Honey Ltd. got their start at Detroit’s Wayne State University. With a gift for seamless four part harmony, the group’s sound was essentially a timely update of the classic girl group sound of the early 60s
Category Archives: Listen
Clothilde: Queen of the French Swinging Mademoiselle
At the height of the Yeh Yeh Girl craze, here were many girls compelled by external forces to seek fame. Yet, as the brief and quite odd career of Clothilde demonstrates, the results were not always bad.
Haunted by The Sonics
It’s easy to write off the Sonics’ primitivism as the usual combination of lack of proficiency and hormonal enthusiasm. But delving into their history and discography quickly reveals just how conscious it was.
Music from Forbidden Kingdoms
This quartet of releases from Sublime Frequencies explores music from countries that have been traditionally off-limits — Myanmar, Shan Province, North Korea —or struggled with decades of oppression and violence—Cambodia.
When Sex Leers Its Inquisitive Head
Around these parts, Wyngarde is revered for his role as Jason King, the swingin’ international man of mystery, adventure novel writer, and part-time espionage agent. But…he also recorded an album,
The Sound of Wonder!
The Sound of Wonder demonstrates that Pakistani film music from golden era had one foot in the future and, often, the other foot inhabiting territory no less strange to the unaccustomed ear.
The Chances of Anything Coming from Mars
One year for Christmas, my parents got me a bizarre amalgamation of rock opera and radio play, starring Richard Burton: Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.
Made In France: France Gall’s Baby Pop
France Gall might not have had the sophisticated mystique of Francoise Hardy, the it girl “oomph” of Sylvie Vartan, or the continental sensuality of Bardot, but she was nonetheless an integral part of the Yeh Yeh Girl pantheon.
Up All Night!: 56 Northern Soul Classics
To trace the origins of Northern Soul, one has to go back to Britain’s Mod subculture of the early to mid sixties, a subculture that drew heavily upon American soul records in the classic Motown vein for its chosen soundtrack.
Funky Frauleins, Volume 2: Female Beat, Groove, Funk In Germany
Aside from providing grist for adventurists in the pop music realm, Funky Frauleins also has something to offer fans of Euro cinema, as a number of its featured players led a double life in the world of film.
The Vampires of Dartmoore: Dracula’s Music Cabinet
Dracula’s Music Cabinet was part of a wave of horror-themed novelty albums seemingly inspired by the type of horror films that Europe was producing at the time, as best exemplified by Jess Franco.
Joe Meek: Portrait of a Genius
I went through a pretty intense Joe Meek fixation a few years back, with the result that I now own over a dozen CD compilations of Meek rarities which, with a few notable exceptions, are mostly unlistenable. Being a completist in your approach to this eccentric, wildly uneven, and very prolific British pop producer’s workContinue reading “Joe Meek: Portrait of a Genius”
