Voice of the Beehive - Honey Lingers (1991)

Responding to a difficult promotional experience for Let It Bee, Voice of the Beehive ignored the ground they'd made in Britain and refocused their energies toward America. The result was 1991's Honey Lingers, a tighter, glossier sophomore LP periodically highlighted by absurd label interference. Where Tracey Bryn and Melissa Brooke Belland's sugared harmonies were too insistent in the past, here the camp had been toned down and the band's approach to B-52's modern rock more accessible and likable. One had to wonder what "I'm Shooting Cupid" would sound like with its reportedly excised sped-up verses intact or how singles "Monsters and Angels" and "Perfect Place" would work without the warmth of the over-production. As it turned out, if much of the album was manipulated after the fact by an insecure label, it was one of the few times in indie pop history when the illusion of a band in full confidence suggested a greater importance than the reality.