Bees Deluxe - “This is what Steely Dan would sound like if they played the blues”
— John Kereiff, The Rock Doctors Hot Wax Album Reviews.

HALLUCINATE REVIEWED

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"Their music is the stuff of nightmares and imagination - Think of music produced by Willy Wonka and Frank Zappa - If Alice had turned her tea party into a blues jam and left the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter in charge with Salvador Dali as the band leader. The music of Bees Deluxe is amazingly unpredictable, delightfully improvisational, and remarkably creative. Chicago blues takes a few tabs of acid and the results are a fascinating kaleidoscope of pulsating dreams, visions, and even nightmares. Professor Marvel is taking you for a balloon ride but it is certainly out of control . Enjoy this roller coaster ride with all its twists and turns , spinning you every which way, your heart racing, your pulse soaring, reality crashing all around you as your senses teeter towards a new dimension. Welcome to the music of "Bees Deluxe" and their incredible new album "Hallucinate."

John Muller, North Jersey Blues Society

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'"The Bees Deluxe sound starts with blues but adds rock and jazz fusion to the mix, resulting in a vibe that’s distinctly ‘70s but sometimes more Steely Dan than Eric Clapton." 
— Meg Trogolo, Worcester Magazine
 

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"Hailing from Boston, Bees Deluxe have toured up and down the East Coast to present the sounds from their imagination. Recorded in a studio “hidden in the forests of Massachusetts,” the band took a year to produce a dozen new songs in response to demands from their listeners. Mixing Chicago blues and a heavy dose of psychedelic rock, the album is certainly eclectic and different." — Steve Jones, Blues Blast Magazine

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"Hallucinate is as much an artwork as Salvador Dale’s melting timepieces or Magritte’s Art Of Conversation, it deserves a listen, better still, ownership, who wouldn’t want to own such a masterpiece of finely crafted musical surrealism? "—  William Munn, Rhythm & Booze 

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"Some records are weird for the sake of being weird and are difficult to listen to, leaving you with a “what the fuck did I just hear” feeling, but not Bees Deluxe.  Hallucinate is a beautifully produced disc with a rich, juicy sound and crystal clear attention paid to Conrad Warre’s guitar.  Tom Waits once said “I like beautiful melodies that tell me terrible things”, and that’s likely how this album will make you feel- just substitute ‘terrible’ with ‘odd’ or ‘interesting’.  Hallucinate is a transcendent experience, and it’s the possibility of coming across records like this that have kept me writing reviews for nearly 34 years."

—  John Kereiff Features, Music Reviews & Get Off My Lawn!

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"Bees Deluxe make a form of music that includes jazz/funk/psych/Latin/groove and, most especially BLUES. But it isn’t a case of “this track has Latin influence”, no, every track has all those influences, but it makes for something that is genuinely fresh sounding while being as old as the hills. Very disturbing. But across all 12 tracks I found myself digging the music enormously, this is a class album.

The music, for me, has the same impact that Steely Dan did with their first couple of albums. They play very tight Blues that sounds as though they are jamming but this is very tight, and the playing is absolutely superb."

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—  Andy Snipper, Music News 

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"Listening to the album Hallucinate, I found similar tones and harmonies to artists like Roger Waters, Don Henley and groups like King Crimson and Steely Dan. Mesmerizing guitar work, precise percussions and vocals that are emotionally touching.
 

Often reviewers will tear apart an album track by track, I too have been guilty of this, but with Hallucinate, that is something that cannot be done, I feel the songs intertwine and blend together so well that if you took all the songs and mixed them up in order, you would get the same flowing and swelling excitement, the same high points and emotional waterfalls as the album is now.

Hallucinate is one of those albums that come along very infrequently, a complete outline of musical genius, songs that have substance not only individually, but as an entire album, like one lone and complete song, no matter where you are in the album, it evolves and transforms into something grand and magical."

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 — Joseph Timmons, Indie Pulse Music

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"Hallucinate deserves multiple listenings in order to get all you can from the album. It is not meant to be played once and put away, it demands attention. Bees Deluxe also demands attention. They’re not going to be to everyone’s taste, those that just want to put on an album with blistering guitars are not going to be satisfied with the intricate musicality of the group.

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But those who want to listen will find this to be a great trip to be on. Give them a listen at the various usual locations and check them out at their website."

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 — John Porter John's Substack

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