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 The Bees Sunshine Hit Me (2002) 
Rating (Out of 10): 9 Tracklisting: Punchbag / Angryman / No Trophy / Binnel Bay / Sunshine / Minha Menina / This Town / Sweet Like A Champion / Lying In The Snow / Zia / Sky Holds The Sun This album was recommended to me by a friend. At the time of buying it I had no idea what was in store and the cover depicting some sort of wresting mask really wasn’t much help. Little did I know that I buying an absolute gem and one of the most new and exciting records I had heard in a long time. ‘Sunshine Hit Me’ is the debut album from the Isle of White duo The Bees. Both Paul Butler and Aaron Fletcher are multi-instrumentalists and both are influenced by a myriad of different people. Hence, what you get on their debut album is an innovative and fresh new sound influenced by a variety of sounds and genres which come together to create something very special. Vocal Harmonies are a big feature of this album, as is a wide range of instrumentation. It’s hard to name someone to compare The Bees to because they don’t really sound like anyone else. Badly Drawn Boy is a name that comes to mind, not that they sound like him, but because of the range of instrumentation and style that they both use, and because of the wide variety of sounds all contained together on one album. Overall, ‘Sunshine Hit Me’ has a very easy going laid back sound. It sounds like an album from the 60’s yet it also sounds new and fresh at the same time. The entire album was recorded in Paul Butler’s parent’s shed with the duo being responsible for the production, recording, engineering and mixing of the album. Not bad for a couple of newcomers. Not only did the pair achieve something incredible in making an album that is incredibly well put together but they also received a nomination for the Mercury Music Prize. It really is quite an accomplishment. Song wise, the album is very diverse. Each song sounds completely different from the last, each possessing different styles and influences. The opening track ‘Punchbag’ is very reggae influenced, as is ‘No Trophy’ whereas ‘Angryman’ has a very funky and soulful sound to it and ‘Binnel Bay’ with it’s effective use of percussion, focuses on stunning vocal harmonies. ‘The Sky Holds The Sun’ is a gem of a track to end the album with. It is a gorgeous song and is entirely made up of just one line of lyrics - “I want to hold you like the sky holds the sun’, repeated over and over again. It really works, and is the repetition isn’t tedious at all, and as a matter of fact, it took me several listens before I realized there only was one line of lyrics. With the huge number of bands out there pretty much doing the same thing , most of which don’t possess much origality or talent, The Bees are a breath of fresh air. They are solid proof that there is real talent out there. These guys are proper musicians. They’re not such art students who thought it would be fun to throw together a band, and they’d worry about learning their instruments later on. These are guys are the real deal, and with their debut album there was no messing about. They got down to business right from the word go and showed that even from a garden shed they could produce some of the best music around. Send A Comment BACK TO INDEX BACK TO MUSIC REVIEWS INDEX |