features in: Album Chart of 1967 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1960s ● 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die  |
Their 4th LP “Triangle” gave me my first collection of Beau Brummels songs since “Laugh, Laugh”, their poppy debut single from back in ’64, which was included on the 1998 reissue of “Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968”. I must say, “Triangle” exceeded my expectations; they seem way cooler in ’67.
The set features high quality song writing, where psychedelia meets folk rock. “Painter Of Women”, my favourite track on the album, came from the pen of the group’s main writer, Ron Elliott, who also plays sings, plays guitar and arranges the material. It was co-written by a frequent collaborator, Bob Durand. Equally strong are “Magic Hollow” and “The Wolf Of Velvet Fortune”. Linking these pieces, commentators have noted that: “in contrast with the band’s generally straightforward recordings previously for the Autumn label, Triangle’s lyrics are more abstract, containing Tolkienesque fantasy elements and dream-like characters”.
Speaking of the LP, key group member Sal Valentino said it was partially inspired by several day trips he took to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, a fine art museum in San Francisco. He admired the collection of 17th century Flemish portraits and landscape paintings at the museum, from which dark yet incandescent hues emanated.
Ron Elliott described the album as a “mythological cartoon about love written from some weird spaces”, and explained it as “sort of a mood swing into the world that was around us at the time. It was sort of dissolving into this drug culture. So the music became very ethereal, mystic, and mysterious”.
The Jukebox Rebel
17–Nov–2015
| Tracklist |
| A1 | [02:17]  The Beau Brummels - Are You Happy? (Bob Durand, Ron Elliott) Folk Rock / Americana |
| A2 | [02:06]  The Beau Brummels - Only Dreaming Now (Ron Elliott, Sal Valentino) Psychedelia |
| A3 | [02:51]  The Beau Brummels - Painter Of Women (Bob Durand, Ron Elliott) Folk Rock / Americana |
| A4 | [02:09]  The Beau Brummels - The Keeper Of Time (Bob Durand, Ron Elliott) Folk Rock / Americana |
| A5 | [02:02]  The Beau Brummels - It Won’t Get Better (Ron Elliott, Sal Valentino) Cerebral Pop |
| A6 | [03:19]  The Beau Brummels - Nine Pound Hammer (Merle Travis) Folk Rock / Americana |
| B1 | [02:53]  The Beau Brummels - Magic Hollow (Ron Elliott, Sal Valentino) Psychedelia |
| B2 | [01:59]  The Beau Brummels - And I’ve Seen Her (Bob Durand, Ron Elliott) Folk Rock / Americana |
| B3 | [02:17] The Beau Brummels - Triangle (Ron Elliott, Sal Valentino) Cerebral Pop |
| B4 | [04:52]  The Beau Brummels - The Wolf Of Velvet Fortune (Ron Elliott, Sal Valentino) Psychedelia |
| B5 | [02:05]  The Beau Brummels - Old Kentucky Home (Randy Newman) Folk Rock / Americana |
