The Beckies - The Beckies (Reissue) (1976/2015)

The Beckies were, as of the end of the twentieth century, the last album to feature substantial contributions from Michael Brown, the talented keyboardist/songwriter who combined rock and classical music in his prior groups (the Left Banke, Montage, and Stories). He played keyboards, co-produced, and co-wrote (with drummer Gary Hodgden) all of the songs on the Beckies' sole, self-titled album, released by Sire in 1976, with Hodgden and Scott Trusty splitting lead vocals. The material is pretty similar to that heard on the Stories albums to feature Brown, but not as strong; the arrangements and keyboards boast Brown's trademark classical-rock fusion, but are more power-poppish than those of the Stories. As singers, Trusty and Hodgden, as is the norm for Brown collaborators, favor the high range, but they're no match for Stories' Ian Lloyd, to say nothing of the Left Banke's Steve Martin. There are some pretty, characteristically Brown melodies on the record, but the production is too slick and the band doesn't really do the songs full justice.