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. Therein lies the problem with this album and this group. The most structured piece is a Carl Perkins cover, while "A Not Very August Afternoon" feels like a song wanting to belong to some hippie movie that was never made. Where the Chocolate Watchband rocked with authority, the Beacon Street Union are feeling their way through the times, the business, and their music. "Now I Taste the Tears" is some jazz-folk piece gone psychedelic. It is dramatic and creative, but misses the mark. "Baby Please Don't Go" takes the pluses and minuses and stretches them past 16 minutes. This is not "Sister Ray," the explosive grunge invention that thrust the Velvet Underground into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, nor is it the decadence of the Doors' "The End." It's a jam trying to be something more. While the Fifth Estate delivered a tremendous album of well-crafted pop and Moulty & the Barbarians delivered two striking hit singles, the very talented crew who were the Beacon Street Union needed a little more time in the incubator. Producer Wes Farrell should have nudged them into a more commercial direction and brought more accessible material to their attention. John Lincoln Wright is a major talent, and had he the right direction this early in his career who knows what kind of chart action he could have enjoyed. The tragedy of The Clown Died in Marvin Gardens is that it could have been so much more. AMG.

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