Song of the Week: The Beau Brummels - Can It Be

The Beau Brummels hailed from the North Beach section of San Francisco where they had a residency at El Cid. But it was in San Mateo, California at the Morrocco Room where they were discovered by the owner of Autumn Records, a largely soul based label. The Beau Brummels' 1964 debut album on Autumn Records was one hell of a great debut album and their two singles from that album --  Laugh Laugh and Just A Little --both charted in the Billboard Top 10 despite Autumn Records' distribution limitations.

A year later The Beau Brummels were back in the studio to record their sophomore album, the obtusely named Volume 2. The singles from that album failed to light the world on fire, but it's a superior album to the equally cryptically named first album, Introducing. The 100% original composition album was spearheaded by guitarist and songwriter, Ron Elliot. If there is a flaw to the album it is that singer Sal Valentino doesn't sing lead on each and every song. Bassist Ron Meagher and Ron Elliot handle vocal duties on selected songs just fine, but neither is a patch on Valentino and his far ranging voice. Today we pluck a non-45rpm song from the album: Can It Be. Written by Ron Elliot, the song shows off the bands' skill at their original jangly sound that was surely an influence on The Byrds who were just taking flight at this time. 

Shortly after they recorded this album, Autumn Records was purchased by Warner Brothers who forced the band to record an album of covers. What a stupid idea. This was one of the few bands -- Rolling Stones, Byrds, and Beatles included -- that was capable of releasing full length albums of original compositions. But nope, Warner had them cover Beatles, Sonny and Cher and even do a rendition of Louie, Louie. Ugh. Damn Record company executive weenies.

Declining record sales, Ron Elliot's medical problems and the Vietnam War draft savaged the band who ceased to exist by 1969.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: "Golden Clouds", Flamin' Groovies

Listen - The Flamin' Groovies perform Golden Clouds.

San Francisco's Flamin' Groovies are one of those bands you have probably heard of, but never quite sure if you have heard them. Their albums were spotty, showing signs of brilliance right next to signs of "well, that was an interesting". Then their was the whole issue of being hard to peg in time. Some of their 70's albums sound very bluesy. Others sound like 60's power pop. Others sound like early punk. And then you add on that they had two different singers through the 70's and the Flamin Groovies brand becomes very hard to identify.

I first started poking around the periphery of the Groovies' record catalogue in the 80's. Flip-Side's Western Front Commander, Jack Hayden, and I used to take in many shows of groups like the Long Ryders, the Morlocks, and the Seahags in and around San Francisco. The Flamin Groovies' lead guitarist, Cyril Jordan was a regular at those shows, and, as he did with the Long Ryders one night at the long closed Keystone in Berkeley, he would occasionally jump on stage to perform a song. That night at the Keystone Jordon performed with the Long Ryders doing songs like the 1976 classic, Shake Some Action. Cyril Jordon later came up to me, Jack Hayden and a gal that was with us named Emily Owen and introduced himself. He was digging on our spot-on 60's look. He was a very unassuming man and high in energy. All that fueled me to look deeper at the Groovies.

My favorite song of theirs was immediately, and has remained, a song off of their self recorded debut 10"EP, Sneakers. It was recorded at San Francisco's Coast Records, the same place the Beau Brummels had churned out hits with Sly Stone at the board. The song is Golden Clouds and it opens with a buzz saw of fuzz guitar and then gives way to a bouncing Hofner bass and a beautiful warbly Telecaster playing a little Byrds like riff. Jordon's fuzz guitar remains but now recedes deep into the background. That is, until it gets to the multiple blistering leads. Frontman, Roy Loney sings with a cool understatement and gets some nice harmony support. It's just a damn cool song that I can listen to over and over again. I hope you dig it as much as we do here at Flip-Side's Rocky Mountain offices.

Have a groovie week.

Song of the Week: "Deep Water", The Beau Brummels

Listen - The Beau Brummels perform Deep Water

The Beau Brummels. I'm not sure what to make of them. Thanks to Rhino Records' reissues in the early 80s, this was one of the first 60s bands that grabbed my attention. The other two being Love and the Yardbirds. But unlike Love and The Yardbirds, I don't spin a Beau Brummels song with great frequency. Whenever I do, I always think to myself, I need to play these guys more. Well, dang it, that's what we're doing today.

The Beau Brummels were the first band to come out of San Francisco in the Beatles Mania era and did so with a huge bang. Their first single on Autumn Records was a number called Laugh, Laugh which went to No. 15 in the US charts in December of '64. They even "performed" the song on The Flintstones. They followed that up with yet another solid hit, and an even better song, Just A Little in early '65. That song peaked at an impressive No. 8. Both songs written by guitarist, Ron Elliot and both produced by a young Sly Stone.

Then, as is a common story for bands of the mid-60s that weren't called The Beatles or the Rolling Stones, The Beau Brummels began their steady decline into obscurity. That's not to say the songs declined in quality. They didn't. A switch to a new label that tried to turn them into a cover band, loss of band members to the Vietnam War, a band leader who was forced by diabetes to stop touring and the general direction of Elliot's compositions into more introspective, less pop-oriented music all led to the band becoming little more than a "where are they now" band even as they put out their best work.

In 1968, the band, now just Elliot and gifted vocalist Sal Valentino, traveled to Nashville to record what would be there final album, Bradley's Barn. It's a very good album and the standout track, in this writer's opinion, is today's SOTW: Deep Water. It's a beautifully produced song with some of Nashville's top session men (including Jerry Reed) laying down some tasty work on the Dobro, the Vibes and other untraditional pop instruments.

Enjoy.