The Bees - Octopus

mercifully, our fretting proved unfounded

Album Review by Wilbur Kane | 12 Mar 2007
Album title: Octopus
Artist: The Bees
Label: Virgin
When founder members Aaron Fletcher and Paul Butler admitted to the Skinny last year that the songwriting process within their six-piece ensemble was being democratised, we shuddered at the thought. Democracy? That cesspool of consensus and compromise and bland third albums? Well, mercifully, our fretting proved unfounded. Opening hoedown Who Cares What the Question Is? - all slide guitars, megaphones and soggy bottoms - is a corking first single, reminiscent of the carefree Bees of Wash in the Rain and These are the Ghosts. In the face of such clever music-making you have to laugh at those who decry the Bees' sound as derivative, redefining the concept of nitpicking in the process. So what if Listening Man is a ringer for soul legend Sam Cooke, or that the ghost of Beefheart looms large over the proceedings - If you could master and effortlessly marry numerous different styles from bluegrass, jazz, soul, pop, reggae and tropicalia you'd want to call that sound your own. And nobody could blame you. [Wilbur Kane]
Release Date: 19 Mar. http://www.thebees.info