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The Beau Brummels
Beau Brummels 66 - Warner Brothers 1966
Tracks:1 You´ve Got to Hide Your Love Away / 2. Mr Tambourine Man / 3. Louie Louie / 4. Homeward Bound / 5. These Boots Are Made For Walking / 6. Yesterday / 7. Bang Bang / 8. Hang on Sloopy / 9. Play With Fire / 10. Woman / 11. Mrs Brown You´ve Got a Lovely Daughter / 12. Monday Monday / 13 Stand Up* / 14. One Too Many Mornings* / 15. She Reigns* / 16. On the Road Again* / 17. Out of Control* / 18. God Help the Teenagers Tonight* / 19. Delilah* / 20. Here We are Again* / 21. Fine With Me* / 22. Let Me in* / 23. Candlestick Maker* / 24. Guitar Talk to Me* / 25. It Ain't no Use* / 26. She's Coming* / 27. Don't Make Promises*
Comments:
When The Beau Brummels released their third album in 1966, the group had replaced their record company Autumn with the much larger Warner Brothers. A clear step up, taken on the ground of their relatively large successes with the singles "Laugh Laugh", "Just a Little", "You Tell Me Why" and "Don't Talk to Strangers".
The fact that the group on "Beau Brummels 66" chose to exclusively include cover versions of twelve contemporary major or minor hits is incomprehensible and a huge misstep; not least considering that in Ron Elliott the group had an extremely competent and productive songwriter; outtakes, demos and non-album singles from the period confirm that songs could easily have been assembled for a solid album on a par with the first two Autumn albums. The vast majority of versions the group here provides are flat and in no way near the qualities of the originals. Although things may be fine in terms of craftsmanship, much of it seems uninspired, misguided and misunderstood. There are a few honorable exceptions. I think, for example that their version of Peter and Gordon's "Woman" is quite fine; here it gets the given number something else that also works. Their version of the crushed "Louie Louie" is also quite solid.
You have to go to the bonus numbers to find something really interesting. Here is a very nice version of Bob Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings". The number has turned into a nice melodic rocker in good line with what the group delivered on their Autumn albums. The group's second songwriter and singer, Sal Valentino, who was not as prolific as Elliott in the beginning, and perhaps did not have the same obvious talent, delivers fine numbers such as "God Help the Teenagers Tonight", "Here we Are Again" and "Let Me in”.
Good Elliott songs include "Candlestick Matches" and "Guitar Talk", while there is also a nice cover of Tim Hardin's "Don't Make Promises".
A conclusion of the original album must be that it should never have been released. The group were also "punished" for this, in that it never regained its popularity, even though two very solid albums followed in 1967 and 1968.
The bonus tracks can be found on the boxset version of the album; possibly other places, too.
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