Voice of the Beehive
Sex & Misery (Discovery)
by Marc Hirsh

originally published in the Public News, ???, 1996

Dear Kim Stoilis:

Well, Kim, you were right. I should have taken your word for it, but no, I just had to find out for myself. You told me that the new Voice of The Beehive album Sex & Misery (Discovery Records) was crap, but I had too many fond memories to blindly accept that.

God knows what turned this one-time grade-A, first class, second-to-none power-pop band into such a vile dance group. Looking at it now, they seem to have followed the exact same career path of the Bangles: brilliant rock-based debut, badly produced and more poppy but still-more-swell-than-not follow-up, third album of utter tripe. But it still hurts to see one of my favorites abandon their style (and their band: I notice that sisters Tracey and Melissa have fired the guys in favor of session pros) for a cheap shot at commercial success.

So instead of zippy guitar pop with giddily nasty lyrics about how men use women and women really aren't that much better, we get synth-based dance tracks with sappy sentimental lyrics. The best song is "Scary Kisses," which is just a rewrite of Honey Lingers's far superior "Monsters and Angels." The old Tracey Bryn wouldn't have put up with the abuse chronicled in "I'm Still In Love." And she definitely wouldn't sing anything as straightforward a love song as "Love's Locked Inside" or "Heavenly." Where's the wit, the double-entendres, the sex? It hurts just to think about it.

It's funny, but at times it seems that they know how bad they've become. Hell, the first page of the CD booklet all but apologizes for what they've done to the band and the music. I tried to listen to Sex & Misery with an open mind, I really did, but by the time I got to "Moon of Dust" and heard the line, "Goodbye to all my favourite songs," I couldn't listen to it without a huge sense of irony. Another good band gone to Hell. I'm depressed.

Yours truly,

Marc Hirsh

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