Gino Vannelli

Brother to Brother is the sixth studio album by Canadian singer Gino Vannelli. The album was released in 1978. The album featured "I Just Wanna Stop", Gino's highest-charting single to date in both the US and Canada, where the single reached #4 and #1 respectively, as well as the singles "Wheels of Life" and "The River Must Flow".

Crazy Life was Gino Vannelli’s debut album for A&M. Word has it that Gino, frustrated with being unable to secure a record deal in Los Angeles, hung out early in the morning at A&M’s lot and waited for someone of importance to show up. When a startled Herb Alpert encountered Vannelli in the parking lot, he agreed to an audition, signed Vannelli, and produced the debut album. Crazy Life was the gamble that A&M took on this relatively unknown talent, one that would pay off in future years with hits like "People Gotta Move" and "I Just Wanna Stop" for A&M.
Looking back on much of Gino’s mid-era A&M output, Crazy Life actually sounds less dated than many of his other albums. All the elements were there in the beginning: jazz inflections, "pop" vocals about love and relationships…

Between 1981 and 1985, the music industry was rocked by the emergence of MTV, which rewrote the rules of success while bringing the new wave crashing into the American mainstream. All veterans had to find a way to come to terms with the new music and the new presentation, whether it was embracing it or scorning it. Gino Vannelli embraced it, accepting it as the way things were now done…

The stories that Gino tells in this work, his 14th album, seem to be clearly reflective of life experiences of an "inconsolable". Gino looks deeply into the mirror at his own reflection, and that of the culture he lives in, critically relfects on what he sees, and lyrically and musically expresses his insights.

This release from the BGO label combines two of Gino Vannelli's albums for A&M, Powerful People (1974) and Storm at Sunup (1975). Both releases peaked in the Top 60 of the Billboard 200, while “People Gotta Move” – the lead song on the former – was one of Vannelli’s biggest singles and narrowly missed the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. Those who pick up a well-chosen Vannelli compilation can get the essential songs, but soft rock diehards can obtain a fair amount of Vannelli’s choice album-bound material right here.

Gino Vannelli is one of the few artists to effortlessly navigate between pop and R&B. With the songs "Walking," "The Surest Things Can Change," and his 1978 classic "I Just Wanna Stop," Vannelli's work is always filled with both skill and passion. After six successful years at A&M he signed with Arista in 1981. Nightwalker is his label debut. During the three years between albums, not only did pop music come into vogue again, but he grew as a writer and singer. This album reflects the change. The dramatic title track has him singing overripe lyrics like "I can't live in this world without love, without you." The powerful "Put the Weight on My Shoulders" has him doing some good vocal riffs…