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Old 01-03-2010, 03:21 PM   #48 (permalink)
Bulldog
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: UK
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Time for a bump and a half...

The Bees - Free the Bees (2004)

genre: indie, psychedelic
1. These Are the Ghosts
2. Wash In the Rain
3. No Atmosphere
4. Horsemen
5. Chicken Payback
6. The Russian
7. I Love You
8. The Start
9. Hourglass
10. Go Karts
11. One Glass Of Water
12. This Is the Land


There are probably a few questions that you want ansred, such as 'what's the capital of Trinidad and Tobago', 'who the hell are the Bees' and 'how do I fix my boiler?' The answer to those questions in no particular order; I've never done so myself, Port Of Spain and a psychedelic indie group from the Isle Of Wight. In fact, that last one about the Bees being from the Isle Of Wight is particularly interesting because, as you'll discover if you know these guys, Paul Butler's vocal Kris Birkin's pristine and twangy guitar sound (at least in places) very American, and not from such a quintessentially English spot. At the end of the day, what we have is a very fun, upbeat and energetically guitar-heavy indie sound spiced up by some touches of psychedelia here and there.

These Are the Ghosts kicks the album into life nicely and fittingly with a quick swathe of psychedelic-sounding feedback before the kind of echoey vocal eventually evolves into a nice, loud thrash-up of a song. Wash In the Rain introduces us to another stylistic theme of the album, that being loud, sharp and repetitive guitar motifs underpinning a very neat and catchy tune, with the odd use of the hammond organ keeping things in line with the overall sound. It's all very reminiscent of west coast psychedelia, as is the early highlight No Atmosphere - opened by a fantastic, rolling and repetitive guitar riff before a very neat little time change sets this one apart from the rest.

Following the more psychedelic-leaning opening salvo, we move into single territory, the first of these being the fabulous Horsemen, propelled as it is by some more very prominent guitar and a great little melody before an intriguing piece of studio trickery takes us through each chorus. Top stuff, and fittingly followed by the equally-awesome and catchy though much more simplistic Chicken Payback. The video's hilarious too. As you may have noticed by now, great guitar work and convincing echoes of west coast psychedelia are common strong-points of this album, and the five minute instrumental workout that is the Russian is yet one more example of this.

I Love You, as you might guess from the lame title, is the weak point of the album, being a very uninteresting little number as it is as the overall pace of the album starts to take a turn for the slower. Things improve with the Start, but nevertheless the weaker middle-section of the album continues here. Hourglass is much more like, as although it keeps going with the slower part of the album, and while it's unusual in that it's a rare, bass-driven number here, it plays to the rest of the album's strengths by using the hammond organ superbly and featuring some very good guitar work. The kind of carnival-time, waltzy aspects to Go Karts does make it seem as if the guys had been listening to Being For the Benefit Of Mr. Kite quite a bit when the idea for this intriguing little tune came to them. Easily the most left-of-centre moment of the album then.

As it nears its end, the album picks up the pace again as it speeds towards its climax. The penultimate One Glass Of Water is another tune that really plays to the album's strengths in that not only is it catchy, fun and loud, but it also kinda tricks you into thinking you're dealing with a straight-up indie rocker before the rhythm section and guitar goes into overdrive and makes a beautiful mess of the whole thing. This Is the Land puts the lid on the whole thing as the band tear through another great little west coast-flavoured psychedelic number.

Overall, we're dealing with some pretty bloody good stuff, even if there are a couple of weaker moments to be found. I'm not exactly anyone you could call an indie lover, but I love this album when it plays to its strengths, as when it does it's far from an album you have to know and love a lot more indie to appreciate. Basically, if you're into your nice, loud guitars and especially west coast psychedelia (primarily Nuggets vol 1), get this album.


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