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Product Description
Album Description
Having achieved success with their first album Sunshine Hit Me, the Bees return with Free the Bees, an album that beats its predecessor hands down. Free The Bees is a perfect album of indie-pop, tinged with 60s catchy hooks and 70s psychedelic rock. These Isle of Wight exiles lead the vanguard of shroomadelic Brit rock--prepare to be stung.
Product Description
BEES Free The Bees (2004 UK 12-track CD album featuring the second outing from the UK band but their first on the Virgin Label and recorded at the Abbey Road studios. Includes the singles Wash In The Rain and The Horsemen. With fold out lyric/picture sleeve CDV2983)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Isle of Wight probably isn't the first place you'd think of if you were asked to name a hotbed of musical invention. But if there are many more bands like The Bees knocking around there, it might soon be.
I've heard of a few artists being cited as likely influences on this album, from The Monkees (fair enough) to Ocean Colour Scene (never in a million years) to Sonny and Cher (erm....). But whatever The Bees have been listening to (and I'd guess it's Rubber Soul, Pet Sounds and Ogden's Nut Gone Flake as well as all kinds of other classic '60s pop and psychedelia), they must have pretty good taste.
This is a fine record, veering from the sublime poppiness of 'These Are The Ghosts' or the harder edge of 'Horsemen', to the totally barmy 'Chicken Payback' and the organ driven, pseudo-reggae grooves of 'The Russian'. And that's just the first half of the album.
Free The Bees is one of those albums that sounds like lots of things you've heard before, but simultaneously not quite like anything else. There are lush, harmony drenched tunes like 'This Is The Land' where there is an unexpected discordant guitar and piano thrown in. Then there's the clipped, strutting pop of 'Hourglass', with its lazy, laid-back guitar solo and woodwind accompaniment, followed by the fairground psychedelia of 'Go Karts'. Every song seems to have some new delight waiting for you.
This is an album made in the finest traditions of British Pop and Rock dating back to the whimsy of Syd Barrett and The Kinks and through to more recent acts like The Bluetones and The Beta Band. A riot.
I've heard of a few artists being cited as likely influences on this album, from The Monkees (fair enough) to Ocean Colour Scene (never in a million years) to Sonny and Cher (erm....). But whatever The Bees have been listening to (and I'd guess it's Rubber Soul, Pet Sounds and Ogden's Nut Gone Flake as well as all kinds of other classic '60s pop and psychedelia), they must have pretty good taste.
This is a fine record, veering from the sublime poppiness of 'These Are The Ghosts' or the harder edge of 'Horsemen', to the totally barmy 'Chicken Payback' and the organ driven, pseudo-reggae grooves of 'The Russian'. And that's just the first half of the album.
Free The Bees is one of those albums that sounds like lots of things you've heard before, but simultaneously not quite like anything else. There are lush, harmony drenched tunes like 'This Is The Land' where there is an unexpected discordant guitar and piano thrown in. Then there's the clipped, strutting pop of 'Hourglass', with its lazy, laid-back guitar solo and woodwind accompaniment, followed by the fairground psychedelia of 'Go Karts'. Every song seems to have some new delight waiting for you.
This is an album made in the finest traditions of British Pop and Rock dating back to the whimsy of Syd Barrett and The Kinks and through to more recent acts like The Bluetones and The Beta Band. A riot.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Uh-oh, a follow-up to a much-loved Britpop album. That can only spell "high expectations." And that's the major problem with "Free the Bees," an otherwise lovely sophomore album by the British pop band. They shift their sound a bit, but retain the lush 60s influences and bright melodies.
Their first album was pieced together in much rougher circumstances -- in fact, it was stuck together in a garden shed. So the Bees get to make their sound a bit more polished this time around. It's perhaps not coincidental that they recorded "Free the Bees" at Abbey Road, since they seem to have soaked in the summery psychedelic vibe of the sixties.
That's most evident in songs like "Wash In The Rain," a summery pop tune that is washed in Hammond organ, or "One Glass of Water," a charmingly retro sound that is completely catchy and sweet. And they stray a bit from the sound with "Horseman," which is more influenced by harder rock from a decade later on. And "Chicken Payback" is nothing but hilarious.
The Bees (formerly "Band of Bees") are not known for their originality or wild experimentation. They're known for making good pop music, and they don't disappoint here. Their music absolutely reeks of the summer of love, and they obviously are influenced by plenty of older bands, wandering happily from sixties psychedelica to seventies rock. But with that in mind, their music is warm and refreshing.
The best word to describe the music is bouncy -- the Bees call on snappy drums and cheery basslines and guitar riffs for their energetic sound, as well as some deeply moving Hammond organ. To finish off the sound, they inject some exquisite little harmonies that would make the Zombies wipe away a tear of pride.
Those looking for a bit of sun in the middle of winter might need this. The Bees sound very retro in their second album, but seem to be having plenty of fun as they travel back in time.
Their first album was pieced together in much rougher circumstances -- in fact, it was stuck together in a garden shed. So the Bees get to make their sound a bit more polished this time around. It's perhaps not coincidental that they recorded "Free the Bees" at Abbey Road, since they seem to have soaked in the summery psychedelic vibe of the sixties.
That's most evident in songs like "Wash In The Rain," a summery pop tune that is washed in Hammond organ, or "One Glass of Water," a charmingly retro sound that is completely catchy and sweet. And they stray a bit from the sound with "Horseman," which is more influenced by harder rock from a decade later on. And "Chicken Payback" is nothing but hilarious.
The Bees (formerly "Band of Bees") are not known for their originality or wild experimentation. They're known for making good pop music, and they don't disappoint here. Their music absolutely reeks of the summer of love, and they obviously are influenced by plenty of older bands, wandering happily from sixties psychedelica to seventies rock. But with that in mind, their music is warm and refreshing.
The best word to describe the music is bouncy -- the Bees call on snappy drums and cheery basslines and guitar riffs for their energetic sound, as well as some deeply moving Hammond organ. To finish off the sound, they inject some exquisite little harmonies that would make the Zombies wipe away a tear of pride.
Those looking for a bit of sun in the middle of winter might need this. The Bees sound very retro in their second album, but seem to be having plenty of fun as they travel back in time.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Uh-oh, a follow-up to a much-loved Britpop album. That can only spell "high expectations." And that's the major problem with "Free the Bees," an otherwise lovely sophomore album by the British pop band. They shift their sound a bit, but retain the lush 60s influences and bright melodies.
Their first album was pieced together in much rougher circumstances -- in fact, it was stuck together in a garden shed. So the Bees get to make their sound a bit more polished this time around. It's perhaps not coincidental that they recorded "Free the Bees" at Abbey Road, since they seem to have soaked in the summery psychedelic vibe of the sixties.
That's most evident in songs like "Wash In The Rain," a summery pop tune that is washed in Hammond organ, or "One Glass of Water," a charmingly retro sound that is completely catchy and sweet. And they stray a bit from the sound with "Horseman," which is more influenced by harder rock from a decade later on. And "Chicken Payback" is nothing but hilarious.
The Bees (formerly "Band of Bees") are not known for their originality. They're known for making good pop music. Their music absolutely reeks of the summer of love, and they obviously are influenced by plenty of older bands, wandering happily from sixties psychedelica to seventies rock. But with that in mind, their music is warm and refreshing.
The best word to describe the music is bouncy -- the Bees call on snappy drums and cheery basslines and guitar riffs for their sound, as well as some deeply moving Hammond organ. To finish off the sound, they inject some harmonies that would make the Zombies wipe away a tear of pride.
Those looking for a bit of sun in the middle of winter might need this. The Bees sound very retro in their second album, but seem to be having plenty of fun as they travel back in time.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Just brilliant
This is the 2nd album from Isle of Wight based band The Bees and its an absolute corker from start to finish. Read more
Published 13 months ago by meatshake
A different level
This is by far the dtrongest Bees album. Octopus is good but it veers worryingly away from the melodies and breadth of sound of this album. Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2007 by The Bondsman
Pah!
The Bees second album is chock full of melody. Some other reviewers preferred the first album, which was a completely different sounding record, and therefore doesn't bear... Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2006 by johnnybrolly
Erm....?
Hmmm, not really sure if I've been listening to the same album as everyone else who's reviewed. Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2006 by Don't Make Me Break You
Bees take a more user-friendly approach
Although I loved Sunshine Hit Me and its chilled vibes, I must say that Free The Bees is a bit of a victim of "dodgy-second album syndrome. Read more
Published on 19 Sep 2005 by William Warren
You Need This Album!!
If I said that this album is good I would actually be making an understatement. I bought this album after only hearing one of their songs and now I can barely go a day without... Read more
Published on 28 Nov 2004 by Freed Bee
So, so good
This album is really something special. Its so different. So retro! It really annoys me all the negative reviews of this album. Read more
Published on 31 Oct 2004 by C. M. Hollis
Free The Bees - On Bail though perhaps.
This album perfectly deflects the blow of returning to London after a heavy weekend in Brighton. Anyone who doesn't like Chicken Payback should take a long hard look at themselves... Read more
Published on 29 Sep 2004
Rock Island of Wight
The Bees look like a badly dressed bunch of Badly Drawn Boy imititators, their music is all sixties bluster and seventies cod-funk cheese but amazingly they have created one of the... Read more
Published on 16 July 2004
Shamelessly retrogressive but still the bees knees
If chiming scuzzed up guitars, huge reticulating slabs of Hammond organ and a sixties vibe so vivid that it would give Oliver Stone palpitations are you're thing then you are going... Read more
Published on 12 July 2004 by russell clarke
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