The sound of distant drumsOne of my recent flea market finds is this marvellously strange tune by the Honeycombs.
My knowledge of 60’s pop is growing but to my chagrin I thought their big hit “Have I the right” was by the Dave Clark Five!
It’s one of those records that's in love with drums; that’s about the big dumb joy of hitting things, it sounds like nothing but a million school kids pounding the dinner hall floor.
Looking up the Honeycombs I was doubly shamed for not knowing they had a tip top female drummer, a one Honey Lantree.
As everyone in the world except it seems me knows the Honeycombs were produced by Joe Meek and many of their songs are infused with his slightly unearthly weirdness.
Looking up the Honeycombs I was doubly shamed for not knowing they had a tip top female drummer, a one Honey Lantree.
As everyone in the world except it seems me knows the Honeycombs were produced by Joe Meek and many of their songs are infused with his slightly unearthly weirdness.
This song, "Eyes" is a case in point, it is just strange.
The single I found however was one of their lesser hits (UK number 12). It’s got a weird spidery garage guitar riff and a flat sounding driving drum beat. Plus and here’s the best bit it fits in with my growing collection of weird 60’s stalker records. In it the thwarted protagonist follows, phones and stands outside the home of the object of his desire desperate to “get through to” her.
One suspects he’d do better if his song didn’t have strong whiff Dexedrine induced paranoia about it.
Anyway enjoy, also check out the bands website which is laced with gems. Have a look at the ‘Combs likes and dislikes and also the mysterious tea crate Joe Meek tapes a whole hidden treasure chest of lost gems which are being kept from us.
The Honeycombs “Can’t get through to you”
The Honeycombs “Can’t get through to you”
4 comments:
Fabulous. I'd never heard either of these and I'm impressed by their dementedness. On the clip of Eyes, the singer looks positively deranged. No wonder he wasn't lucky in love...
Apparently there is a pretty good Arena doco about Joe Meek - The Strange Story of Joe Meek - but I haven't seen it. These tracks remind me that I should.
glad you liked it, my mate use to life in Joe Meeks flat/studio in Holloway. They'd have Japenese film crews filming their living room. The Docu if memory serves is pretty good.
he used to live in joe meeks flat ????!! blimey the lucky tyke. and you can't beat a japanese film crew for an evenings entertainment
x
ally: he was sort of anew friend at the time so i never got to go round he also doesn't like music (total cd count 2, 1 I bought him!) so he was nonplussed by all my questions. He then got a flat above kenneth william's dad's old barber shop and he wasn't that impressed by that either, the smokes wasted on some people ;)
Post a Comment