MOOSE Honey Bee (Play It Again Sam)

Moose are, I think, a long gone British band who coalesced whist working at various branches of London’s Music and Video Exchange, and I suspect that "Honey Bee" was their final album. (So diffident are they that no dates appear anywhere on the sleeve and labels). Their music is a melting pot of prime Love, Spiritualized, Verve and Gram Parsons, where modern psych-rock mashes up next to country roots and slide guitars. Subtle, lovely, kind of like a slacker Wilco perhaps. Best bits are the opener "Uptown Invisible" and the sly humour of "I Wanted To See You To See If I Wanted You", but it’s popular music’s loss that Moose’s songwriting talent was unable to flourish further: covers of Bobbie Gentry’s "Courtyard" and Wire’s "Kidney Bingos" on the free 7" that accompanies "Honey Bee" better even the finest of their own work. Check out the cheapy bins and be quietly amazed.