The Bees | ||
| Allmusic Biography : The Bees (known as "A Band of Bees" in America, owing to a rights conflict over their name) started out as the duo of Paul Butler and Aaron Fletcher, both of whom hailed from the Isle of Wight. They recorded their debut album, Sunshine Hit Me, in a home studio in a shed in Butlers parents garden. Butler and Fletcher, both multi-instrumentalists and singers, were avid record collectors and, even more so, avid record listeners with interests that extend back to the roots of British rock and into American soul, as well as a multitude of other directions. Sunshine Hit Me, released by We Love You as a U.K.-only issue and credited to the Bees, reflected their interests and listening, melding 60s freakbeat and psychedelic sensibilities with 70s power pop, and got nominated for the coveted Mercury Music Prize in 2002. Their prospects were further enhanced when the duos rendition of Os Mutantes "A Minha Menina," from Sunshine Hit Me, was licensed for use in a car commercial in England. The Mercury nomination and the albums critical success led to the assembly of an actual band, and a couple of years of steady touring. When the smoke cleared, the Bees were officially a sextet with everyone writing songs and switching off on instruments (and Fletcher doing their lyrics). And instead of recording their second album in the Butler family garden shed, as theyd intended, Butlers stint producing another act at EMI ended up with the group booking three weeks there. It took that long for the six members -- Kris Birkin, Michael Clevitt, Tim Parkin, Warren Hampshire, Butler, and Fletcher (all of them except lead guitarist Birkin multi-instrumentalists) -- to create Free the Bees. Released in the summer of 2004 on the Virgin imprint, the album got rave reviews in England and earned notice in the United States as well, working its way into better stores and eliciting positive reviews from critics who normally would never have known about it. The groups work has been variously compared to that of the Small Faces (and the Faces), the Beatles, the Byrds, Donovan, the Kinks, the Temptations, and early Pink Floyd, with some other interesting permutations. Butler, for example, counts his own influences as Lee Perry, King Tubby, and Fela Kuti. They saw further commercial success when the tracks "Chicken Payback" and "Wash in the Rain," off of Free the Bees, were both picked up for use in television commercials. In 2005, in the wake of their success with Free the Bees, the band was also prominently featured on the soundtrack of the Brian Jones biographical film Stoned. Their contribution, doing some finely executed and nicely inventive covers of songs from the Rolling Stones repertory -- including a version of "The Last Time" that managed to rock as hard as the original and get the guitar nuances right, even as it was decked out with sitar -- provided some of the very few bright spots to be found in a film that was otherwise greeted as wrong-headed and tedious by most critics; and their tracks made the soundtrack CD well worth picking up. In 2007, reduced to a quintet with Clevitts departure, they released Octopus, a brilliant, wide-ranging pop/rock opus that had inventiveness and unexpected influences quietly oozing out from between every note and chorus. Its feet were planted in 2007, but its musical influences looked back to the Kinks of Village Green Preservation Society and the Small Faces of "The Universal." As with much of their earlier work, the album seemed to demand attention as much as it elicited delight, like a book the reader cant put down. They followed the album with 2010s similarly eclectic Every Steps a Yes. For all of their seeming 60s influences, the group comes off as startlingly contemporary, just willing to reach back to artists and styles they admire when it suits them and the music at hand. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 5 Title: Punchbag EP Released: 2001-08-20 Tracks: 6 Duration: 20:37 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Punchbag (03:38) 2 Town Version (03:04) 3 A Minha Menina (02:49) 4 Elain (03:10) 5 Whistle Chop (04:02) 6 Jackel Head (03:53) |
 | Album: 2 of 5 Title: Sunshine Hit Me Released: 2002-03-25 Tracks: 12 Duration: 44:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Punchbag (03:38) 2 Angryman (04:06) 3 No Trophy (03:26) 4 Binnel Bay (02:57) 5 Sunshine (03:27) 6 A Minha Menina (02:49) 7 This Town (02:59) 8 Sweet Like a Champion (04:27) 9 Lying in the Snow (03:53) 10 Zia (04:12) 11 Sky Holds the Sun (03:40) 12 You Got to Leave (05:12) |
| Sunshine Hit Me : Allmusic album Review : The Bees prance around the same psychedelic pop themes and tones of the Beta Band on Sunshine Hit Me. But somehow they take things to a whole other level, as their familiarity with vintage instruments and addictive laid-back swagger help them avoid the pretension that sometimes follows the Beta Band. Where the Isle of Wight duos peers might name-check the Beach Boys, the Bees simply use them as a subtle starting point. Gentle harmonies mix perfectly with ornate horns that seem straight off a Stereolab album. Its hard to say whats more compelling about the great "Punchbag": Is it the lyric "Im too much for caged monkeys" or the utterly warped beat that shuffles back on itself like a stoned boxer? The Bees dont linger in one musical genre like so many neo-psychedelic bands. Instead, they perfect one style and then move on to another, and somehow it all fits together perfectly. The lazy throwback jazz of "Angryman" fits snugly alongside the sublime, wobbly dub of "No Trophy." The latter really is stunning, sounding as if it were recorded in the heart of Jamaica rather than on a semi-desolate island. "A Minha Menina" (an Os Mutantes cover) gives the White Stripes a run for their money, as dollops of mad blues energy and a fuzzy guitar beg for inclusion on some future Nuggets compilation. The final five tracks are surprising in their adherence to mellow dynamics, showing that the Bees are wholly confident to end their debut with peaceful pianos, somber organs, muted trumpets, and a general sense of serenity. "Zia" is even reminiscent of contemporary slow-drip songs from Lambchop, only without the irony. The Bees emerge as true masters of atmosphere with the swirling, delightful Sunshine Hit Me. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 5 Title: Free the Bees Released: 2004-06-28 Tracks: 14 Duration: 58:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 These Are the Ghosts (03:08) 2 Wash in the Rain (03:38) 3 No Atmosphere (03:48) 4 Horsemen (03:29) 5 Chicken Payback (03:13) 6 The Russian (05:36) 7 I Love You (04:35) 8 The Start (02:19) 9 Hourglass (04:46) 10 Go Karts (03:44) 11 One Glass of Water (02:41) 12 This Is the Land (08:00) 13 Isnt It Exact (demo) (03:53) 14 These Are the Ghosts (Undead version) (05:11) |
| Free the Bees : Allmusic album Review : Band of Bees second album Free the Bees is a rollicking, breathtaking romp through the 60s, calling to mind classic band after classic band but also conjuring up a modern and original sound of their own. "These Are the Ghosts," the CDs opening track, gives us echoes of the psychedelic-era Small Faces, the Kinks circa Village Green Preservation Society, and even, at times, Pink Floyd circa Piper at the Gates of Dawn. There are moments on "No Atmosphere" where they sound like the Small Faces quoting the Beatles obliquely from Rubber Soul, and elsewhere it suddenly sounds as though the ghost of George Harrison has stepped into the studio to throw in some licks from a White Album jam. And incidentally, the studio in question where this album was cut was, indeed, EMI Studio No. 2, the very same that the Beatles used, so the Bees re-creating elements of the Beatles sound is no accident. "Chicken Payback" sounds like some discovery from the vaults of Stax Records, except that its not -- its an original, and it is original, and could pass for some 40-year-old Northern soul discovery. "The Russian" comes off like a piece of soundtrack music in search of a movie, circa Blow-Up, like for a chiller (The Deadly Bees, perhaps?) or spy picture where the producers couldnt afford John Barry. And "I Love You" shows off a lyricism and elegance that recalls the soul and psychedelic heyday at EMI, all shimmering guitars, sweet understated harmonizing, and a horn section. "Hourglass" carries us into a rarefied trippy territory somewhere between Pink Floyd and the Small Faces, with an exquisitely memorable chorus accompanied by electric piano, organ, and drums, and some vaguely Byrds-ish guitar, and "Go Karts" recalls the Small Faces at their cheerful, Cockney-inflected best. And the album finisher, "This Is the Land," melds radiant choruses, a trippy melody, and little touches of guitar copped from Between the Buttons and keyboards off of the first two Floyd albums except its all a lot more cheerful than Pink Floyd ever was. Free the Bees is all worth hearing, a lot more than once, and it could be the Album of the Year -- the only question is if that year is 2004 or 1968. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 5 Title: Octopus Released: 2007-03-26 Tracks: 10 Duration: 39:25 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Who Cares What the Question Is? (03:35) 2 Love in the Harbour (04:02) 3 Left Foot Stepdown (04:06) 4 Got to Let Go (05:23) 5 Listening Man (04:47) 6 Stand (04:13) 7 (This Is for the) Better Days (04:37) 8 The Ocularist (03:56) 9 Hot One! (02:45) 10 End of the Street (01:56) |
| Octopus : Allmusic album Review : The most intriguing collective of multi-instrumentalists since the Beta Band first began mixing an unholy array of accompaniment, the Bees (or A Band of Bees in America) channel some of the same 60s influences on Octopus as on their two previous records, and a few new ones as well. Fortunately, as usual, listeners who couldnt care less about playing a game of spot-the-influence are rewarded just as much as those who do; Octopus presents ten nuggets of effortless throwback pop, laid-back and breezy but tightly melodic. A trio of straightforward pop pleasers begins the album, all with the same jaunty, freewheeling character as a Beta Band jam (or a Kinks pastorale, for that matter). After a pair of marvelous detours -- "Got to Let Go" is organ-combo rock with a Caribbean flair á la Georgie Fame, while "Listening Man" echoes the high points of blue-eyed soul in the Rascals -- the Bees are back on track, although perhaps even more mellow than on the first half. Although not a concept album, Octopus does often return to the nautical theme (or more generally, travel away from home) thats de rigueur for indie rock during the 2000s, but here too, the Bees know that too much concept and not enough music is a bad trade-off. Without this set of brilliant songs or the masterful way they mix and match their instruments, the Bees wouldnt sound half as interesting as they do; they wouldnt be anything more than a retread of their 60s influences (or, perhaps, their retread of XTCs 60s influences). | ||
 | Album: 5 of 5 Title: Every Step’s a Yes Released: 2010-10-11 Tracks: 10 Duration: 42:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 I Really Need Love (05:39) 2 Winter Rose (05:03) 3 Silver Line (03:39) 4 No More Excuses (04:09) 5 Tired of Loving (03:18) 6 Change Can Happen (03:04) 7 Island Love Letter (03:40) 8 Skill of the Man (05:37) 9 Pressure Makes Me Lazy (03:33) 10 Gaia (04:24) |
| Every Step’s a Yes : Allmusic album Review : Every Steps a Yes has an enchanting drift to it. The Bees fourth record, it begins as a vibrant set of acoustic love songs, with a wry look at the process of love balladry ("Dont want to put my feelings into another song for you," from the opener "I Really Need Love"). Gradually, it turns to rosy but slightly morose rock built on the structure of early-70s Pink Floyd (think post-Barrett but pre-The Dark Side of the Moon), both musically and temperamentally. In between, more of the bands inspirations come through, in various strengths: autumnal Simon & Garfunkel harmonies, a hint of charged blue-eyed soul, a little bit of Jamaican lovers rock (or is it electrified West African pop?). This may make it sound exactly like the blueprint for every other Bees album, but Every Steps a Yes presents not just another strong set of songs, but a slightly more challenging obstacle overcome; there arent many kitchen-sink productions here. As the band peels away more pages from its production workbook, the songs become very powerful, more intimate and reflective, culminating in the beautiful "Island Love Letter." (Please note, this comes four tracks before the actual end of the record, a furious fourth-world love jam with Devendra Banhart titled "Gaia.") | ||