The Bees: The best 60’s band of the 21st Century
(Barry likes The Bees. Barry would like to tell you about The Bees. Ladies and Gentlemen, Barry on The Bees.)
This is my first blog for nialler9 (actually ever) but my current unemployment situation has given me the time to get through huge quantities of music so I felt I might as well do something productive. Most of this time I have been listening to music that I hadn’t listened to in ages or felt I had neglected. So while spinning the Bees (Band of Bees in America) second album Free the Bees (well worth a look), a quick look at their website told me they had a new album – Octopus so I checked it out.
While the Isle of Wight lads could lazily be judged as an indie rock group, they play a style of music that is somewhat hard to categorize, displaying a broad range of influences – 60’s rock, folk, reggae, soul and jazz. In other words, a refreshing alternative to the current ilk of Libertines & Arctic Monkeys spin offs that occupy the British indie rock genre at the moment. Each track on Octopus is followed by an equally strong song, all of which encompass the aforemented influences while the general mood of the record is mellow and uplifting.
Unlike their 2nd album, which I fell instantly in love with, I had to give Octopus many listens to fully appreciate it. Similarly because of the type of album it is, it’s difficult to pick out the stand out tracks but I will anyway. The first track and soon to be single “Who Cares What the Question is?” exemplifies the fusion of many different styles and influences. The song begins with a simple blues riff, which runs throughout and is accompanied by a pithy organ and chilled vocals which make the song slightly psychedelic in a Super Furries kinda way. The video to the single is equally good, mixing psychedelic visuals with spaghetti westerns. The other stand out track is Number 9 “Hot One” which again is an uplifting mix of the styles discussed previously.
You can listen to the whole album on their Myspazz, and all that’s left to say is cheers to nialler9 for allowing me to crapifiy (is that even a word?) his award winning music blog.
MP3s
The Bees – Who cares what the Question is?
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/The_Bees_-_Who_Cares_What_The_Question_Is_.mp3]
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/The_Bees_-_Hot One.mp3]
Video – “Who cares what the Question is?”
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