead vocals, 'Give It All To You' was another stab at getting down and funky. Wonderful example of the brothers at their most impressive. rating: **** stars 2.) Music Making Machine (Ernie Cate - Earl Cate) - 6:29 Another beautiful ballad. rating: *** stars 3.) Let's Just Let It Be (Ernie Cate - Earl Cate) - 3:26 Another ballad that was salvaged by the song's blue-eyed soul edge. rating: *** stars 4.) I Don't Want Nobody (Standing Over Me) (Ernie Cate - Earl Cate) - 4:00 One of their prettiest ballads ... rating: **** stars 5.) Where Can We Go (Ernie Cate - Earl Cate) - 4:19 I've always thought The Cates were at their best when doing upbeat, rockers and 'Where Can We Go' seems to underscore that contention. Asylum marketing seemingly agreed, tapping the tune as the single:
- 1976's 'Where Can We Go' b/w 'Start All Over Again' (Asylum catalog E--45370) YouTube has another Top of the Pops clip for this tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vJwxfIklJs rating: **** stars
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