Records - The Bees

• David Pollock
• 27 March 2007

The Bees

Octopus (Virgin)

COUNTRY ROCK

Is there any band that says summer more than The Bees? I don’t know what they put in the water on the Isle of Wight, but this is one of the most breezy records you’re likely to hear. It should be given out at the gates of every summer festival in the land.

It’s also not afraid to throw every genre at the wall to see what sticks, from the West Coast country rock of ‘Love In The Harbour’, to ‘Left Foot Stepdown’s writhing skank-pop and ‘(This Is For The) Better Days’, which has its roots in a car chase funk keyboard riff. The whole album seems to recreate an imaginary Summer of Love which stretched from ‘68 to the summer of ‘72.