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Superhoney
Superhoney – No Standing
(Moxxy)
 Sound the alarm- Here comes Superhoney!
After tempting their legions with a tasty EP, Boston’s foremost funk force
has released their first full-length. Though it may not all be the driving
funk the band is best beloved for, “No Standing” demands your attention
and your dancing.
High points of the album include a sweet and horn-y cover of Bill
Withers’s classic “Use Me,” the soul-caressing break-beat ballad “All I
Ask,” the dance in the aisles gospel revival of “The Road” and the mature
and well-constructed opening trio of “Mysterious” (an inner city soul
tribute to the next generation of music lovers), “It All Depends” (a
watery strummer which questions perspectives and choices) and “Above the
World,” which digs into to the issue of drug abuse with the force of Kool
and the whole Gang.
Though some of the instrumental lines get cut off before full development
and the live tracks recorded at Berklee get lost in the rafters of the BPC,
the only real low point of the album is track 13*. Otherwise, “No
Standing” is an album which dutifully wanders the realms of musical
possibility, giving fans what they want while showing what else the band
can do. Though the musical flavors may change, for the most part, it is
all as super sweet and super duper strong as Superhoney can be.
*There is no track 13!
- Matthew S. Robinson
© 1999 M. S. Robinson, ARR
Superhoney – Superhoney
(Moxxy)
 Having
enjoyed wide acclaim and an appearance on MTV’s star-maker “The Real
World,” the artists formerly known as “Flunky” have assembled their
collective balls and opted to go forth under a new, appropriately sweet,
smooth and strong name. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare to be funked by
Superhoney!
Led by the newly svelte but still lunged as ever Joan(ie) imentel-Flynn,
this six man (er…five man and one mannish woman) audio assault team rips
it up and puts it back together with well-schooled funk essentials
flavored with their own northeast attitude. Combing the four-armed
percussive punch of Dean Johnston and Sean Nelson, Superhoney’s mellow
front is pushed by guitarist Doug Sherman, bass man Scott Watson and key
dealer Paul Schulthe is. In addition to the courageous core sextet,
Superhoney features such heavy horns as Pete Levesque, Jeff Galindo and
the fraternal one-two of John and Scott Aruda.
Featuring not one but two versions of the atlased ass-kicker “Super
Duper,” Superhoney’s mad sampler also includes the silky and bubbly opener
“Lightheaded,” the soulful ballad “Wait For You” and the taughtly tempting
offers of “Taste My Wine.” Artistically arranged and well produced by
Scott Riebling and the rest of the band, Superhoney proves to be nobody’s
flunky.
- Matthew S. Robinson
© 1999 M. S. Robinson, ARR
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