Arnold Bean – I Can See Through You
Arnold Bean – Captain Marvel
Arnold Bean – Fortune and Fame
Found this thumbing through some uncategorized LPs lying around over at Action Records in Hollywood (previously known as A-1 Records and As The Record Turns, and it seems a few other names over the years). It was right next to a sealed copy of the US Apple Corps’ debut, (the one they released prior to this one) and being on SSS, I figured it might have a similar style. Additionally, with the hippified cover art and a song called “Daddy’s Got The Clap” I figured I couldn’t go wrong. Without a price tag on the LP though I was a little worried, since I didn’t know what Kevin was going to put this out for. Action records is a pretty high-end spot, a place to hit up when you are looking for a rare record and can’t seem to turn it up anywhere else…Kevin’s probably got 4 copies of it sealed. Surprisingly, the price turned out to be the best possible one, absolutely free. Dude just threw it in after I bought a couple of other records (something he’s done most everytime I’ve been, with the free records being almost as good as the ones I actually paid money for, mighty mighty cool).
From what I’ve been able to gather, primarily from their facebook page, Arnold Bean was not a person, but the name of a group that featured a couple of brothers, Michael & Herb Guthrie, as the primary members and a slew of their good buddies from time to time. They appear to have been based in Georgia, which might explain some of the attraction I have to this music. The sound of the album definitely has a bit of a country-fied feel to it, not quite blues based enough for it to be Southern Rock, not quite psychedelic enough to be considered Acid Rock, just some place in the middle. There are times where they sound very polished, other times where they sound pretty amateurish, like a band some of your high school friends used to be in, you know the music doesn’t quite stack up against more adept players, but it just has a special charm to it.
“I Can See Through You” showcases the best aspects of the band, really easy style to the vocals, nice rolling guitar lines and extra crisp drum work. It’s the combination of these elements, especially during the chorus, that makes this song my favorite on the record and one that I find myself returning the needle to the grooves again and again since I picked this one up. “Captain Marvel” has a nice style and sound to it too, with its breaktastic opening bass, poppy snare and cymbal crashes. “Fortune & Fame” is one of the more solid tracks on the album and serves as a nice closer for our purposes. Turned out that “My Daddy’s Got The Clap” actually ended up being one of my least favorite tracks, a very conventional rocker that sounds a bit like the Beatles’ “Get Back,” that never cashes in on the promise of its title. Thankfully the rest of the album did not disappoint, despite not costing me anything but some dusty fingers and a bit of time.
Cheers,
Michael