Earle Mankey (sometimes misspelled “Earl” in credits) (born March 8, 1947 in Washington, USA) was a guitarist for the band Halfnelson, later called Sparks. He became a record producer, predominantly for Los Angeles area bands like The Pop, 20/20, The Runaways, Concrete Blonde, Jumpin’ Jimes, The Long Ryders, The Three O’Clock, The Conditionz, Adicts, and Kristian Hoffman. (More from Wikipedia)
The Giles Brothers later connected with the Dowland brothers in a band called the Dowland Brothers & the Soundtracks. I suppose there have been other rock bands that featured two pairs of brothers in the line-up, but one doesn’t come to mind right away. (Well, there is Sparks, originally known as Halfnelson, founded by the Mael brothers, Ron Mael and Russell Mael, and including the Mankey brothers, Earle Mankey and Jim Mankey, on their first two albums). The sound of these earliest recordings (from 1962) sound a lot like another set of brothers, the Everly Brothers. Several of these songs were produced by the legendary Joe Meek, one of the most innovative figures in early British rock music; his best known recording is the instrumental “Telstar” by the Tornados (released in December 1962), the first rock song (and only the second record, period) by a British artist to reach the top of the American charts.
About Ear Candy, the album that I have, Stephen Thomas Erlewine writing in Allmusic says: “Ear Candy qualifies as a genuine oddity in Helen Reddy’s catalog, a record that finds the queen of Australian soft rock paired with the king of L.A. sleaze, Kim Fowley, and his henchman Earle Mankey, a pair who were just coming off of the teenage kicks of the Runaways. Fowley and Mankey pushed Reddy toward unusual territory, but that doesn’t mean they lead her toward the gutter: They encouraged Reddy to write, prompting a surprising five originals on this ten-track album, let her dabble with synthesizers on the lurching ‘Long Distance Love’, and had her do a Cajun stomp with ‘Laissez Les Bon Tempts Rouler’ [French for “Let the Good Times Roll”, and a frequent slogan down here in Mardi Gras country]. . . . [W]hile there are no big hits here, there are few dull spots, and the odd moments help make this one of Reddy’s most interesting LPs.”
(January 2015/1)
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