THE HONEYCOMBS – "Have I The Right?"

Sorry to see that all the old Haloscan comments are gone. I’ll start by repeating what I said weeks ago, before the old comments vanished: This is one incredible, downright BRILLIANT recording. Everything Tom said about it is absolutely spot-on. No one should even dream of omitting “Have I the Right” from any overview of sixties Britpop.

If that weren’t enough, it’s a quintessential expression of the raging, hormonal angst without which pop music simply could not have come into being. Chthonic, as Camille Paglia might say. (Whatever happened to HER? I remember when all US academia lived in fear of her. . . .)

Now, all these marvellous things said, let there be no mistake about the Honeycombs: This truly incredible recording is one of those freak examples of a one-hit wonder band whose one hit was probably the ONLY worthwhile thing they recorded. Half a listen to any Honeycombs anthology reveals an embarrassingly amateurish group that sounded as if it belonged in the fifties rather than the sixties, and was grasping for straws in trying anything remotely “hip”–“remote” is the operative word here–without any particular sense of direction or style. They remind me of nothing quite so much as the sort of provincial dance bands that make their brief and sad appearances in so many New Cinema films of the late 50s and early 60s. In other words, godawful.

Still, I would recommend that everyone interested in the period have a listen to any Honeycombs anthology one can find. From a historical point of view, it serves as an illustration of the sort of music and performance that was probably widespread during the period during which the Beatles and the Stones were in their ascendancy–but that was rarely recorded and subsequently forgotten.

One might also find a few real howls in the lyrics; my own fave is from “Colour Slide”: “I’ve got you on my wall / I’ve got you ten feet tall / I’ve got you on a colour slide.” Ah, the erotic possibilities technology provides! You’ll not often find lyrics like that.

Doctor Mod

The Honeycombs weren’t a one-hit wonder band. Thats the Way was a top ten hit and Eyes and Something Better Beginning made the top thirty.Honey Lantree didnt deserve the misogynist comments of the likes of Keith Moon -‘Leadfoot Lantree’ – though the drum sound on Have I the Right was given a bit of weight by Joe Meek stomping on bare boards in the bathroom and the rest of the group arrayed down the stairs and stomping on the steps. What finished them was going off on an endless tour of Australasia, Indonesia etc at a time when
they should have been promoting their hits back home. Like the man who took a bet in 1912 to walk round the world pushing a pram, by the time he got home again in 1920 everyone had forgotten about him

A first number one for those tireless songwriting workhorses of 1960s British pop, Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley. Who didn’t get as many number ones as they deserved, perhaps.

They were patchy, but the Honeycombs shouldn’t be dismissed quite so lightly.

Eyes is minimal and chilling – I’ve always assumed Meek recorded a fuller production then stripped it back. Even the lead vocal has such an odd melody it sounds like it should be a harmony. This Too Shall Pass Away is as grandiose as its total, Meek’s death wish on tape (World Of Twist covered it as it was one of singer Tony Ogden’s favourites). That Loving Feeling is a kitchen sink, minor-key job that sounds distorted even on mint original vinyl; do I hear a harmonium?

As with the ever-ridiculed Heinz (eerie Merseybeat You Were There pre-dates The Kinks’ See My Friend with same subject matter, and I’m Not A Bad Guy is FEROCIOUS!), there are gems to be found in the less obscure parts of the RGM catalogue.

When Meek first saw them, The Honeycombs had a residency at the Mildmay Tavern on Balls Pond Road, mere yards from a Freaky Trigger ‘convention’ last week. And, of course, today is the anniversary of Joe Meek’s messy end.

Felt obliged to mention this and show some luv for RGM!

I love the interview with Honey L where she tells a reporter, with winning sarcasm, “I make the tea”.

I had no idea this record hit #1 in the UK! In the USA I was told about it by Miriam Linna (drummer of Cramps, Zantees) during the punk era, and I’ve loved it since.

Dennis D’ell also sang solo on ATV’s new faces in 1975

Amen to that! Here’s the amazing “Can’t Get Through To You”.

Bring on The Keys

Critic watch:

1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die, and 10,001 You Must Download (2010)
Bruce Pollock (USA) – The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944-2000 (2005)
Q (UK) – The 1010 Songs You Must Own (2004)
Giannis Petridis (Greece) – 2004 of the Best Songs of the Century (2003)

I loved the honeycombs brill voice and ever so handsome denis maybe if they had a different producer they might of lasted a lot longer I have cd and I love the songs takes me back to when I was fourteen.sadly denis passed away only 61 yr old but his music lives on.

The ‘earliest musical memories’ theme is one I find very interesting. In recent years I’ve found myself increasingly pulled back to the early seventies (youtube proving particularly helpful for this) and I’m not sure why exactly. I tend to tag ‘the first record I remember’ as ‘Those Were the Days’ (I was five) but I suspect that was getting regular radio play for 2-3 years after its chart run, much as ‘Get Lucky’ or ‘Happy’ do nowadays. The likelihood is that the first records I remember from their original chart run are from 1969/70, such as ‘Two Little Boys’, ‘Sugar Sugar’ and ‘All Kinds of Everything’ when I was of an age to watch them on Top of the Pops. The music you get into between the ages of 10 and 14 say, when you start putting your own record collection together, is another matter again, I guess. There must be a good feature on this somewhere.

So it’s farewell Honey Lantree. RIP Honey.

I Can’t Get Through to You is also brilliant, way ahead of its time, and accidentally invented the B-52’s.