For whatever reason, I found myself revisiting cult faves Honeybus over the weekend. If you’re unfamiliar and craving some late 60’s psychedelic/baroque/folk/pop, they could be your fix. I recommend streaming the anthology pictured above. Some good hooks and harmonies throughout, though I found myself skipping a good amount of songs. Your mileage may vary. Perhaps due to the drug-addled times, there are some oddities, such as this otherwise good song marred by a fucking kazoo. They had a top ten UK hit with this, which almost, just-about sounds like it could be a parody of the baroque pop of the time.
Speaking of twee pop parodies, nothing will ever surpass this masterpiece (said to be a parody of Ray Davies’ “Funny Face”) from Neil Innes, the man who would one day compose the entire Rutles catalog in something like a week.
Nice! Suited my mood when I first listened.
Agree on “less kazoo.” But not surprised. When you lean that hard into the aesthetic, you encounter triangles, slide whistles, harpsichords, bells, harps, and the occasional rogue kazoo.
I’m imagining that there are an endless supply of these vintage bands that somehow I’ve never heard of. Keep ’em coming!
I don’t know how many more obscure bands I’ve got, seems like I’ve posted just about all I know of. But someone else may come to mind.
The funny thing about cult bands is the insanity of their cults. Over the years I’ve read that The Pretty Things were better than The Rolling Stones, The Move were greater than The Beatles, The Creation and The Small Faces over The Who. Great bands all, but no way.
Thank you again, oh wise Renfield. Never heard of them and concur on all kazoo fucking as mentioned above. That’s crazy anyone would say that kind of stuff about bands like the Move or the Pretty Things when we all know Big Star was the best band that ever recorded and probably ever will, so it’s just silly.
Hahaha. Don’t get me started on the cult of Big Star.
I can think of one instance where a kazoo worked: the melody at the beginning of “Crosstown Traffic.” I thought it was an actual kazoo, but the World Wide Web revealed that it was a makeshift one, i.e., comb and paper. Close enough. For some reason it sounds good there.