In the Buzzcocks' sly "Nostalgia," Pete Shelley sang about surfing on a wave of nostalgia for an age yet to come, but for most backward-looking bands of recent decades, the '60s will do just fine. And '60s necrophilia is practically a tradition compared with the current '80s vogue, which explains why it's getting so damned good. Band of Bees does not want for authenticity, being from the rockfest enclave Isle of Wight and having recorded its latest album, Free the Bees, at Abbey Road. But it's the record's funky milkshake of styles and party atmosphere that make it tug your ears like the smirk-free music Ween never made. The Redwalls, on the other hand, are from Chicago, and they re-create '60s British-invasion rock with vocals that loosen all previous applications of the term Lennonesque. The group's gimmickless take on the Small Faces and mid-period Beatles absolutely nails their soulful pop and early psychedelia into the Norwegian wood. Until someone does the Buzzcocks with this much passion, we'll just have to vex our kids with the real thing.
