Seemingly enough, sometime in the 70’s Carolyn and Marilyn Kelso walked into Redmon Records and recorded what just might be there only album? Maybe they did more, but I can’t find anything on them. The sisters were from Indianapolis, Indiana though.
Anyways, so the album starts with the track “Final Day” – which according to track credits was written by a Kelso, specifically T. Kelso. Father? Mother? Brother? Third sister? I may never know. And we got some upbeat piano playing, and boom the sisters come in, in-sync, like most twin albums. What is the final day you ask? Why it is the end of the world. The apocalypse. Of course though, the sisters aren’t exactly singing about the apocalypse, but they are singing about the world ending. “Final day… Final day… men will hurry to and fro trying to hide away” – frankly, that line gives me the creeps. We all know I love the song “Through It All” – and the sisters sing it, well so far one is. She’s got a good voice, I definitely prefer the solo songs. Oh, duet time. One definitely has a soprano voice, and the other has more southern gospel style voice – that’s the one I like. Not so much the opera sounding one. Next we continue with “If That Isn’t Love” and we go into the duet again, and you know I’m stuck on the big, varying difference of the sisters voices, it makes me wonder which one is which with these voices. I’d like to think Marilyn has that great big opera voice. “I’ll Never Be Lonely Again” continues this album with more duet vocals, and now it seems both girls are singing exactly the same, sometimes in the operatic voice, and sometimes in the southern gospel voice, or maybe they’re just overpowering each others vocals. We end with “King of Kings” and it seems to mostly be the opera voiced sister singing on this track, and you know it’s not a bad song, the piano playing is nice. I just can’t come to terms with the varying differences of the voices. The song itself is good though.
The B-Side starts with “Resurrection Morn” – and now they both have that southern-y type voice, and I really don’t seem to hear that particular voice, and this song isn’t all that bad. Oh, there is the voice! She does have a powerful voice to hit those high notes. “You Are The Finger of God” continues the B-Side, and it makes me wonder if it’s possible to have a specific type of voice that appeals to you, like how some people are into certain types. The song was alright. Next up is “Whispering Hope” and the first time I heard a guitar, or is it a mandolin on this one? I like that. It’s a change from the piano playing that has been on the album, which makes me wonder if one of the sisters was playing the piano? This song is really long, and slow paced. And the high notes, oh the high notes. Next up, we have “Without Him” and let’s see how the sisters compare to the legendary Richard Miller on this track, and so far, Richard still does my favorite version of this song. They do do a nice version, but not my style. “The King is Coming” comes next, and we’re back to the sisters having that southern-y voice once more, but I do hear those opera voices coming, as the King does. I do wonder still if this was the Kelso twins only album? And if it wasn’t what else did they release? But if it was, what did they do after? Where are they now?
In terms of twins, The Slye Twins are still my personal favorites.
Catalog Number:
RLP 501
Credits:
Jacket Design – J.D. Redmon
Photographs by Dick Lung
