2. Only Dreaming Now
3. Painter Of Women
4. The Keeper Of Time
5. It Won't Get Better
6. Nine Pound Hammer
7. Magic Hollow
8. And I've Seen Her
9. Triangle
10. The Wolf Of Velvet Fortune
11. Old Kentucky Home
This is one of the rare bands whose existence I was completely unaware of before reading this list. Apparently, the Beaus were quite popular in their day, having 2 pretty big hits, but the only way our generation would have any idea who these bozos are is due to the ignobility of appearing in a movie featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000. For shame.
Oh, and they appeared on the Flintstones once. I'm willing to bet that they played as the Beau Rubbles. Of course, their name doesn't really need to be turned into a rock pun to be stupid, that much is obvious. You can tell these guys were riding the British Invasion boom as hard as they possibly could, despite the tragic hindrance that they were American. There's even a hilarious bit in the band's Wikipedia article where the band defends themselves from the rumor that their name choice was solely to guarantee that they would always be right behind the Beatles in the record store, which would be a hell of a promotional tool. Come on guys, it's 2011, you don't have to keep denying it.
Snark aside, this is actually a pretty good album, much better than you'd expect from the band I just described above. It seems that as soon as chart success went down south, they wisely chose to throw any commercial considerations out the window and made an album that brims with a mystical, fantastical nature.
Like so many other bands of their time, they decided to write songs that positively reek of Tolkien. Magic hollows and characters like the Painter of Women and the Keeper of Time and the Holder of the Chalice of Flatulence abound. Although the songs and lyrics are a bit cheesy at times (though I'm totally gonna steal Wolf of Velvet Fortune as a band name), the Beau Brummels manage to avoid going too far by utilizing a little known technique known in certain circles as "good songwriting". Taste is a large factor, too: It's what makes the accordion in 'Only Dreaming Now' sound good instead of sounding like it was ripped from a French stereotype's bloodied fingers.
It's not the most exciting album, to be sure, but it's a lot more memorable than Moby Grape, at any rate. Except for 'My Old Kentucky Home', which I'm convinced was put as the last track just to confuse people. 8/10
If I recall, the Beau Brummels appeared on "The Flintstones" as the unimaginatively named "Beau Brummelstones."
ReplyDeleteReally enjoying this series, Clay. Looking forward to your reviewing some albums that I actually own (you're probably about a dozen or so away).