The Beau Brummels 1967 ‘45s’ augured well for their next album, revealing their more creative side with Long Walking Down to Misery returning to the group’s true roots, country and Magic Hollow exposing a psychedelic face. 2 Days ‘Til Tomorrow is a big production ballad, a bit overwrought for me, but with nice multi-part vocal harmonies. Sure enough, having relocated to Los Angeles the group recorded their finest work Triangle (1967). This hybrid of folk, country and psych is reviewed below. Alec Palao described their music as “haunting, complex and deeply innovative” and also noted that the group played a big part in the musical eclecticism associated with the late 60s’ San Francisco scene, contributing to the emergence of folk rock as a music form. I would add that Sal Valentino had one of the sixties most distinctive ‘vibrato ’male voices.
Their Triangle album, released in July, 1967, may well have been the summit of their achievements. Given its lack of commercial success, barely scraping into the US top 200, and not registering at all in the UK (where the group was virtually unknown), and its 26-minute length, it is perhaps surprising that ‘Triangle’ is an entry in ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die’. However, the album illustrated the progress they had made in refining their sound from two-minute ‘hit and run’ music (Ron Elliott was the main songwriter) and early reputation as a covers band to incorporating more complexity in arrangements that included strings, accordion and harpsichord. Two things were particularly notable: Valentino’s vocals had become more nasal and blended nicely with what has been described as the eeriness of the arrangements. Second was the participation of Beach Boys’ collaborator, Van Dyke Parks on songs like Magic Hollow.
The circumstances of the album’s release were challenging: Irving (who had been drafted and returned to music later to join Harper’s Bizarre) and Petersen had left and they were reduced to a trio supplemented by musicians that included guitarist James Burton, bassist Carol Kaye and drummer Jim Gordon. To make matters worse Ron Meagher was also called up to the army reserves during the album’s recording. For me it was The Beau Brummels first album to nearly realise their true potential (I still feel they might have achieved more) and to include mostly original songs written by Valentino and Elliott. The other striking thing is that it was presented almost as a concept album (“a ruminative dream cycle” said The All Music Guide) with its abstract, impressionistic lyrics and fantasy and mystical characters as described on the sleeve notes of the LP. It has a flow and enough variation in style and instrumentation to work, and its concise length is probably an advantage for there is little in the way of what could be described as ‘filler’! There are, inevitably, standouts on the album (aside from Magic Hollow) such as my personal favourite Painter of Women, which features a confident vocal performance by Valentino and some effective brass work; The Wolf of Velvet Fortune, the longest and most ambitious piece and Only Dreaming Now with its jangly guitars and use of accordion to portray a gypsy feel to the music.
Sal Valentino told Shindig magazine that “the closest we came to the psychedelic scene was Triangle. Ron Elliott once 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.” It should be noted that Elliott co-wrote four of the songs with Bob Durand, a frequent collaborator with Elliott, and that only two covers were used (strong ones at that) of Merle Travis’s Nine Pound Hammer and Randy Newman’s Old Kentucky Home.
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