Bradley's Barn is the fifth studio album by The Beau Brummels, released in 1968. It has received substantial critical acclaim and is considered one of the first "country rock" records. The Bradley's Barn in the album title refers to a recording studio in Nashville that was owned by the late, great Owen Bradley, who is credited with helping Patsy Cline ascend to sainthood. It is also where k.d. lang recorded her exceptional album, Shadowland.
For this recording the Brummels were accompanied by several prominent Nashville musicians, including Kenny Buttrey (Bob Dylan's studio drummer from 1966-69), and guitarist Jerry Reed. The Beau Brummels were so pleased with the results they achieved at the studio that they named the album Bradley's Barn in honour of it.
This is an incredible-sounding record, and the pressing I am listening to was issued by Run Out Groove, an exceptional label that specializes in releasing long out-of-print and somewhat obscure recordings in extremely limited, true audiophile editions. This is a recording meant to impress. It sounds glorious. It grabs you from the first notes of Turn Around, the lead off track, and doesn't let go. It was also a Record Store Day release, which probably makes it all the more rare and collectible.
The Beau Brummels' sound on this record has a lot in common with Bob Dylan, The Byrds and The Band, all circa the late-1960s and their respective John Wesley Harding, Sweethearts Of The Rodeo and Music From Big Pink records.
Signed to Warner Brothers Records (after Warner absorbed their original label, Autumn), the Brummels were dispatched to Nashville to record in Bradley's barn-turned-studio. As great as this recording is, it for some reason didn't take and became something of a lost classic. Thank whatever you pray to for a label such as Run Out Groove, who specialize in reviving exactly this sort of thing.
Labelling the album country-rock (as almost everyone does) is really a disservice. It is so much more than that. Cherokee Girl and I'm A Sleeper sound more like the songs that were tin those days emerging from the L.A. psychedelic rock scene. You can visualize someone like Donovan chilling to this record in front of a winter's fire while sipping brandy from a witch's ladle
The sound on this reissue is extremely good and the record itself is pressed on very high quality, quiet vinyl. It only clocks in at about 30 minutes, but for this release the original LP is accompanied by a second LP of outtakes and alternate takes.
Run Out Groove states this as the first U.S. repressing of this record on vinyl since the record's original 1968 release and that it was sourced from the original masters tapes with lacquers cut at Sam Phillips Recording Studio.
I would consider this record to be a missing link as far as the music of the 1960s is concerned. Unfortunately, due to Run Out Groove's extremely limited runs, this wonderful pressing is all but impossible to find. So if you do see it - or if you somehow happen across an original copy while digging through the bins somewhere - grab it. It needs to be in your record collection.
And to ensure you don't miss out on Run Out Groove's future releases, go to their website and sign up for the democratic vote to determine what gets released. You can reserve yourself a copy of the winner when you do.
Bradley's Barn is the fifth studio album by The Beau Brummels, released in 1968. It has received substantial critical acclaim and is considered one of the first "country rock" records. The Bradley's Barn in the album title refers to a recording studio in Nashville that was owned by the late, great Owen Bradley, who is credited with helping Patsy Cline ascend to sainthood. It is also where k.d. lang recorded her exceptional album, Shadowland.
For this recording the Brummels were accompanied by several prominent Nashville musicians, including Kenny Buttrey (Bob Dylan's studio drummer from 1966-69), and guitarist Jerry Reed. The Beau Brummels were so pleased with the results they achieved at the studio that they named the album Bradley's Barn in honour of it.
This is an incredible-sounding record, and the pressing I am listening to was issued by Run Out Groove, an exceptional label that specializes in releasing long out-of-print and somewhat obscure recordings in extremely limited, true audiophile editions. This is a recording meant to impress. It sounds glorious. It grabs you from the first notes of Turn Around, the lead off track, and doesn't let go. It was also a Record Store Day release, which probably makes it all the more rare and collectible.
The Beau Brummels' sound on this record has a lot in common with Bob Dylan, The Byrds and The Band, all circa the late-1960s and their respective John Wesley Harding, Sweethearts Of The Rodeo and Music From Big Pink records.
Signed to Warner Brothers Records (after Warner absorbed their original label, Autumn), the Brummels were dispatched to Nashville to record in Bradley's barn-turned-studio. As great as this recording is, it for some reason didn't take and became something of a lost classic. Thank whatever you pray to for a label such as Run Out Groove, who specialize in reviving exactly this sort of thing.
Labelling the album country-rock (as almost everyone does) is really a disservice. It is so much more than that. Cherokee Girl and I'm A Sleeper sound more like the songs that were tin those days emerging from the L.A. psychedelic rock scene. You can visualize someone like Donovan chilling to this record in front of a winter's fire while sipping brandy from a witch's ladle
The sound on this reissue is extremely good and the record itself is pressed on very high quality, quiet vinyl. It only clocks in at about 30 minutes, but for this release the original LP is accompanied by a second LP of outtakes and alternate takes.
Run Out Groove states this as the first U.S. repressing of this record on vinyl since the record's original 1968 release and that it was sourced from the original masters tapes with lacquers cut at Sam Phillips Recording Studio.
I would consider this record to be a missing link as far as the music of the 1960s is concerned. Unfortunately, due to Run Out Groove's extremely limited runs, this wonderful pressing is all but impossible to find. So if you do see it - or if you somehow happen across an original copy while digging through the bins somewhere - grab it. It needs to be in your record collection.
And to ensure you don't miss out on Run Out Groove's future releases, go to their website and sign up for the democratic vote to determine what gets released. You can reserve yourself a copy of the winner when you do.
BONUS TRACK
The Beau Brummels were formed in 1964 in San Francisco and their sound immediately attracted comparisons to The Beatles. I don't hear it, but …
They have been credited with helping develop what come to be known as the "San Francisco sound".
They are said to have named themselve the Beau Brummels (after the Regency-era English dandy Beau Brummell) because the name would place them right next to The Beatles in the record store bin, although sInger Sal Valentino dismissed this story in a 2008 interview with Goldmine magazine, saying, "That's a total myth. We just needed a name, and that sounded good. We didn't even know how to spell it. Everybody now has a notion of what people were thinking back then, but we never thought of those kinds of things."
The band's debut single, Laugh, Laugh entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in January, 1965, peaking at number 15. It was also the band's highest-charting single in Canada, where it reached number two.
The follow-up single, Just A Little, became the band's highest-charting single in the U.S., reaching number eight. Both songs were included on the band's debut album, Introducing the Beau Brummels, which was released in 1965 and reached number 24 on the Billboard 200.
The band appeared as themselves in the 1965 science-fiction B-movie Village of the Giants, and also as The Beau Brummelstones on The Flintstones in an episode called Shinrock A Go-Go.
A record company merger and music business politics conspired to keep The Beau Brummels far enough from the public consciousness to eventually cause their dissolution after Bradley's Barn was released and subsequently tanked.
They would reunite and release an LP called The Beau Brummels in 1975, and a final LP - Continuum, would appear in 2013.
The Beau Brummels were formed in 1964 in San Francisco and their sound immediately attracted comparisons to The Beatles. I don't hear it, but …
They have been credited with helping develop what come to be known as the "San Francisco sound".
They are said to have named themselve the Beau Brummels (after the Regency-era English dandy Beau Brummell) because the name would place them right next to The Beatles in the record store bin, although sInger Sal Valentino dismissed this story in a 2008 interview with Goldmine magazine, saying, "That's a total myth. We just needed a name, and that sounded good. We didn't even know how to spell it. Everybody now has a notion of what people were thinking back then, but we never thought of those kinds of things."
The band's debut single, Laugh, Laugh entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in January, 1965, peaking at number 15. It was also the band's highest-charting single in Canada, where it reached number two.
The follow-up single, Just A Little, became the band's highest-charting single in the U.S., reaching number eight. Both songs were included on the band's debut album, Introducing the Beau Brummels, which was released in 1965 and reached number 24 on the Billboard 200.
The band appeared as themselves in the 1965 science-fiction B-movie Village of the Giants, and also as The Beau Brummelstones on The Flintstones in an episode called Shinrock A Go-Go.
A record company merger and music business politics conspired to keep The Beau Brummels far enough from the public consciousness to eventually cause their dissolution after Bradley's Barn was released and subsequently tanked.
They would reunite and release an LP called The Beau Brummels in 1975, and a final LP - Continuum, would appear in 2013.
