This is the house from the end/back. The other pic is the front.

Well, whether you stain them or paint them -- you will have to maintain whatever is not "natural".

I'd paint them. Daunting I know .... but ... all the brick looks accessible from the ground or a normal 6'-8' Ladder.

Maybe there is too much going on -- the roof looks like it has pink in it. The shutters look blue. The siding looks off-white. You could get away with just painting the shutters a buttercream yellow and go with the yellow-ish brick. A porch railing and/or some landscaping would draw your eyes to the porch versus the brick.

Google Images -- tan brick ranch houses (link below) and you might want to try the Home Decorating Forum too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tan Brick Ranch Houses

A brick color from the early 70's. Sometimes called blonde brick depending on your part of the country. It was often an upgrade from the standard red brick and in some areas it's a rarely seen color. If you Google the history of bricks/brick quality you'll learn that you're lucky to have an almost all brick house from that era. www.gobrick.com is a good resource too.

Altho consistent color isn't a guarantee of quality, consistency among uniquely colored bricks is arguably a sign of craftsmanship -- maybe the kind of craftsmanship that existed late sixties, early seventies but not so much today.

There are a gajillion (slight exaggeration) different ways to work that color scheme to enhance the color of the brick. I would like to suggest that the brick isn't ugly. Rather the current color scheme is less than flattering; maybe leave the brick alone and instead fix the other colors that aren't working so much.

You are making good points, and maybe a better overall color scheme would increase the curb appeal.

I don't think it would be wise to create a perpetual maintenance situation with paint. I "hoped" there was something like a stain that would be once and done.

I actually wonder if the colors are working fine, but with the landscaping, it looks a bit dated. My mother's from southside Chicago and I always wonder about the very composed landscaping design there that consistently seems to accompany homes from this era.

I don't know, it may also just be me since I'm from the west coast and we have a different ascetic in most places here so that's what I'm used to?