Staff Reviews

The Soft Boys - A Can of Bees / Underwater Moonlight (reissues)

Review by Neil Ashman

While other post-punk bands were making greater experimental advances, few had the tunefulness, eccentric personality or fearlessness about engage with the less hip aspects of our musical past that The Soft Boys did.»

User reviews

• 10/10 by greatones

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long out of print seminal releases from the soft boys complete with bonus download material and original artwork. swarming hymns of 2nd generation psychedelic pop mastery, the soft boys' two most influential and groundbreaking albums finally get re-released via yep roc records. main man robyn hitchcock, along with demon guitarist kimberley rew, bassist matthew seligman and drummer morris windsor manage to bottle '60s guitar pop, shake it up with caged teenage fury and cut it all with a healthy dose of lyrical levity. 'a can of bees' and 'underwater moonlight' - seen as fatally un-hip when originally released - would go on to be seen as seminal albums and become catalysts for '80s jangle pop and college rock, directly inspiring bands like rem and the decemberists. 30 years after its initial appearance on armageddon records, the soft boys' 'underwater moonlight' is made available in its 10-song original form on cd and 180 gram vinyl. this re-release features all the bonus tracks (last time taking up 2/3rds of the package) as downloads free with each purchase. the soft boys mystified many in their day, but would now be categorized as psych-punk-meets-art-rock. 'underwater moonlight' has long been considered a classic record.
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