Honeyz 'End Of The Line'

Chart Peak: 5

YouTube

If you're a fan of R&B, Heavenli, Celena and Naima are the hottest new names to drop... Following the success of debut single 'Finally Found', the Honeyz returned to the Top 5 with the gorgeous ballad 'End Of The Line' in December 1998.

As I've mentioned before, Honeyz were one of those acts who never quite seemed to reach the tipping point, in an era when a consistent run of Top 10 singles didn't exactly prove you were a viable star. They slipped between the cracks enough that even their allegedly official Youtube channel only has a partial version of the video. On the upside, I was able to find the original version of the song, recorded in 1995 by a quartet of three Malay singers and one Indonesian. This version follows the arrangement almost slavishly, except that the chorus melody is a little flatter. Ironically, considering the demanding lyric, the music and production are decidedly average, and at a time when RnB - particularly when female-fronted - could be quite experimental, this hardly qualifies as hot in any way.

It turns out somebody does remember them though, as they're currently part of the Big Reunion tour. They were in Manchester a couple of weeks ago.

Also appearing on: Now 41, 43, 44, 45
Available on: The Big Reunion

Honeyz 'Never Let You Down'

Chart Peak: 7

YouTube

One reason why the Now albums appealed to me as a subject was the secret history they seem to offer of their times. Because they're not compiled with any nod towards posterity, they present a pretty wide view of what was making an impression on the singles chart at any given time, so you can typically expect to find songs that are still heard to this day, songs that are regarded as follies of their time, and a lot of stuff that's simply vanished off the radar. I'd have put the Honeyz into the latter category; a group who managed five consecutive Top 10 singles (of which this is the fourth) but a decade on are only heard of as a question on Popmaster, which nobody ever gets right.

As it turns out, somebody remembers them well enough to have generated a remarkably detailed Wikipedia entry, from which I learn that this single was the debut of their second lineup, Mariama Goodman having joined from Solid Harmonie. It's helpful to have some factual information here, because this is another song that I struggle to form a strong opinion on. The chorus, I suppose, is solid enough that I was able to call it to mind before I looked it up on YouTube, but otherwise there's little to catch the ear - it's a typical British attempt to replicate the least interesting end of RnB. It's well put together, but goes nowhere. It may be no accident that the run of Top 10 singles I mentioned above was followed by two singles missing the Top 20 and the end of their record contract, or that so few people seem to have noticed when they reformed in 2005. I don't want to sound too mean here, but there's not a lot going on.

Also appearing on: Now 41, 42, 43, 45
Available on: Wonder No.8