Beautiful Thing (Ben Vaughn album)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[10]
Chicago Tribune	[11]
Robert Christgau	B[12]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[1]
Goldmine	[9]
New Musical Express	9/10[13]
The Philadelphia Inquirer	[14]
Richmond Times-Dispatch	B[6]

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]