THE BEAU BRUMMELS: THE BEAU BRUMMELS (1975)
1) You Tell Me Why; 2) First
In Line; 3) Wolf; 4) Down To The Bottom; 5) Tennessee Walker; 6) Singing
Cowboy; 7) Goldrush; 8) The Lonely Side; 9) Gate Of Hearts; 10) Today By Day.
If there is a real reason why the Beau Brummels
decided to make a comeback in 1974, I am almost afraid to spell it out. They
should have taken their clue from the original Byrds, who had already performed
the trick one year earlier and, much to their surprise, discovered that most
people couldn't care less about whether Crosby and McGuinn were generating
their vibes together or separately. If the mighty Byrds couldn't do it, how
could the not-so-mighty Beau Brummels stand a ghost of a chance?
They couldn't, but, for some reason, they still
thought they could — had they reformed just for the fun of being together once
again, they probably wouldn't have scattered in different directions as soon as
the reunion album predictably flopped. Predictably, because in 1975, the
Brummels' folk-/country-pop sound was either concentrated in the hands of
«seriously charismatic» singer-songwriters, or mixed with a generic rock bottom
to generate hits à la America.
Elliott and Valentino refused to go either way — and gave us an album that
basically picked up exactly from where Bradley's
Barn left off. No matter how experienced the experience, you could never reliably
tell that these songs were recorded in 1975.
The songs do not only sound timeless — they
sound quite lovely. The entire atmosphere of Bradley's Barn, its mix of country-pop arrangements and folk
melodicity, is carefully preserved, and Valentino has not lost one ounce of the
confidence he so admirably gained in 1968. The overall mood is a little
heavier, and there is a higher percentage of dark, depressed numbers (ʽDown To
The Bottomʼ, ʽWolfʼ, ʽGoldrushʼ, etc.), but that's one thing to be expected
from the post-hippie era, and a little extra darkness never hurt anyone anyway
— and, besides, the Brummels were well adapted to darkness ever since the
lamenting intonations of ʽLaugh, Laughʼ.
The main problem, however, remains the same —
most of these songs are eminently forgettable. Seven years of
better-things-to-do had not produced any miracles: Elliott's songwriting skills
are still mediocre, the band's playing has not improved, and the whole
experience never for a single moment pushes anywhere beyond «nice». Perhaps
they felt it too — or else why would they feel the need to re-record ʽYou Tell
Me Whyʼ, a ten-year old single? (It's a fine re-recording, by the way,
preserving all the hooks of the original and piling some new guitar flourishes
on top — but it only makes the rest pale further by comparison).
ʽDown To The Bottomʼ was released as the lead
single — a good choice, since the song's grimness, pessimism, and accompanying
high-pitched, shrill electric guitar solos (courtesy of guest star Ronnie
Montrose) do make it a standout of sorts. But this isn't Pink Floyd, and few
people would want to be lectured on the misery issue by a band as lightweight
as the Beau Brummels. Nor would anyone feel the urge to sit up and listen as
the feeble, delicate chords of ʽWolfʼ ring out in soft-rock mode, no matter how
much they try to transform the "...crying wolf!" chorus into a
catchpoint.
Every other song only seems to reinforce my
point — the Beau Brummels' principal flaw is that you never know when their subtlety slides into weakness. Yes, these songs have
potential, but the energy level is comparable to that of an activist two weeks
into a hunger strike: even the frickin' drums sound like someone was much too
afraid of breaking a drumstick. I mean, Joni Mitchell playing solo acoustic —
at her best, that is — could produce more damn energy than this whole
supposedly «rock» band.
For all of its niceties, I give the record a
shaky thumbs up,
but intentionally hunting for it is a waste of time unless your hobby is to
build up a complete collection of 1970s country rock — an occupation that I'd
find about as exciting as collecting matchboxes or bumper stickers, but hey, that's
just an opinion.
Their generic nature could have worked wonders in their favor, with just a bit more effort. They could have made it big on the soft rock market, simply by changing their name (no sense using a name that was already consigned to the deepest depths of oblivion) and grabbing a potential hit single from the demo vaults at Nashville. A bit of radio promotion, and voila! Another in the long line of one or two hit 70's soft rock wonders, a la Firefall/Pure Prairie League, etc.
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