The Beacon Street Union “The Eyes Of..”
The Beacon Street Union were part of the dreaded, overhyped Bosstown Sound. The scene was a reaction to the San Fransisco rock explosion but Bosstown could in no way compete with the Bay area. The Beacon Street Union released three good experimental psych/hard rock albums (one album under the Eagle moniker) during the late 60’s and early 70’s. They were one of the best amongst a desperate bunch which included the Ultimate Spinach, Eden’s Children, Puff and Orpheus.
The Bosstown Sound was not a total waste as it did produce other decent acts such as Earth Opera (which included a young David Grisman and the Rowen Brothers), Listening and Phluph. The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union was the band’s debut released in 1968 off the MGM label. Most of the songs were written by John Lincoln Wright (vocals) and Wayne Ulaky (bass). The album opens with a silly introduction by Tom Wilson which explodes into the records first song, My Love Is. My Love Is was an excellent way to open up the band’s debut, as it was full of crashing Who-like drums and energy, strong harmonies, amateur lead vocals and a ripping psych guitar solo. Of the albums 11 songs, there are three weak songs which include two covers (Beautiful Delilah and Sportin’ Life) and a pointless jugband tune titled Four Hundred And Five. The rest of the album was pretty stellar, hard hitting garage psychedelia, full of highlights like the very trippy, percussion oriented Mystic Morning. Blue Avenue (with some great heavy riffs), the anti drug anthem Speed Kills and Green Destroys The Gold were full on psych assaults with guitar freakouts and a strong sense of urgency (Sadie Said No is more of the same). Just these three killer bad trips alone are worth the price of admission. Other compositions such as South End Incident/I’m Afraid and The Prophet are slow but still strong with lots of drug inspired dimentia. The Eyes of.. was a powerful debut that showed a band that took chances and fired on all cylinders.
“Green Destroys The Gold”
Also recommended are the more experimental Beacon Street albums, The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens, and the hard rock album from subsequent group The Eagle, Come Under Nancy’s Tent. Below, check out one of the cuts from Marvin Gardens. Not A Very August Afternoon is kind of like a trippy, jazzy languid mixture of Zombies organ and Association psychedelia.
“A Not Very August Afternoon”
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I grew up watching them practice in their basement in Malden, MA. : ) Wish I knew how to reach them as I would like to keep in touch.
so you think ultimate spinach wasn’t good? what the fuck dude.
I generally think that the Bosstown Sound was overrated, with Ultimate Spinich being the exception. I try to get into Beacon but nothing sticks. That spoken part at the beginning of the album sets you up for what the album is – Dollar Tree Moody Blues..