More bizarre than the narratives found in the liner notes of Ant-Bee albums is the disparity between the popularity of the artist (Billy James) and the quality of all of his work. The world gets another chance at redemption who have somehow lived ignorant of these exciting, progressive, and highly accessible albums.
Pure Electric Honey was the first reissued by Gonzo Media Group in 2013. It is typically the fan favorite of the four Ant-Bee albums, though James sees it more as a charming piece of juvenilia. Likewise, it has a naïve energy that tends to yield the most exciting human artifacts.
The other two albums to be reissued sometime in 2013, With My Favorite “Vegetables” & Other Bizarre Muzik (1994) and Lunar Muzik (1997), are not far off in scope, execution, or quality, but lack the mystical ingredient, the irreducible environment that made Pure Electric Honey much more than an imitation of 60s psychedelic pop or the early 80s psychedelic revivalists. Pure Electric Honey was a dense synthesis of Syd Barrett’s eccentric pop of Pink Floyd and the oneiric vocal harmonies of the Beatles and Beach Boys psychedelic pop. “Vegetables” and Lunar Muzik are progressions towards a perfection of commercial avant-garde, a path Animal Collective would advance on a decade later to overwhelming fame.
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