THE BEAU BRUMMELS: VOL. 2 (1965)
1) You Tell Me Why; 2) I Want
You; 3) Doesn't Matter; 4) That's Alright; 5) Sometime At Night; 6) Can It Be;
7) Sad Little Girl; 8) Woman; 9) Don't Talk To Strangers; 10) I've Never Known;
11) When It Comes To Your Love; 12) In Good Time.
Ouch, bad mistake. Instead of trying to
capitalize on their personal strengths — the mournful vibe of ʽLaugh Laughʼ,
for instance — The Beau Brummels, completely seduced by and envious of the
success of the Byrds, decided to adjust their sound to the standards set by
McGuinn and Co. The results were not so much «bad» as they were disastrous.
Perhaps in simple terms of «hooks», Ron Elliott could stand some competition
with Gene Clark (although even here the bands were at a serious disadvantage —
the Byrds had at least three accomplished songwriters, the Brummels only had
one). But in terms of everything else — instrumentation, technicality,
arrangements, unexpected sources of inspiration, etc. — the band did not stand
a chance; and if there ever was a moment in their career when the term «poor
man's Byrds» could be appropriate, it was right here.
The two lead singles, ʽYou Tell Me Whyʼ and
ʽDon't Talk To Strangersʼ, are two lovely little folk-pop creations that both succeeded
in hitting the charts, but both — particularly the latter, with its jangly
melody and the lead singer's (subconscious?) imitation of Roger McGuinn's
phrasing — are only enjoyable to a full extent if your experience has not been
previously tampered with Mr. Tambourine
Man (and Turn! Turn! Turn!,
although the latter, to be fair, was only released after the Brummels' second
album). The vocal harmonies are lovely, but the guitar sound is so thin and
wimpy that the songs just don't seem capable of being hammered into your brain
with the proper energy (unlike the Byrds, where every final pluck of McGuinn's
and Crosby's guitars was always delivered with perfect self-assurance — at
least that's what my intuitive feelings are whispering at the moment).
Tracks that are less obviously «byrdsey» turn
out to be more impressive at the end of the day. The real major highlight is
probably ʽSad Little Girlʼ, a melancholic mid-tempo ballad with a highly
repetitive structure whose main point of attraction is a subtly arranged
crescendo: considering the band's relatively low instrumental skills and
relatively poor instrumental inventory, they do a great job adding layer after
layer of guitars, percussion, harmonicas, and vocal harmonies, and eventually
transform the song into a mini-anthem.
Another unexpected highlight, for me, is
ʽWomanʼ, a fast R'n'B number that they first recorded in a fully vocalized arrangement
(the «lyrical» version can be found as a bonus track on the CD edition), but
then decided instead to include in an instrumental version, with acoustic and
electric guitars taking turns to mimic the vocal melody. The results are cute,
funny, and somewhat atypical for the era (not a lot of people were interested
in working out acoustic leads for electric rockers) — atypical for the
Brummels themselves, in fact, but that might be all for the better, considering
that «typical Brummels» for this album means «let's do it like the Byrds do, as
best we can».
There are no real in-yer-face embarrassments on
the album — most of these folk-poppers and «soft-garage-rockers» have their
moments, but they hardly deserve individual descriptions. It does not help, either,
that the subject matters of the songs remain slight and formulaic — it's all in
the traditional love-my-girl ballpark, with the exception of ʽDon't Talk To
Strangersʼ, which tries to deliver a message ("follow your own beaten
path, wander where you can't be grabbed"), but not very convincingly or
effectively.
All in all, it's a nice little album, but the
train was running speedy in late '65, and Vol.
2 failed to catch it, forever grounding the Brummels in the losers' lounge:
while their story was far from over, and the stock of creative energy would
still be enough to carry them through the psychedelic years, this sophomore
semi-success (certainly not a «sophomore slump» — the album deserves a
friendly thumbs
up in any case) forever buried any hopes of the band joining the big
league, which may not seem like a big deal in our indie-soaked days, but
certainly was a big deal back in the
old days, and explains the oblivion into which the Brummels had sunk before
being dragged out by the ears by the likes of Richie Unterberger, along with
their many pals and competitors.
Check "Vol. 2" (MP3) on Amazon
George, I enjoyed your review. I think the band's appearance as characters on the US cartoon "The Flintstones" forever buried any hopes of The Beau Brummels joining the big league. I can't imagine any serious, self-respecting beat group allowing themselves to be portrayed in that manner.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't disagree more. This is my personal favorite Brummels album. Love the mopey folk rock feel,similar to the Blue Things LP. Matter of Taste.
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