THE BEAU BRUMMELS – Bradley’s Barn – (Warner Brothers) – 1968

The Beau Brummels are a bit of a cause célèbre for fans of 60s US rock. They had a number of hits, made some great records but are largely forgotten by contemporary audiences. This is a pity because when they were good they were great, and arguably they were one of the best groups of the 60s, on either side of the Atlantic.

Allmusic: "While they only had two big hits, the Beau Brummels were one of the most important and underrated American groups of the 1960s. They were the first U.S. unit of any sort to successfully respond to the British Invasion. They were arguably the first folk-rock group, even predating the Byrds, and also anticipated some key elements of the San Francisco psychedelic sound with their soaring harmonies and exuberant melodies. Before they finally reached the end of the string, they were also among the first bands to record country-rock in the late '60s".

By the time of this album's recording The Beau Brummels had been reduced to two: Sal Valentino on vocals and Ron Elliott on guitars. But that doesn't matter as they were always the nucleus of the Beau Brummels and here they have lined up some of the greatest session men of the time to join them.

"Bradley's Barn" is also their exploration of country music in a rock setting, and, at that, it's quite early in the trend … it would be another year before it became truly fashionable to inject country attitude and mood into rock tunes. Perhaps this was a natural progression from their folky, jangly mid-60s sounds or perhaps they were influenced by Gram Parson's experiments with The Byrds on "Sweethearts of the Rodeo" (though admittedly the Brummels had some small country influences on their preceding mini masterpiece of an album, 1967s "Triangle"), but either way they packed up and headed to Nashville and recorded this in Owen Bradley's studio (hence "Bradley's Barn") which had recorded many country acts as well as crossover acts like Ian & Sylvia and Bob Dylan.

Assisting them are the aforesaid greatest session men of the time, all from Nashville where if you weren't better than good you would starve. Jerry Reed on guitar (yup that Jerry Reed who would go on to become a solo country star in his own right and wrote "Guitar Man" and "Tupelo Mississippi Flash"), Wayne Moss, Harold Bradley, and Billy Sanford also on guitars, Norbert Putnam on bass, David Briggs on keyboards and Kenny Buttrey on drums.

By way of a "he is everywhere side note": Reed, Bradley, Putnam, Briggs and Buttrey had all played on various Elvis session in the 60s and into the 70s.

Elliott and Valentino (California born and bred) wrote all but one of the songs solely or together and  have managed a very contemporary (1968) country sound with a twist. It's not Nashville and it's not authentic country like Parson's was injecting into The Byrds. It is country by a west coast rock/pop act, specifically San Franciscan, and it channels Bob Dylan as well as a less hoarse, more tuneful Lee Hazlewood. As far as I am concerned, that can't be a bad thing.

That said, the album is nowhere near as country-ish as I thought it would be as there are none of the usual country instruments: no fiddles, pedal steel guitars etc. It is basically a stripped down, roots album with an emphasis on country-pop or country-folk rather than country-rock.

Cleanly produced by Lenny Waronker who also produced the "Triangle" LP the album is easy on the ears and creates a rather world weary, slightly cynical mood across both sides. The only fault is perhaps that, despite the abundance of good songs, there is no one classic track on the album. Some come close though.

Tracks (best in italics)

• Turn Around – a perfect start to the album – a good song which is not quite country rock but rather rock with country overtones

• An Added Attraction

• Deep Water- cosmic country or country soul …

• Long Walking Down to Misery- a very Lee Hazlewood tune

• Little Bird

• Cherokee Girl – again country out of left field and especially well sung.

• I'm a Sleeper

• Loneliest Man in Town – a country theme if there ever was one.

• Love Can Fall a Long Way Down – more Lee Hazlewood channelling and a great song.

• Jessica

• Bless You California – the only non-original, a song by Randy Newman … and unsurprisingly very "Newman quirky".

Sounds

Turn Around

Reviews

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley%27s_Barn

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:diftxql5ldae

Bio

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kifrxqw5ldse~T1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beau_brummels

Website

http://www.beaubrummels.com/

(originally posted: 20/12/2009)