One spin of this CD and DiS is whisked away on a cloud of green smoke to the fantasy festivals of yore. It’s comparable to blending all the best bits of Led Zep and hippie rockers Grateful Dead, with a spoonful of Motown classics to help the medicine go down. Best of all there are no knobbish guitar solos or unwanted wanky ‘jazz’ bits to get in the way. It’s like getting the free love, but without the hairy armpits and STDs. Lovely.
Two classic singles, ‘Horsemen’ and ‘Wash In The Rain’ (“I got salt you got pepper/Maybe we should get it together”), carry the first half of the album, while the aching ‘I Love You’ is a damn fine stab at updating The Flamingos’ masterpiece ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’, falling only inches short of its mark. Paul Butler’s understated voice wraps itself around the melodies like a grittier Jimi Goodwin, offset by a choir perfectly atmospheric back-up vocals.
The Bees are unique in that they fill a hole from the past that really needs filling and they’re more focussed in their vision than contemporaries like The Coral. More power to the Isle Of Wight massive!
The Bees - Free The Bees
Re: The Bees - Free The Bees
Terrible Shady?
Elaborate please - if you put me off getting the album, that saves me a tenner :)
Re: The Bees - Free The Bees
Its utter retro crap (probably why the NME loves it so much)!!!
The Bees do have a certain charm about them, as do some of the songs, but overall this album really is pants...
Spend the tenner on beer, or better still an album u'll actually enjoy!!!
Re: The Bees - Free The Bees
They're better than the fucking Killers aswell.
Good review man, totally agree.
The Bees - Free The Bees
The Bees - Free The Bees
The Bees - Free The Bees
Re: The Bees - Free The Bees
"Give him a flower"
Rach
Xx
Bees Knees my arse
Just listened to a few Bees tracks as they're playing Leeds soon... they sound dire, I'll be saving my money for something more worthy ta.
Ach,
The Bees appeal to the lowest possible base and shallow rhythmic attractions. 'Chicken Payback' is not supposed to be a song that makes you think or understand. It's mindless and it makes you happy...like Blink. Anything wrong witht that?