Friday, October 20, 2023

La Fin de la Semaine Essay Question: Special "Sharp Dressed Men" Edition

From 1965, please enjoy the incomparable Beau Brummels and their hilarious garage-rock ode to surviving existential alienation "In Good Time."

A fabulous song, I think you'll agree, but it is perhaps worth noting that for obvious doctrinal reasons it turned out to be obsolete, religiously speaking, almost immediately after it was released.

Which is too bad, because I still think this...

...Don't mind eating fish on Fridays...

...is one of the funniest lines in all of '60s rock.

The bottom line, of course, is that the Brummels are one of the most unaccountably unheralded bands of their era -- remembered, just barely, as sort of one or two hit folk-rock wonders, whereas in reality they were far far better than that. I mean, listen to this obscurity -- from the same album as the above --

...and tell me this wasn't a very major group indeed,

Go on -- I dare you.

In any event, this leads us to this weekend's subject for discussion. To wit:

...and your candidate for the most over-or-underrated post-Elvis pop/rock/soul/country artist(s), song(s) or album(s) is/are...?

No arbitrary rules whatsoever, but be polite to each other.

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

PS: Tomorrow is my birthday, so effusive compliments on my superb stewardship of this here blog over the years will be cheerfully accepted.

17 comments:

Cleveland Jeff said...

I just went back and listened to The Doors debut, and so,
Most Overrated: The Doors.
nice work on the blog, and many happy returns of the day!

paulinca said...

In the early decades of the 21st century, I sincerely believe that Taylor Swift is the most over-rated artist in the nation.

paulinca

Sal Nunziato said...

Sleater-Kinney
Yo La Tengo

Both should be put on a raft and pushed out to sea, never to be heard from again.

Happy Birthday Pal!

My first cocktail this evening will be in your honor.

Gummo said...

Happy Happy, steve! This is what, 6,075? That's a lot of candles!

Most overrated?

Bruce Springsteen.

Alzo said...

Most underrated: Once again, Dwight Twilley RIP. Over the years, I have played his tunes for many folks and gotten similar reactions: "What is this?... I've never heard of this guy... This is good."

Most overrated? That's a challenge! But I'll go with Cher.

daudder said...

Garland Jefferys. Had a couple of charting songs, but the string of Ghost Writer, One-Eyed Jack, American Boy & Girl are excellent albums...and then released 14 Steps to Harlem in 2017....oh my...!

pete said...

Many happy returns of the day, Steve! (and Allan!)

Anonymous said...

Underrated:

The Zombies
Bobby Fuller Four
Misunderstood
The Monks
Dwight Twilley (R.I.P.)
UFO (w/Michael)
Gram Parsons
Small Faces (for general lack of US success)
Guess Who (never got enough respect)
Joe Ely
XTC
Jellyfish
Pretty Things
Brinsley Schwarz
Graham Parker
Grand Funk Railroad (I know. Sacrilegious, but despite uneven material, they got it on.)
Gong
Man
Can

Overrated

Kiss
The Shoes
80's Hair Metal Bands esp. Motley Crue.
Willie Nile
John Mayer

VR

Anonymous said...

Oh, I forgot

Underappreciated

The Left Banke

VR

The Beau Brummels fucked themselves with that first Warner Bros LP. People tended not to take them seriously after that. Perhaps why the noteworthy Triangle and Bradley's Barn were largely ignored. I love the Brummels. Sal's voice is the coolest. Even enjoyed the mid 1970's reunion. I even have a couple of bootlegs. But have a problem with third LP and the "Good Time Music" A-side you put up a while back. The B-side to that one was better. "In Good Time" is much better than "Good Time Music."

Happy B-Day or is it manana, I had a boyfriend who was a Libra born October 21. He didn't match up with the traits of his sign. Astrology's bullshit anyway. Either way, you're fuckin' old.

Have fun,

VR

getawaygoober said...

Always liked the Beau Brummels... and Nils Lofgren's version of "Just a Little".

Underrated or unappreciated... Love

Overrated - don't name them; it just encourages them.

Cleveland Jeff said...

Oh my I just remembered,
MOST UNDERRATED (in the USA): The Proclaimers, one great pop/rock/power pop band.

Anonymous said...

Hey getawaygoober,

Love were huge in Los Angeles, especially in the beginning. But, yeah, even at that, they were underappreciated. They were an album band before album radio.

Cleveland Jeff:

The Doors? One of the reasons for album radio. Groundbreakers on many fronts. I disagree wholeheartedly. They merged a lot of different forms of music. Krieger, Densemore and Manzarek are underappreciated. And they did Brecht-Weill.

How about U2 and R.E.M.? While I don't hate them, I think both are overrated. Ben Harper too.

VR

Been listening to Dwight Twilley for the better part of the last two days. His death has a profound effect on me. Similar to losing Tom Petty.

edward said...

The Beau Brummelstones!

Did this help or hurt their career?
https://youtu.be/hzexiy8UZzY?si=SPE3-irIkpEEyxAJ

Anonymous said...

under : Kinky Friedman
over: Bruce Springsteen

Cleveland Jeff said...

VR-
Yes I agree that U2 and REM deserve highly overrated status. But the reason I choose the Doors is because they are so very admired for being the ground breakers you cite them as. I'll admit that they were important, and maybe even a big deal. But I never liked their music much, and Jim Morrison was not the great writer or singer that he (and others) thought he was. And I respect your opinion.

cthulhu said...

(Finally had a little time for this one)
Overrated:
Willie Nile
the Byrds
CSN(Y)
David Bowie

Underrated:
Willy DeVille
Southside Johnny
Small Faces
Chris Whitley
Warren Zevon
Dwight Twilley (RIP)
Divinyls (RIP Chrissy, and “Make Out Alright” is a great lost powerpop classic, right up there with “Bittersweet” for Oz powerpop)
and…
Pete Townshend - to quote Glyn Johns, “It is impossible to overestimate the impact that Pete Townshend has had on popular music”, so I think the great Glyn called Pete underrated! And PT coined the term “powerpop” to boot!

M_Sharp said...

The most underrated album, IMHO, probably because barely anyone except me seems to have bought it or heard of it:
The Steve Gibbons Band - "Down In The Bunker"

Great, intelligent songs about working class Brits, somewhat Springsteen-esque, Pub Rock, produced by Tony Visconti.

Here 'tis: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lQd2a0-owgI8Hsg1Xjui-02-G4pcbX_eA

Songs 1-11 are the original album, the rest were earlier songs added to the reissue.