The Brothers Four‎– B.M.O.C. (Best Music On/Off Campus) (1961)

Arguably the quartet's best studio album, B.M.O.C. offers a rich selection of material, from traditional folk songs to '30s blues ("St. James Infirmary") and then-current country songs ("(Ghost) Riders in the Sky"), all sung in a serious and restrained style.

The difference between this and the group's earlier albums is that, as individuals, the members all show a greater depth in their understanding of the songs on "B.M.O.C.", feeling the lyrics as well as singing them well. Thus, even the movie song "The Green Leaves of Summer" (from the movie "The Alamo") is presented with a great deal of emotion that was missing from earlier work by the group, and "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Little Bird" is offered with a fervor and immediacy (and some nice flourishes on the guitars and banjo) that characterized the folk revival at its best.

 

The title, incidentally, is a play on a phrase that would have been well-known in 1961 (though it dates from at least the 1920s) but is utterly forgotten today -- B.M.O.C. meant "Big Man On Campus," a reference usually applied to a male undergraduate of some renown, usually in sports.         

Tracklist:                           

A1	I Am A Roving Gambler	2:50
A2	Well, Well, Well	2:35
A3	Sweet Rosyanne	3:12
A4	St. James Infirmary	3:02
A5	Riders In The Sky	2:20
A6	When The Sun Goes Down	2:53
B1	The Green Leaves Of Summer	2:50
B2	A Pretty Girl Is Like A Little Bird	2:53
B3	My Little John Henry	1:45
B4	Beautiful Brown Eyes	2:45
B5	The Old Settler's Song	3:15
B6	With You Fair Maid	1:58

The Brothers Four‎– B.M.O.C. (Best Music On/Off Campus) (1961)     
(256 kbps, cover art included)