Customer Reviews

Introducing

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This is the debut album of the semi-legendary pop group. It contains their two major hits, "Laugh Laugh" and "Just a Little". Of course, these songs are great, but there are some other good songs here too. "Still in Love With You Baby" is the best of the "other" songs here. It's great and deserved to be a hit in it's own right. Guitarist Ron Elliott wrote 10 of the 12 songs on the album, most of which are very good. Amazingly enough, in the liner notes he says he didn't even particularly like rock music! Well, for someone who didn't like rock music, he was pretty good at writing rock songs. Fans of 60s pop rock should enjoy this CD.

The Beau Brummmels' 1965 debut-album contains to band two biggest hit-singles "Laugh Laugh" and "Just a Little" both of which are still great listening. Their early music was greatly inspired by the Beatles but also by some of their American contemporaries like the Lovin Spoonful. In fact one of their other 1965 singles "Good Time Music" was written by John Sebastian of the Lovin Spoonful. Great to find this fine song among the bonus-tracks.

The music on the original album was mostly written by guitarist Ron Elliott, and he was obviously a fine songwriter. Besides the two hits, catchy songs like "Stick Like Glue" and "Not Too Long Ago" stand out. Also their cover of "Oh, Lonesome Me" is fine - sounds a little like the Everly Brothers.

Occasionally their vocal harmonies sound a little odd - especially on a couple of the bonus-tracks which are mostly demos or weaker versions of the album-tracks. On the other hand besides "Good Time Music" some of the bonus-tracks are actually quite good. Elliott's "Gentle Wandering Ways" and "I'll Tell You" are fine recordings - also lead-singer Sal Valentino's "It's So Nice" is good.

Nice 8-pages booklet with a fine biography witten by Chris Welch.

Wow, what a criminally underrated band! I bought the Rhino collection some time ago and loved everything on it. After being dissuaded by other reviewers against the Magic Hollow Box set, I took someone's advice and began purchasing seperate discs. So far, I love Introducing best.

I have to be honest; before I found out they were from San Francisco, I really believed they might be British. This album doesn't do much to dissuade that fact, but that is in no way an insult. This album is simply chock-full of great material without a reject in the bunch. Aside from obvious hits such as "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just a Little," I can't understand why such a fabulously catchy song like "Still in Love with You Baby" didn't score as a huge hit for them. I love that song!

"They'll Make You Cry" is unfortunately as true today as it was back then. God, I just love every little British beat inspired thing on here, simply because it's so well done. Sal Valentino's vibrato laden voice is just too irresistible, and Ron Eliott's songwriting is impeccably tasteful. Aside from the fact that "I Would be Happy" sounds a bit too reminiscent of the Beatles' "If I Fell," there is nothing not to love here. My personal favorites are "I Want More Loving" and the bonus track "Good Time Music."

This album is just so good, the first time I put it into my car's CD drive, it was apparent that the word had to be spread. This album is great vintage rock without compromise or apology. In fact, I dare you not to feel better just listening to it when you're in a bad mood. It's just way too infectious for that!

Though San Francisco's Beau Brummels are often cited for their British Invasion influences (notably Beatles-like melodicism and Zombies-like minor-keys), they didn't really sound like either. Their mix of acoustic and electric instruments made them an early proponent of folk-rock (though they could rock in a '60s teen-discothèque style, as well), and their complex harmonies - led by the superb and unique voice of Sal Valentino - were unlike any others. Like the British bands, the Brummels were self-contained, with guitarist Ron Elliot providing the bulk of the group's songs.

This 1965 debut, released on San Francisco's Autumn label, included the band's two best-known songs, "Laugh Laugh" and "Just a Little." The first is a brilliant told-you-so lyric that's sung bitter and melancholy, while the latter says goodbye to love with soaring harmonies and a tearful vocal. Sly Stone's production and Leo Kulka's engineering (at Golden State Recorders) are fantastic, using the sharp definition on the vocals and instruments (particularly the acoustic guitars) to great effect. Lost love was on Elliot's mind as he wrote the tortured, 50s-styled "Not Too Long Ago," but there's a ray of sunshine in the upbeat, hopeful "Still in Love With You Baby." A hint of country music, something that was threaded throughout the group's ensuing catalog, can be found in a cover of Don Gibson's "Oh Lonesome Me," and a rock 'n' roll cover of Jimmy Reed's "Ain't That Loving You Baby" surely got the teens hopping at local clubs.

Repetoire's CD reissue is crisply remastered in stereo and augments the original dozen tracks with a full dozen demo and outtake bonuses (all mono except "I'll Tell You"), including an early version of "Just a Little" that found the vocals not yet polished and the backing arrangement yet to be refined. More roots could be heard in a cover of John Sebastian's "Good Time Music," and the dark folk-rock "Gentle Wanderin' Ways" waxed more poetic. The tight minor-key harmonies of "She's My Girl" perfectly put across the lyrics' pain, and Valentino is especially dramatic on "She Loves Me." These bonus tracks (and many, many more) turned up on two box sets, Rhino Handmade's "Magic Hollow," and Sundazed's "San Fran Sessions," both of which are now out of print.

The Brummels second album ("Volume 2") left the teen rock behind and focused more heavily on chiming Byrdsian folk-rock. There you'll find another pair of classics ("Sad Little Girl" and "Don't Talk to Strangers") and an album full of worthy originals. If your budget's limited you could pick up the single CD "Golden Archive Series" on Rhino, but the first two albums as a pair are substantially more fulfilling. [©2007 hyperbolium dot com]

The Beau Brummels remind you alot of several 60's super groups (The Byrds, The Left Bank, The Young Rascals, The Turtles, The Lovin Spoonful, Moby Grape), quietly forgotten, that made a dent in the universe and then wafted into thin air..The 60's were heady times, and groups came and went, in and out of fashion, like corded bell bottoms, purple velour, and spice candles..I rate the Beau Brummels as an organ backboned San Fran group, with qualities akin to The Doors..They hit the charts big-time with "Laugh Laugh", and "Just a Little"..Two of the best ballads of all time, not written by either Roy Orbison, or Bruce Springsteen..This CD is worth owning for the play of "Laugh Laugh" alone..Possibly one of the greatest "break-up" anthems of all time..The problem with the Beau Brummels was their commercial shelf life was all too brief..The unfortunate infighting that crops up in super groups, just killed more prolific output from a group that had the "right stuff" to become "Beatlesque" in stature..Both Chicago, and Blood Sweat and Tears owe an allegiance to the Beau Brummel's vocalizations..They, the Beau Brummels, flashed brilliantly and then poof, vanished, out of sight but not out of earshot, their legacy remains..Buy the CD..It's "Laugh Laugh", no joke!..Very stylish..Very collectible..And much like the Left Bank..Remember "Pretty Ballerina", and "Walk Away, Renee"..The Beau Brummels came as close as any American group to ferrying the Mersey Beat of Liverpool onto the fertile shores of San Francisco and Fillmore West.."Just a Little", they did, that is!

Hey when your fifteen or almost fifty how can you not sing along to still in love baby.

A friend of mine offered me this album. Since I really am into vocal harmonies, he thought I'd be quite enthused by this record. And boy was he right!
Nothing too serious on this album, though, the 12 tracks are unoriginal light-hearted poppy tracks, maybe not quite as good as the Hollies since the harmonies may sound a little shaky at times.
But all in all, you won't be disappointed. The bonus tracks are strong material. ''Good Time Music', 'Gentle Wanderin' Ways' and 'Fine With Me' are all killers.
Buy it before it goes out of print!

The Beau Brummels may be the quintessential example of a band brimming with talent, deserving of superstardom--but that wound up getting criminally short-changed by the music business. Despite a few somewhat weak cuts, this San Francisco-based folk rock outfit's 1965 debut album shows off their burgeoning original potential quite impressively. Ten of the album's 12 tracks are group originals, a feat not often attained in that time period: For instance, The Byrds, the band with whom the Brummels are most often paralelled, had only five originals out of the 12 tracks on their debut effort. Somehow it's not surprising that two of the weakest cuts on this cd are the covers, "Ain't That Loving You" and a too-bouncy version of Don Gibson's melancholy "Oh, Lonesome Me" (a song Neil Young gave a more appropriate treatment to a few years later.) The first three tracks are all killers, and a few others rise pretty close to that level. Now: At the time of this writing, Amazon.com has the track listing on this Repertoire issue incomplete. Without going through all of the bonus cuts, let me just tell you that they're nothing you haven't heard before if you have the "San Fran Sessions" boxed set or the "Autumn Of Their Years" cd. Unfortunately, all the bonus cuts are in mono except one--which happens to be one of the best tracks on the cd, "I'll Tell You." "Gentle Wandering Ways," "How Many Times" and "Tomorrow Is Another Day" are other highlights of the additional material. Also, the cover of John Sebastian's "Good Time Music" ain't too bad, with an almost Beach Boys-like intro. All in all, this album's not as strong as The Brummels' wonderful follow-up, "Vol 2," but there's more than enough good stuff here to enthusiastically label this one of the stronger pop/rock debut albums of the era. Note: Sadly, it appears that the Repertoire version of "Vol 2" has now gone out of print, so if you want this particular version of "Introducing" with 12 bonus tracks, I advise you to buy it now, while you can--just in case.

As a student of guitar playing I bought a greatest hits vinyl record of them back in the early 80's when my local record shop still sold lots of vinyl. I play by ear and wanted to get The Beau Brummels sound so I could learn it on guitar. Later I bought a CD of Bradley's Barn and discovered they had so much more to offer in their songs and style than just 2 hits. Now I'm collecting all of the albums they did because any given one of them has great songs I like to play on my own guitars. In my opinion The Beau Brummels should have been way more popular than they seemed to be way back when, yeah, yeah, yeah, way back when every band had to go up against The Beatles, Rolling Stones and seemingly countless other bands of their time. To have 2 big hits is quite an accomplishment for that time. To me The Beau Brummels are way more than just 2 hits. I've heard them being compared to the likes of The Lovin' Spoonful. I don't own any Lovin' Spoonful records and don't want to, Give me The Beau Brummels any time. To me their body of work in records is the Best overall output of the so-called "San Fransisco Sound" era. My guitar style is kind of like Ron Elliott's, a single playing style that incorporates lead, bass and rhythm all in one at once. Works out great for one man band players such as me. For some really great stuff check out The Beau Brummels.

This was the Brummels first album. They made two more, which I also had. I was a huge fan. Didn't get to see them in person, though. Their rendition of "Old Lonesome me" is about the best arrangement of the song I've ever heard. It's awesome that it is still available. the album got away from me when I went to Calif to get married.