This is a strange -- but admittedly handy -- compilation of the group's two original LPs. It's handy in that it offers a fair profile of
the Honeycombs' style and range during the most successful part of their four-year existence by way of their two official albums, when they were charting singles regularly (if not always very high) on both sides of the Atlantic. The main influence over their sound is, as expected, producer
Joe Meek, whose work is in evidence throughout, mostly in the guitar stings and larger than life roller-rink organ sound permeating a lot of the music. But the members' abilities as singers and musicians do come through as well. The drawback to this collection is that none of the bonus tracks that appeared on the contemporaneous Repertoire reissues of the two albums -- some of which are well worth hearing, and superior to much of the original albums' contents -- are present here. This means that
Meek or
Honeycombs completists will either want to avoid this CD altogether and go for those two discs, or put up with the duplication. And as to the strange aspect, there are numerous errors in the packaging -- for one thing, the title of the group's first album was simply
The Honeycombs, not
It's the Honeycombs, and the producers have reversed the song contents under the two album titles on the back, so that the tracks for
The Honeycombs are listed under
All Systems Go and visa versa. It's all very confusing and may explain, in part, why this CD disappeared as fast as it did.
–
Bruce Eder, Rovi