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Underapreciated gem

Paul E. Geigle | 09/19/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"this 1975 recording gem is a must buy for all beau brummel fans. i personally own 2 copies of the original lp and 2 copies of the 45 rpm single release, "Tell me why", from the Warner Bros.1975 album. this is the opening track on the c.d. and is a remake of the 1965 recording from a "B"side of one their original vinyl 45's. this version blows away the original recording and is worth the purchase price alone to own it! Ron Elliott, lead guitarist and author of the song, adds some string arrangements to this version along with his acoustic guitar chords. Sal Valentino ,in fine singing form, performs masterfully with that unique voice of his. this simply is one the underated songs in the history of pop music. all original five members of the beau brummels were in the studio for this recording in 1974, even bass guitarist, Declan Mulligan. however, he could not tour with the group to promote this album and returned to the his home in the U.K. later in 1975. i can't tell you how exciting it was to finally have this album released as a c.d. other gems on this classic disc you're going to love are the tracks: "Goldrush", "Singing Cowboy" and "Down to the bottom". great stuff from one of the truly magnificent west coast bands of that musical era."

Fine 1975 reunion album from 1960s legends

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 04/05/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After helping usher folk-rock onto the pop charts during their 1960s run on San Francisco's Autumn records, and branching out more experimentally on albums for Warner Brothers, the Beau Brummels finally came apart in the wake of 1968's Bradley's Barn. This reunion session, recorded in 1974 and released the following year, is a surprisingly fine album, avoiding the temptation to wallow in nostalgia and also the inclination to fully contemporize the band's sound. Which isn't to say that the group didn't update their music; the engineering is very clean, the arrangements lightly softened, and some of the guitars adopt a then-contemporary tone, but the core of the band's ethos is still heard: Ron Elliot wrote a strong album, Sal Valentino's vocals retained their emotional quiver and the group's complex harmonies, missing on their last few albums, were as fetching as ever. This isn't the raw invention of their earlier work, but the group's artistic spark was still very much alive. The 1970s touches are light enough to keep this an earnest progression of the band's original ideas, but different enough to signal something more than a rehash for cash. The country influences with which the group ended the first part of their career (recording for Owen Bradley in Nashville) can be heard in several songs, but the album also succeeds with ballads and mid-tempo rock. It's a shame the reunion lasted for only one LP, as it's clear the group transitioned the magic of their mid-60s roots to music relevant in the mid-70s. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]"