The Beau Brummels

Cherry Red's Now Sounds label is back with its most impressive release yet: a stunning 8-CD box set from San Francisco's Beau Brummels.  With both hit singles ("Laugh, Laugh," "Just a Little") and albums that have stood the test of time (Bradley's Barn, Triangle), the Brummels' 1960s discography stands as a miniature history of American pop music.  Sal Valentino and Ron Elliott (together with, at various points, Ron Meagher, John Petersen, Declan Mulligan, and John Irving, plus a host of collaborators from Sly Stone to Van Dyke Parks) fused rock and roll, folk, and country into an unmistakable whole.  Turn Around: The Complete Recordings 1964-1970 features the band's five studio albums for the Autumn and Warner Bros. labels, each impressively housed in a mini-sleeve with lovingly recreated labels, plus three packed discs of bonus material (including a definitive survey of the band's As and Bs, all in their proper mono mixes), within a sturdy slipcase.  This all adds up to a whopping 228 tracks - all freshly remastered by collection compiler Alec Palao - including two dozen never-before-released tracks.  Even those longtime collectors who have Rhino Handmade's Magic Hollow box set and expanded edition of Bradley's Barn will find something new and marvelous here.  Yet worth the price of admission is the full-color, squarebound, 88-page booklet designed by Now Sounds' Steve Stanley which features an essay by Palao, an interview with producer Lenny Waronker, detailed album-by-album notes, a heavily annotated song-by-song index, rare photos, and copious memorabilia images.  This is a true everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach, and in this case, the kitchen sink includes just a handful of mono mixes and a small number of backing tracks and unfinished masters.  Palao notes, "[Certain] mono mixes that have been available in the past (such as those featured on the mono issue of an album) are not included; if an outtake exists in mono and stereo, to avoid endless repetition, we have opted for the latter."  Nobody will be disappointed by this decision, as many tracks appear here in stereo for the first time.  Turn Around is a lovingly-curated, beautifully-designed, comprehensive, and luxurious collection that places The Beau Brummels into proper context, affirming their place at the vanguard of the '60s pop scene.