Beacon Street Union

Artist: Beacon Street Union

LP: The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens
Song: "A Not Very August Afternoon"

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Song: "May I Light Your Cigarette"

[ listen ]

I took last Monday off work and stopped by Daybreak Records for a few minutes to rummage through their bins. This second LP by Beacon Street Union, released in 1968, was one of the things I found. Along with MGM label mates Ultimate Spinach, who I've never heard of before, and Orpheus, who I have, Beacon Street Union was part of the "Bosstown Sound," a marketing label that producer Alan Lorber came up with to promote psychedelic rock bands from the Boston area in the late 1960s. 

According to Wikipedia, Beacon Street Union "met with very little nationwide success." But then that's not surprising given their uncompromising decision to release "May I Light Your Cigarette" as one of the singles from this album. It's hard to imagine a track with lower potential for commercial radio success than this lovely, brooding, jazzy and moody musical rumination. It's impossible to dance to. Beacon Street Union's final recorded single before they threw in the towel in 1970 was titled, ironically, "Lord Why Is It So Hard."

 [ Beacon Street Union ]