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Beautiful Thing (Ben Vaughn album)
Beautiful Thing is an album by the American rock and roll musician Ben Vaughn (credited to the Ben Vaughn Combo), released in 1987.[2][3] The album's final track, "The Apology Line", is covered on Barrence Whitfield's Ow! Ow! Ow![4] ProductionThe album was produced by Vaughn, who also wrote the songs.[5] Mostly acoustic, the songs were in part inspired by radio disc jockey patter and random conversations overheard by Vaughn.[6][7] The band used bongos, hubcaps, maracas, and accordion on many of the tracks.[8] "Big House with a Yard" is about a man asking his girlfriend to visit him in prison.[9] Critical reception
Robert Christgau thought that, "unlike many comedians, this mild-mannered male chauvinist is funniest when he lets on how clever he is."[12] Trouser Press wrote that "Beautiful Thing has a fresh, easygoing feel, but too much restraint can be dangerous: halfway through the first side, this mild record threatens to slide right off the turntable."[15] The New York Times concluded that "all the three-chord rock of the 1950's and 60's—rockabilly, surf-rock, Cajun, rhythm-and-blues, country—twangs and relaxes together in the Ben Vaughn Combo, as Mr. Vaughn talk-sings his way through droll, understated songs without a hint of rock's latter-day histrionics."[16] The Philadelphia Inquirer deemed the album "a marvelously eclectic collection of rock styles and romantic observations."[14] The Philadelphia Daily News called the tracks "clever, evocative new songs in a time honored, timeless style," writing that the band "has a slap happy simplicity and ragged enthusiasm that's anachronistic, that seems a throwback to the 1950s rockabilly era of Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper."[17] The Washington Post determined that "sometimes Vaughn sounds like what might have happened if Lou Reed had influenced Bob Dylan rather than the other way around, but he always manages a neat wedding of lyric and melody."[4] The Chicago Tribune stated that "Vaughn brings some uncommon touches to numbers about male-female relationships."[11] The State included Beautiful Thing on its list of the ten best albums of 1987.[8] AllMusic wrote that "the tunes on Beautiful Thing never hit harder than they have to or take up more space than necessary, and their modesty only adds to their effectiveness."[10] Track listing
References
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