Beau

This new hits collection celebrates The Beau Brummels’ (one of the first bands to come out of the San Francisco scene in the 60s) original mono singles. The band’s hits include ‘Laugh, Laugh,” “Just A Little,” and “Don’t Talk to Strangers.” Also featured are three rare solo singles by lead singer Sal Valentino, as well as the group’s 1975 reworking of their classic “You Tell Me Why.” In 1994, "Laugh, Laugh" was selected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.

Be clear from the git-go: this three-CD, 60-song set, which consists solely of rarities, demos, alternate takes, and unissued performances from 1964-66, should only be acquired by serious fans of the band. It's not the place to start, and most listeners would be better served by picking up a greatest hits disc or the original Autumn albums. If you do love the band, though, it's an excellent journey through the back waters of their early repertoire. The Brummels rarely wrote or recorded anything lousy, and this presents interesting, substantially different versions of officially released songs like "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just a Little"; and quite a few demos that have never before seen the light. The beautifully sad harmonies and glittering guitar arrangements are usually present, and the compositions–even the totally unissued ones–are usually quite strong. From a historical viewpoint, it's interesting in that it presents a lot of previously unheard Sal Valentino-penned tunes (Ron Elliott wrote most of the songs that ended up on official releases). The sound is superb, as are the liner notes.

From the French Canadian side of the tracks come these mapleleaf mayhem merchants called Beau Geste. Essentially, this is Bryan Hughes plus hangers-on, and it's garnered a bit of a classic AOR reputation since those heady days of the eighties. Early recordings were in French, but in 1986, they released their first album in English (called Another Night in the City). Many of these songs are AOR, but a few Beau Geste songs can be labled as hard rock.