VOTB’s singles were famed for including a truckload of Bee-sides (ahem). The CD editions also contain a plethora of bonus tracks. Both are perfectly fine but are generally outclassed by the other tracks on the album. ![]() And then there’s the country tinged Oh Love. It was an odd choice to be a single, though, and barely scraped the top 100 in the UK. Man in the Moon is a pleasant enough, not to mention surreal, number. There are a couple of outlying tracks which don’t quite hit the spot, however. The other standout track – entertainingly enlivened with jungle animal noises – is Trust Me which desperately asks, “what good is the truth if we never use it?” Even I Say Nothing poignantly states “that’s why I drink, so I’ll be who they think I am.” The punchy What You Have is Enough is a thinly veiled swipe at a culture where the “price of shoes could feed families”. It’s also a brilliant piece of storytelling from Bryn. Sorrow Floats is a gorgeous melancholy reflection on alcoholism (“you can’t drown your sorrows… ‘cause you see my dear, sorrow it floats”). Man In The Moon: Photo credit © Mike Prior.īut there’s a more thoughtful side to some of the songs too. Additionally, There’s a Barbarian in the Back of My Car is a lot of fun – not least because one of the words is bleeped out, which always makes me smile. Of the remaining original album tracks, album opener Beat of Love is a song absolutely designed for the mosh pit and will have you nodding your head and stomping your feet within seconds. Don’t Call Me Baby, I Say Nothing, and I Walk the Earth are absolute stompers, and the slightly more sedate Just a City is a harmonic delight. The major singles still shine in all their shimmering, sunny, jangly guitar glory. It also showcases some of the unusual song structures and overlapping vocals they would play with over time. ‘Let it Bee’, to be frank, is way punkier and spikier, but it still shows the brilliance of the songwriting and musicianship which was their signature and with which I fell in love. This release is a deluxe reissue of their 1998 debut album ‘Let it Bee’, and it has to be said it is very different from 1995’s heavily produced ‘Sex and Misery’. Voice Of The Beehive – ‘Let It Bee’ (London Records) The band name is partly inspired by Melissa’s name, which in Greek means ‘honeybee’, but is also a clear nod to Victor Erice’s 1973 Spanish film ‘Spirit of the Beehive’. Another former Madness alumnus, Mark Bedford, helped shape their sound but did not become part of the main line-up. Once here they joined forces with UK musicians Mike Jones, Martin Brett, and Daniel ‘Woody’ Woodgate, the latter at the time being the former drummer of Madness. Voice of the Beehive were formed when Californian sisters Tracey Bryn and Melissa Brooke Belland came to England in the mid-80s because it was the home of their favourite bands and they wanted to form one of their own. (My box of vinyl is almost exclusively VOTB 12”ers, although – just to preserve my “what, really?” credentials – it also includes a Jive Bunny picture disc.) Voice of the Beehive plus erotic light show! And more at Underworld! Melody Maker, 22 June 1991 (Source: ) Loving it, I then ended up working my way back through their – admittedly short – back catalogue and then started acquiring their very collectable singles and special releases. So it was that a couple of days after hearing Scary Kisses – the track in question – I headed to the indie record store in Canterbury to get the ‘Sex and Misery’ album it was taken from so I could hear more. I needed at once to know who this band were. The first track captivated me immediately: the combination of lush synths and guitars was a heady one and, added to that, the gloriously harmonised vocals held my attention at once. It was on a car journey with my friend – and occasional collaborator – Paul Morris (no relation) where he just shoved a mixtape into the dashboard and let it play. ![]() ![]() I remember the day I first encountered Voice of the Beehive. ❉ Sunny Californian pop meets UK cynicism in a brilliant formative album, writes We Are Cult’s Rob Morris.
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