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Where did The Bees go?

Started by Brundle-Fly, July 30, 2014, 01:19:36 PM

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Brundle-Fly

Last album was four years ago and their website hasn't been updated since Feb 2013. I used to like this lot and always thought they were a bit underrated. Great live too. I guess, for some they were a bit muso, weren't charismatic enough for the game and have gone the same way as Gomez?

Anybody know what happened to The Bees?

KennyMonster


CaledonianGonzo

I saw them supporting someone a year or so back.  Maybe The National...?

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: KennyMonster on July 30, 2014, 01:23:21 PM

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/15/ban-neonicotinoids-another-silent-spring-pesticide-moratorium[nb]can't believe I'm the first oh so witty person to state this obvious joke[/nb]

You're not. That's why I phrased my subject title to allude to this recent environmental dilemma.

Don_Preston


thraxx


One of them is still alive, Barry I think.

23 Daves

I like The Bees, but if I'm being blunt they are (were?) lucky bastards - there are thousands of bands out there making a very similar retro-tinged noise, a few of whom are actually better at it but never got beyond deals with small indies. And their albums all seemed to consist of four or five incredibly good tracks plus a bunch of mere pleasantness or plain filler.

"Listening Man" really deserves to be much more widely known, though. Had that been by the Spencer Davies Group, it would be on every single sixties summer compilation in the world.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: 23 Daves on July 30, 2014, 02:16:25 PM
I like The Bees, but if I'm being blunt they are (were?) lucky bastards - there are thousands of bands out there making a very similar retro-tinged noise, a few of whom are actually better at it but never got beyond deals with small indies. And their albums all seemed to consist of four or five incredibly good tracks plus a bunch of mere pleasantness or plain filler.

"Listening Man" really deserves to be much more widely known, though. Had that been by the Spencer Davies Group, it would be on every single sixties summer compilation in the world.

What other Bees-like bands would you say were better, 23Daves? I agree with your surmising of their albums though. I love the song, Punchbag, in fact the whole of Sunshine Hit Me debut album was lovely. They did a beautiful one off remix for John Cale E is Missing which sadly isn't on YouTube.

God, that was over ten years ago!

SteveDave


the science eel

Free The Bees was fucking A. I didn't care for much else I heard, but that one was a real blast from start to finish.

doppelkorn

I think I remember reading an interview with them in Tape Ops in about 2010 where they talked about all their analogue studio gear.

Hope that helps :(

Brundle-Fly

They're back!!! Now called 77.78

I'm a sucker for this sort of stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlEIZelGrwc

Dr Syntax Head

Good news. Good lads the Bees

Johnny Yesno


Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth


Custard

Them Bees were ace. So many tunes

itsfredtitmus

Always get them mixed up with Beta band

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: itsfredtitmus on March 20, 2018, 12:10:42 AM
Always get them mixed up with Beta band

The whole  Steely Dan/ Steeleye Span axis all over again?

Ferris


Brundle-Fly




Glebe

[tag]Cage: Phew, what a relief![/tag]

alan nagsworth

I have to say I always found The Bees to be nothing more than "alright", and that 77:78 song hasn't impressed me either. The Bees may have been a cut above their peers in that big early noughties indie swell, but that's doesn't really make them a good band in my eyes, just a band who are more acutely aware of their influences. That "Sky Holds The Sun" track is like something Super Furry Animals would lazily jam out in the studio before immediately riffing it into something much bigger and better. That tune goes nowhere, it's completely dull.

Furthermore in light of other recent bands like King Gizzard who seem to knock out barnstorming psych-revivalist masterpieces like The River in their sleep, The Bees really do pale in comparison.

itsfredtitmus

Gizzard sound too much from the school of Temples and TA for me

alan nagsworth

Temples are no better than The Bees, definitely another BBC 6 Music "pedestrian tune of the day" band. Gizz have a lot more going for them, trust me.

phantom_power

Quote from: alan nagsworth on March 21, 2018, 12:02:50 PM
I have to say I always found The Bees to be nothing more than "alright", and that 77:78 song hasn't impressed me either. The Bees may have been a cut above their peers in that big early noughties indie swell, but that's doesn't really make them a good band in my eyes, just a band who are more acutely aware of their influences. That "Sky Holds The Sun" track is like something Super Furry Animals would lazily jam out in the studio before immediately riffing it into something much bigger and better. That tune goes nowhere, it's completely dull.


It isn't meant to go anywhere. It is just a lazy, woozy, mellow groove (baby).

alan nagsworth

yeah and it STINKS LIKE A DOG EGG

phantom_power

Quote from: alan nagsworth on March 21, 2018, 01:07:39 PM
yeah and it STINKS LIKE A DOG EGG

In your (fucking wanker's) opinion!

Brundle-Fly

What the Bees have going for them (to my ears) is a fantastic knack for a great melody that put them head and thorax above a lot of the Nu-psyche bands who think it's just enough by simply adding some phasing. 

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard are very good I grant you, but I think they're completely a pedestrian BBC6 Music band. The River sounds no more 'out there' than The Cyrkle from 1967. Not that there is anything wrong with either of those things. 

What 'Gizz have going for them is probably a better image than The Bees who made Gomez seem like GWAR.. It's the dreaded muso tag.