Voice Of The Beehive 'I Think I Love You'

Chart Peak: 25

YouTube

In a way, you could say they were ahead of the curve. Apparently this version of the old David Cassidy song was originally recorded for a compilation album of covers called Guilty Pleasures, at least a decade before Sean Rowley trademarked the name. It wasn't to be though, and in the end the track was destined for their second album and minor chart success.

So far so good, but at the end of the day it's still not actually a very good song, and the charm of the Beehives is squandered by the clumsy electronic production and some rather weak singing. It wasn't quite as cliched an idea back then but it wasn't much better of a one either. A pity we couldn't have had another of their self-penned hits instead.

Also appearing on: Now 12
Available on: Love In The Decades: Love In The 90's

Voice Of The Beehive 'Don't Call Me Baby'

Chart Peak: 15

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Tenuous link fans take note: this post is published on the day my tenth wedding anniversary, as a result of which I know that the Number One single exactly ten years ago was also called 'Don't Call Me Baby', albeit an entirely different song by Madison Avenue. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to have been an omen.

As to the song, it's another song I recall liking at the time, and another one that was a big success and seems well-remembered now without quite fitting into the standard idea of what Eighties music was, beyond the obvious production values. It's supposed to be a song to an ex-boyfriend warning him not to try to rekindle the relationship but of course it's clear soon enough that it's precisely what she does want, whatever his future girlfriend(s) might think of it. There's something impressively subtle in the cattiness of that lyric "I think she's pretty, and I think that you have done quite well..." that hardly needs the rhyme "I still say you can never tell" to underline the point. It's a song I was happy to hear again, although certainly not flawless; those backing vocals on the later chorus are a bit irritating and the middle-eight seems to be in the wrong place somehow. But it brightens things up a bit.

Also appearing on: Now 20
Available on: The Best of Voice of the Beehive