Let's do the time warp again
Consider an impression, one of a celebrity or someone you know. If it's done really well, it can be fantastic. But there's that point where the person doing the impression is doing it so often, incorporating the mannerisms into their daily life that you start wondering if maybe the impressionist is starting to become their subject, turning an impression into a new personality.
Then again, if that new personality is a good one, why worry?
The Bees (or, Band of Bees, as they're legally known in the US) have this problem. They're '60's-retro, yes, and it's not as though that's an uncommon thing, but in songwriting, performance and production, they're so '60's that they're less like a new band and more like a tribute band that's playing original songs.
Then again, if the songs are as gloriously catchy and fun as "Chicken Payback", why worry?
6 comments:
So basically they sound a lot like Oasis?
The funny thing is, I often find myself *wishing* Oasis sounded *more* like the Beatles. (Though I actually think the latest Oasis record is quite listenable.) Did the Beatles ever bury their melodies under a wash of distorted guitars and horrible production? These days it seems like anything that's melodic get's labelled "Beatle-esque". I've always found the term sorta fun as the Fabs themselves were stylistically all over the map. Which leads me to Free the Bee's. A great album that was actually recorded at Abbey Road, is stylically all over the map and sounds like it was written and recorded circa 1967. Now, that's my kinda Beatle-esque!
The biggest difference is that Oasis sounds like a current band that has a lot of '60's influences (thought they also have a lot of '70's and '90's influcences as well) whereas the Bees seem like they're not just trying to be a band that's influenced by the '60's, but are actually trying to be a '60's band. Which is not a bad thing to be, but it does mostly make me want to get out Beg, Scream And Shout and everything I own by the Beatles and Kinks.
Now I'm confused!? Do you like it or think it's too much of a pastiche? And have you heard the rest of the album yet?
Both! I like it and I think it's too much of a pastiche. It's really fun to listen to, but it's so faithful to the sound and styles of the decade that ultimately, I just want to listen to music from that time. I've listened to the full album once, and it's enjoyable, but because it's so much of a tribute, I don't really find that it sticks to the bones, you know?
Sorry for the weirdness. Blogger wouldn't publish for some odd reason. Not that I had anything to say, so it was probably all for the best.
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