So Far [CD]

Honey Smugglers - So Far [CD]

One of those '80s/'90s "indie hopefuls" was Honey Smugglers. A band whose place in that crazy but pivotal time before Britpop is slowly being revealed thanks to a series of extensive compilations of that era by Cherry Red Records. They've featured in six of them. Honey Smugglers shared stages with the likes of Blur, Suede, Dodgy and Levitation (Ex House of Love guitarist Terry Bickers' new band) without sounding like any of them. An uber tight organ driven music machine that mixed pop, groove and a lot of psychedelia into a bunch of catchy, inventive, eclectic and very English songs, they were un-pigeonholable at a time when everyone was looking for a pigeon to hole. A formidable live act, they released a couple of EPs, but sadly never delivered an album. Now, 35 years later we finally have So Far. The long-lost debut album by Honey Smugglers, collating recordings that never saw the light of day back then. And what comes across is the sheer diversity of their songwriting and performance. There's the pure slice of melodic English guitar pop of lead track "She Doesn't Know," "Greatest Lovers" with its fragile verses and psychedelic freakout ending. You have the dream pop of "Good Afternoon" and "Stay" rubbing shoulders with the skewed psychedelia of "Shake Free," "Rocking Horse," and "No." And of course, their best-known song, the 6-minute indie dancefloor filler "Listen" (heard here for the first time in its original and definitive version). Inventive, melodic, groovy and psychedelic (in the truest sense of the word) the Smugglers were of their time but in many ways ahead of it too, as the arrival of Britpop a few years later would testify. 01. She Doesn't Know 02. Blind 03. Good Afternoon 04. Greatest Lovers 05. Shake Free 06. Sad Parade 07. Listen (Original Version) 08. Rocking Horse. 09. Mrs C 10. Stay 11. Apple Tree 12. No