Search - Beau Brummels :: Beau Brummels - Greatest Hits

A second level collection of hits by the Beau Brummels

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 12/28/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Beau Brummels deserve the credit for being the first folk-rock group; their debut album came out in 1965 before the Byrds (the obvious candidate) ever hit the charts and made the big splash that everybody remembers. Although their name sounded British, the Beau Brummels were not an English group; the name had to do with New York City dandies (check out "The Gangs of New York"), but it sounded English to a lot of Americans and that gave them a certain degree of cache early on, even though the Brummesl were the first group to emerge from the San Francisco Bay area music scene. Unfortunately, they were recording with Autumn, a minor label and while their albums were as good as what the Byrds were putting out, even covering a lot of the same ground musically, their impacts were decidedly different.



One of the few groups to make any headway against the British invasion, the Beau Brummels featured the talents of guitarist/songwriter Ron Elliott and singer Sal Valentino, with a tip of the hat to Sly Stewart (a.k.a. Sly Stone) who produced their early work (Ron Meagher played bass guitar for the group). The best songs from that early period would be are "Laugh Laugh" (#15), "Still in Love With You Baby," "Just a Little" (#8), and "Don't Talk to Strangers," all of which offer catchy melodies and great harmonies. When they switched labels to Warner Bros. in the mid-Sixties they turned a bit more towards psychedelia, and the group's final period explored country rock on their exquisite "Bradley's Barn" album. So be prepared to hunt down some of those albums after listening to this sampling of the Beau Brummel's hits.



So, while you get all three major stages in the musical career of the Beau Brummels, but in terms of offering the group's "Greatest Hits" this album falls short: you only get a dozen tracks and there is another collection out there with 18 tracks (although neither album has "Turn Around" on it). My contention is that the Beau Brummels are the best "forgotten" group of the Sixties, with the Overlanders a close second. I even think they are (gasp!) better than the Byrds and even if you do not agree with that radical reinterpretation of the text I still believe you are not going to be disappointed in picking up this collection. Make sure it is this one with 18 tracks and not one of the other hits collections with a lot less tracks."

Wrong version of one of their biggest hits!

R. Miller | North Vancouver, British Columbia Canada | 04/27/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I cannot recommend this collection as it contains a weak, alternate version of one of their two biggest hits: Just A Little. There is good music within but there are better Beau Brummels compilations available such as: The Best of the Beau Brummels: Golden Archive Series."