• > Home
  • > Artists
  • > Ben Vaughn
  • > Albums
  • > Beautiful Thing

    • Ben Vaughn

    Beautiful Thing

    01/01/1987 | Noble Rot 

    Submit Your Review

    All Music Guide Review

    When the first song on your album is called "Jerry Lewis In France", you may have some trouble convincing folks that you're not joking, but though Ben Vaughn has never had a problem with putting his sense of humor up front, it's his craft as a songwriter and clear love of pop music in all its guises that makes his records work so well, and he rarely hit the target quite as true as he did on his second album, 1987's Beautiful Thing. Vaughn and his combo certainly sound fine on these sessions, cutting a commanding groove on the uptempo R&B workout "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme", offering up some bongolated folk rock with "The North Wind Blew" and making with a stein of potent frat rock on "She's A Real Scream", and Vaughn and his compatriots have a deep enough grasp of rock's history to not clutter up the arrangements. 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. And for a guy who is supposed to be a barrel of laughs, Vaughn knows more than a little about the serious side of love, as he demonstrates on the soulful closer "Apology Line", the all-but-awestruck "Beautiful Thing", and the lovelorn "Big House With A Yard". No, Ben Vaughn isn't joking -- he just knows that sometime life can be funny for all the right (and wrong) reasons, and he and his band share some valuable lessons and fine tunes on Beautiful Thing. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide

    User Review

    • Red Tunic Troll

      posted on Sat, 15 Mar 2008 12:22:01

      Touching, sarcastic, biting, funny pop, rock 'n' soul

      Vaughn has always been more widely heard for his songs than his own records. Fans of Marshall Crenshaw's "Downtown" LP will know Vaughn as the writer of "I'm Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee)," and those hip to The Morells' debut find Vaughn's "The Man Who Has Everything" as a centerpiece. His behind-the-scenes production work with Charlie Feathers and on Arthur Alexander's last-ever sessions won him additional critical kudos if not widespread popular fame. Vaughn's showed himself to be a man in love with music every step of the way, and his own releases have been no different.

      This 1987 LP was Vaughn's second, combining his love of British Invasion rock 'n' roll, Brill Building pop, Memphis soul, and above all else, an arch sense of humor. Opening with "Jerry Lewis in France," Vaughn turns the Gaul's love of America's clown into a touching love song that equates his top-of-the-world emotions with Lewis, JFK and Phil Spector at their individual peaks. He evokes Stax and Muscle Shoals with the horn chart on "Clothes Don't Make the Man," and his signature "Shingaling With Me" is as good an early-60s New York pop-soul tune as has been written since, well, New York in the early '60s.

      Vaughn's vocals are often half-spoken in the manner of Lou Reed, but with a smile, tear or a helping of tongue-in-cheek sarcasm. His low-key delivery is effective whether pining over lost love ("Big House With a Yard"), providing sage advice ("On the Rebound") or confessing his sins ("The Apology Line"), buoyed by the craft of his lyrics and his deftly arranged echoes of musical influences. He steps upbeat for the punchy rock 'n' blues "Gimme Gimme Gimme," swings into side two with the beat-heavy sing-along "She's a Real Scream" and twangs a surf guitar for the instrumental "Desert Boots."

      Vaughn re-recorded several of this album's songs for 1992's "Mood Swings," and while some of the later versions actually improve upon the originals (and the entirety of "Mood Swings" is a must-have), it's great to have these originals back in print! [©2008 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com]

      Post a Comment

    Track Listing

    Similar Albums

    Credits

    • Ben Vaughn
    • Guitar, Producer, Main Performer, Horn Arrangements, Performer, Vocals, Harmonica


    ARTISTdirect plus

    What's Hot from ARTISTdirect