1. Are You Happy
2. Only Dreaming Now
3. Painter of Women*
4. The Keeper of Time
5. It Won't Get Better
6. Nine Pound Hammer
7. Magic Hollow*
8. And I've Seen Her
9. Triangle
10. The Wolf of Velvet Fortune*
11. Old Kentucky Home
A-
Well this was a nice little left turn of an album. Most of the psychedelia we've had so far has been of the atonal, "freak out" sort. Triangle, on the other hand, is a delicate collection of country-tinged psych pop, complete with string arrangements and piano and harpsichord flourishes. The Beau Brummels were a pop band, and they bring a pop sensibility to their music. No long, noodling fuzz guitar solos. No twenty minute songs about acid. No "Help, I'm a Rock". Just lovely, catchy songs with vaguely fantasy-inspired lyrics, all impeccably arranged and played. Topping it all off is Sal Valentino's voice, which sounds sort of like Bob Dylan if Bob Dylan could actually sing, and which forms a great contrast with the lushness of the music. Honestly, it's enough to make me wish I still smoked pot.
Lyrically, the album is mostly one of strong images and sustained moods. "Painter of Women" is about a blind painter of eyeless women. "The Keeper of Time" is about an old man who's the keeper of time. "Magic Hollow", a very pretty song, invites you to visit a magic hollow of some sort (it might be a euphemism). And "The Wolf of Velvet Fortune" is about... Well, honestly I don't know. But it sure is pretty and dark and mysterious. The title track is nice because, unlike a lot of "all you need is love" nonsense, it posits a three way balance in life of rain, sunshine and love. That acknowledgement of the darker aspects of reality underpins a lot of this album, if only in the slightly queasy lyrics and the shadowy arrangements, and it's a welcome viewpoint to encounter. The Beau Brummels were clearly, at this point, the thinking man's psychedelic popsters. "Triangle" also features an incredibly catchy coda which consists of Valentino stretching the song title out to about eight syllables, and I guarantee that once you hear it it'll be stuck in your head for days.
Rounding out the more abstract numbers are a couple of more-or-less straight country songs - "Nine Pound Hammer" and the satirical "Old Kentucky Home", originally a Randy Newman song called "Turpentine & Dandelion Wine", later a hit for Johnny Cash.
Is this album going to blow your mind? Probably not. But it is an incredibly well-executed album, and if you're the sort of person like me whose idea of psychedelia involves a lot of lush strings and out-there imagery than I imagine you'll find it pretty rewarding. Certainly it's more engaging than a bunch of twenty minute guitar solos.
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