Soulful gal vocal group Honey & the Bees began recording in the mid-1960s and released their only LP in 1970 for the Josie label. Featuring their best known single, a version of the Royalettes’ “It’s Gonna Take a Miracle,” original copies of Love are scarce and quite expensive, so here comes Real Gone Music to the rescue, with a high quality reissue remastered by Mike Milchner and pressed on honey colored (bees)wax in an edition of 2,000 copies. If not a masterpiece, its contents are thoroughly enjoyable, and it’s difficult to imagine a fan of classic soul not wanting this set in their collection. It’s out October 7.
The biography of Honey & the Bees isn’t exactly extensive, but the story is that a group using the moniker cut a couple singles for the Academy label in 1965, but the members quickly spilt the scene, which led musician-songwriter-producer Phil Hurtt to organize a new lineup under the name, with the recruits Jean Davis, Nadine Felder, Gwendolyn Oliver, and Cassandra Ann Wooten debuting on a 1966 single for the Arctic label, “I’m Confessin’” b/w “One Time is Forever.”
The B-side to the 45 was written by Kenny Gamble, an info tidbit that’s a tipoff to what’s heard on Love, and don’tcha know that Leon Huff plays piano on the album? Yes, the ten songs do indeed have a tangible connection to the sound of Philly Soul, but as the record lands pretty early in the scheme of that regional state of affairs and with what was pretty clearly a modest budget (but resourcefully utilized), the songs counterbalance finesse, as the strings arrangements are plentiful, with heft, as the punch of the rhythm section hits the ear like a predecessor to the production work of Leon Michels.
In 1970 Honey & the Bees’ manager Jimmy Bishop moved the group from Arctic to the Josie label, a realignment that improved their fortunes a bit, with single “We Got to Work Together,” the opening track on Love, generating a little buzz, and “It’s Going to Take a Miracle,” the closing track on side one, enduring as their highest profile tune amid numerous versions, preceded by the Royalettes and followed by Laura Nyro’s take with LaBelle on her ’71 album Gonna Take a Miracle and Deniece Williams’ ’82 R&B smash.
Honey & the Bees’ take of the song holds up strong in this company, in large part through how the group’s vocal prowess soars amid the well-calibrated production values. And what’s more is that the singing and the playing is sturdy and inspired throughout the record, whether it’s an up-tempo mover like “Make Love to Me” or the slower paced belter “Pease Have Mercy.”
I’ll admit that the male voice that enters the frame in late track “What About Me” threw me a bit on the first few spins of the album, but the addition ultimately does little to damage to the record’s overall consistency. Love has a few songs that rise to a higher plateau of goodness, like the closer “Love is the Key,” for one example, But overall, the set is solid if not mind-blowing, with Honey & the Bees offering variations on well-established soul templates. And the avoidance of excessive polish adds value.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
