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Let It Bee

For a time in 1987, Voice of the Beehive were one of my favourite bands. I loved their first singles, and had a particular fondness for 'Just a City', which was often in my head when I first moved to London toward the end of the same year. As luck would have it, the band were the headline act at the "Fresher's Ball" at Imperial College that year (with Brilliant Corners and The Blue Aeroplanes supporting) which counts as the first ever proper concert I attended. They were great live too. I recall Tracey or Melissa shouting "You guys are drunk!" at the audience, which, alas, I was.

Naturally I bought Let It Bee (on cassette) when it came out the following summer. By then my feelings for their music had cooled just a little: the production on it seemed a tad over-polished for my liking, and I wasn't that keen on the overbearing drum sound. Despite those misgivings, the songs held up well and I listened to them often.

I was delighted to find a vinyl copy of it in the wild back in 2015, which has since been joined on my shelves by a couple of their 12" singles. As well as 'Just a City', my favourite tracks include 'Sorrow Floats', 'I Walk the Earth' & 'I Say Nothing'.

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