In the music biz, the sophomore slump is a feared concept.
When a band produces a stellar debut, chances are its second attempt will probably, well, in a word, bite. Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, Asia, The Beastie Boys, The Go-Go's and The Knack (remember the Knack?) are just a few bands who have produced a second album that in no way lived up to their debut.
Tracy and Melissa Belland, originally from California, formed Voice Of The Beehive in 1987 in England when they couldn't get a recording contract in the United States. Out of their desperation came Let It Bee, a sarcastic, biting and downright funky gem of an album that probes the eternal question, why doesn't that bastard call?
Honey Lingers is a natural progression from that album, probing the same subject matter with a different, more mature perspective. Filled with walls of guitar sound, the album jangles along on its merry way painting a portrait of love and hope and sex and dreams.
And it's all in an attractive 10-song, 31-minute package. Yup, in the age of the 70-minute album (you know the one you program the first six songs into the compact disc player and ignore the rest), Voice of the Beehive has made a quick, cool easily digested package.
Hopefully this trend will continue. I am so sick of albums that won't fit on one side of a 90-minute cassette. It causes me great mental anguish to use one tape to record one album. Yes, it's anal, but I digress.
The first single, "Monsters and Angels," is a boppin' little tune that deals with the dual nature that everyone has within them:
"There is a peacefulness and a rage inside us all/there is sugar and there is salt/there is ice and there is fire in every single heart/there are monsters and there are angels."
The chorus to the song implanted itself in my brain --like a sloshed friend who doesn't know when to leave -- for three days.
As comedian Richard Jenni once said,"It's love songs, love songs, love songs six billion hours a day, I am so goddamned sick of love songs."
Yes, Voice of The Beehive is guilty of filling its album with love songs, but not like any you've heard before. "Say It," is about how a man won't commit or even say the "L" word. "Don't say it to me/I won't say it to you/As long as we're not saying it I know something else we can do." And "I'm Shooting Cupid," is about how killing off Cupid would make love a whole lot easier.
It's kind of obvious that these women put little creedence in love. And in these days of Paula Abdul pablum and Taylor Dane drippy romanticism, it's a refreshing change to hear music that portrays love the way it really is -- gut wrenching, nasty and totally unreliable.
So check these women out. If you like your music smart, sassy and singable, you won't be disappointed. Oh yeah, one last thing. If you decide to pick up Honey Lingers, plunk down an extra 12 bucks and get Let It Bee too. Trust me.
