The Beta Band

The Beta Band are back after a year and a half hiatus with their new record, "Hot Shots II". Yes, I think it is actually named in likeness of the Charlie Sheen action-movie spoof. I read an interview with the band in which they stated they it's more of a "second chance" to make a full-length album when they became disappointed with their previous effort, "The Beta Band".

If you're not familiar with The Beta Band (even from the 'High Fidelity' name-check--the film, they weren't mentioned in the book), they're four Scots who started a mini-trend a few years back in Britain with their strange meld of folkie guitars and loping hip-hop beats. it almost seemed, for a short while, that pastoral English psychedelia was making a strong comeback. Between the Betas (as I'll refer to them) and a Welsh contingent of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Super Furry Animals, there was more than enough Brit folk/psych quirkiness to go around. The Betas "3 EPs" disc even got through to major-label ego-mongers Oasis, with "Go Let It Out" styled in a very Beta Band way.

Since then, Stephen Mason--lead singer of the Beta Band, has denounced the first full-length record as "horrible shite" and said that psychedelia conjures up images of "flatulent hippies rolling around with needles sticking out of their arms". I like the first record, but then I'm of big fan of psychedelia and "The Beta Band" is a landmark psych album for the new millennium. Mason has said that people who liked the "3 EPs" bought "The Beta Band" and didn't like it as much. I didn't find that at all and thought "The Beta Band" was a logical extension of the ideas in the EPs.

"Hot Shots II" does sound different to "The Beta Band" with cleaner production and less use of folkie/pastoral instruments. There are more beats and brass arrangements and the lyrics are somtimes a bit on the morose side. It takes a few listens to really have an impact but soon you'll have one or two of the melodies stuck in your brain. My favorite tracks so far are "Human Being", with it's acoustic beginning and brass section and catchy "We might just break, can't you see me trying/We might just break, can't you hear us crying" chorus. "Eclipse", the final track (ironically, the last track on Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon"...was it deliberate?), which concerns different classes of people. I can't remember any of the lyrics at the moment but if you hear the track you get the idea right away. It's very clever without being pretentious and rounds out another quality release from the Betas.

I like this record and if you dig different sounding music...stuff way off the beaten path, I would recommend this. Oh yeah, I found out that they pronounce it "Bee-ta", not "Bay-ta" but I'll stick with "Bay-ta" out of force of habit.

Beta Band page by Sly 07.25.2001