Beacon Street Union: The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union 1968 + The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens 1968

 

The Beacon Street Union was an American psychedelic rock band in the late 1960s, named for a street in their native Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
                                                     

They where a '60s rock band from Boston comprised of John Wright (vocals), Paul Tartachny (guitar,

vocals), Robert Rhodes (keyboards), Wayne Ulaky (bass, vocals), and Richard Weisburg (drums) who moved to New York in 1967 and got caught up in MGM Records' "Bosstown Sound" promotion -- the company tried, unsuccessfully, to promote an invented Boston music scene to rival the real one in San Francisco at the time. Like other bands used in the promotion, the Beacon Street Union suffered from the hype, and though they made two charting albums, they never had much of a chance to succeed.
                                         

  The band was composed of Boston College students, singer John Lincoln Wright (September 23, 1947

- December 4, 2011), guitarist/singer Paul Tartachny, bassist/singer Wayne Ulaky, keyboardist Robert Rhodes (born Rosenblatt) and drummer Richard Weisberg. With the exception of a few rock standards, their diverse music was composed by members of the band, primarily Wright and Ulaky.
                                                

The band's label, MGM Records promoted them as part of the so-called Bosstown Sound (along with

the bands Ultimate Spinach and Orpheus), shepherded by the record producer Alan Lorber. The band met with little nationwide success. Their debut album, The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union, charted at number 75 on May 4, 1968. The band relocated to New York and recorded its second album, The Clown Died in Marvin Gardens.
                                                  

Wright, Ulaky, Weisberg, and Rhodes recorded another album, Come Under Nancy's Tent in 1970

under the band name Eagle for Janus Records. On August 12, 1970, Beacon Street Union opened for Janis Joplin at Harvard Stadium, which was her last public performance before her death. In 1970, The Beacon Street Union recorded their final single "Lord Why Is it So Hard" / "Can’t Find My Fingers", adding Charlie Vatalaro on tenor sax.
                                             

Wright went on to perform and record as a country artist shorty after, and fronted the Sour Mash Boys. He regularly toured across North America, through to the mid-1990s. He died on December 4, 2011, at

age 64, following a series of strokes and a long-time drinking problem. Due to health problems, he stopped performing in 2007. Bandmate and producer Larry Flint admitted by 2007 that Wright "was in pretty bad physical shape, and even his voice was going", with an album recorded that year left unreleased. At the time of his death, he was separated from his wife, who refused to divorce him to ensure that he stayed on her health insurance.
                                                  

Discography

The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union (March 1968)
The Clown Died in Marvin Gardens (August 1968)
Come Under Nancy's Tent (as Eagle) (March 1970)

THE EYES OF BEACON STREET UNION 1968

                                                                 

 
The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union is a highly experimental album released around the time of the Bosstown sound. Much better than first albums from Eden's Children and Ultimate Spinach, the disc, however, lacks direction -- and cohesion. Vocalist John Lincoln Wright has the same look that he sports

23 years later on his 1991 Honky Tonk Verite CD, including his trademark cowboy hat, but the similarities between these two albums stop there. The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union is garage rock and psychedelia, and it is a trip. Where Orpheus opted for the serious pop of "Can't Find the Time," producer Wes Farrell includes a recitation by the late Tom Wilson, producer of The Velvet Underground & Nico, acting very avant-garde: "Look into the gray/look past the living streets of Boston/look finally into the eyes of Beacon Street Union."
 

THE CLOWN DIED IN MARVIN GARDENS 1968

                                                      

The Clown Died in Marvin Gardens is an original statement by a Boston group who was musically superior to Eden's Children and Ultimate Spinach, but not as focused as the Remains, the Hallucinations with Peter Wolf, or the emerging J. Geils Band. Where national groups like the Peanut

Butter Conspiracy may have been misguided and sputtered with no direction, vocalist John Lincoln Wright developed into a first-rate songwriter and a country singer with a purpose. Hearing his work on highly experimental tunes, like the title track or the impressionistic "May I Light Your Cigarette?," is true culture shock. "The Clown's Overture" seems pointless, yet "Angus of Aberdeen" is inspired and a bright spot in the morass that was the Bosstown Sound. The rave-up version of "Blue Suede Shoes" is great, the guitar funneled through effects and brimming with excitement.
 

Beacon Street Union – The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union / The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Label: See For Miles Records Ltd. – SEECD 495
Format:    CD, Compilation
Pays: UK
Sortie: 1998
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

THE EYES OF BEACON STREET UNION 1968

                                                  

  
01. My Love Is    4:09
02. Beautiful Delilah  (Written-By – Chuck Berry)  2:10
03. Sportin' Life    3:08
04. Four Hundred And Five    2:09
05. Mystic Mourning    5:55
06. Sadie Said No    2:51
07. Speed Kills    1:55
08. Blue Avenue    2:49
09. South End Incident    3:53
10. Green Destroys The Gold    3:00
11. The Prophet    4:31

THE CLOWN DIED IN MARVIN GARDENS 1968

                                    

  
12. The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens    3:53
13. The Clown's Overture    2:40
14. Angus Of Aberdeen    4:36
15. Blue Suede Shoes  (Written-By – Carl Perkins)  2:07
16. A Not Very August Afternoon    3:42
17. Now I Taste The Tears  (Written-By – Buzz Clifford)  3:07
18. May I Light Your Cigarette    5:36
19. Baby Please Don't Go    16:49

Crédits

                             

Bass Guitar – Wayne Ulaky
Keyboards, Brass – Robert Rhodes
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar – Paul Tartachny
Percussion – Richard Weisberg
Vocals – John Lincoln Wright
Art Direction [Original] – Acy R. Lehman
Engineer [Director] – Val Valentin
Liner Notes – Brian Hogg
Orchestrated By – Larry Fallon
Producer – Wes Farrell
Written-By – Beacon Street Union (pistes : 3), J. Wright (pistes : 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19), L. Fallon (pistes : 13), P. Tartachny (pistes : 4, 16, 19), R. Weisberg (pistes : 4, 5, 14, 16, 19), R. Rhodes (pistes : 4, 5, 16, 19), W. Ulaky (pistes : 1, 4 to 12, 14, 18, 19), W. Farrell (pistes : 4)

MP3 @ 320 Size: 188 MB
Flac  Size: 458 MB