Bradley's Barn

Beau Brummels | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 11, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 1968
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Collector's Choice
• ASIN: B00006RYJA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,892 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Bradley’s Barn was the famed studio of Nashville producer Owen Bradley, where the ’Brummels went to record this 1968 classic. And—how could it not?—the band’s country accent became even more pronounced than on Triangle, though they retained those trademark folk-rock harmonic flourishes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bradley's Barn: A Lost Classic, March 27, 2003

By 

Gavin B. (St. Louis MO) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Bradley's Barn (Audio CD)

San Francisco's Beau Brummels were amoung the first of the the American counter-invasion bands of 1965. Songs like "Laugh Laugh" and "Just A Little" were big hits and revealed an unusual mastery of harmonics and songcraft that many of "ragged but right" garage bands of the counter-invasion lacked. The Brummels, like the Byrds in L.A., were firmly imbeded in the folk rock explosion which placed an empasis on chiming guitars, minor chord progressions and haunting vocal atmospherics. It was the shimering songcraft of Ron Elliot and the Sal Valentino's expressive vocals that distinguished the Brummels for any number of Beatle wannabe bands in America in 1965.

By 1968 the Brummels were pared down from a quintet to the duo of Elliot and Valentino. In 1967, as a trio, they had recorded "Triangle" which earned the respect of the undergound rock critics but never gained a large audience. It was arguably one of the best releases of 1967, but the long shadow cast by a new wave of psychedelic bands doomed "Triangle" to the lower reaches of sales charts. "Bradley's Barn", recorded one year later was the Brummel's swansong and has become a page that was torn from the book of rock history. Elliot and Valentino went to Nashville to record the album in the famed studio named for Owen Bradley, the legendary country music producer. The excellent Nashville hired studio guns are so good they sound as if they have been members of the Brummels for years. Elliot's maturity as a songwritter shines on cuts like "Cherokee Girl", "Turn Around" and "Deep Water". There is not a single throwaway track on the entire album. Valentino's bittersweet vocals are well suited to the Brummel's new countrified context and the rough-hewn expressivness of his vocals rivals that of his peer Gene Clark of the Byrds.

This album is truly a lost classic. I have been looking for it for nearly 30 years and finally the venerable Collector's Choice label has taken the initative to reissue it. The icing on the cake is that Collector's Choice just released "Triangle" which with "Bradley's Barn" constitute the crown jewels of the Beau Brummels musical legacy. If you want to hear two of the best albums of the sixties, you will want to buy both "Triangle" and "Bradley's" which are the final two chapters in the lost history of a great band.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Beau Brummels go out in (Country) style, May 31, 2003

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bradley's Barn (Audio CD)

One thing about the Sixties was that everybody was experimenting musically and not just the Beatles. The Beau Brummels were the first rock group (they were out there before the Byrds at least) and they also dabbled seriously in psychadelia. Then in 1968 producer Lenny Waronker had the band in Nashville to record "Bradley's Barn." Actually, at this point the Beau Brummels were down to just two members, vocalist Sal Valentino and guitarist Ron Elliott. Joining them on this album were two of the finest sessions musicians in Nashville, guitarist Jerry Reed and drummer Kenneth Buttrey (both had worked with Bob Dylan). The end result is that musically the group sounded as fine as it ever had, if not better, albeit now playing country rock instead of folk/psychadelic. However credit has to be given to the songwriting as well, particularly "Turn Around," "Deep Water," and "Cherokee Girl." The only non-original song is the final track, "Bless You California" by Randy Newman. Unfortunately, this was the last album the Beau Brummels record for Warners. However, with "Bradley's Barn" and their 1967 album "Triangle," they proved themselves to be pretty good at experimenting with various musical styles. The more you listen to them, the more you might be inclined to think that the Beau Brummels are the best of the essentially forgotten Sixties groups. They are worth rediscovering.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fun "Classic", November 6, 2006

By 

T. Horsefat (Napa CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Bradley's Barn (Audio CD)

Bradley's Barn was, for years, the Holy Grail among Beau Brummels albums. Revered by critics, ignored by consumers at the time of its release, and out of print forever. That, unfortunately is the making of a "classic" in the hype sense of the word. Fortunately, this album is better than all of that. It's the kind of album the Grateful Dead may have been reaching for when they caught the "country" bug a year later. Bradley's Barn deserves to be heard and appreciated by all who enjoy Working Man's Dead and American Beauty. The lyrics are engaging without being impossibly oblique and the music is delightful, whether you are just sitting and being mentally swept away or on your feet dancing. Enjoy!!