I have just put on James Appollo's album, "Hide your Head in a Hive". I was at first intrigued by the sound of real, live instruments- rather quaint for the 21st century and quite rare to hear. I commend the artist's interest in live music and live recording.

That said, the first track, which I would expect to be the his best effort, was a disappointment.

There is nothing new here: the monotonous and repetitive harmony is uninteresting and quickly irritating. If one is going to use traditional instrumentation then one must do something new with it- use it in a novel way. The construction of this and all the songs in the album is juvenile and the musicianship only satisfactory. These works give the impression of the artist as a teenage boy and his friends (in the 1970's) jamming in a basement- making a song out of the only three chords they know. I'm afraid nearly the entire album carries on in this way so avert your gaze if you don't want to read about further negativity.

2nd track: see comments about track 1.

As for the 3rd track, "I've Got It Easy", the relaxed and joyous character of the piece is refreshing compared to the first two which are full of sturum und drang. The timbre of the vocalist's voice lends some interest and much needed color when he meets the ends of phrases and drops his pitch. In this I hear some promising character and personality of the artist.

As for the 4th song we return again to what can only be described as a melancholic durge which appears to be the thematic material for most of the songs in the album. Occasionally we hear the minor droll broken by a major chord or two. After the first minute I wanted nothing more than to advance the track...NEXT!

I dawns on me by the listening of the 5th track that this music sounds as if it was inspired and recorded under the influence of a big fat joint or measure of heroin. The tempo is slow and the quality dreamy; interesting perhaps for the artist during the recording session but not so much so for the listener.

Track 6: another dirge with a droopy viola which breaks into what seems a channelling of the spirit of Johnny Cash. As a musician I can begin to understand what the artist was trying to do- create a long build up in energy through the increase in tempo. However the artist's understanding and mastery of harmony is too poor to enable him to also harness the power of harmonic progressions to achieve the state of euphoria the piece seems to yearn for. The end is also unsatisfactory as it revert back to the seemingly drug-induced haze rather than finish on a high (so to speak).

Track 7: the harmony becomes a bit more interesting here as it incorporate ideas from the jazz and blues tradition, but uses these ideas not in a novel or interesting way. It's as if the pianist/composer is reading the standard chord progressions from a book- without innovation or creativity.

Track 8 evokes the mood of a Southern Comfort commercial or the kind of music the guys in Lynchburg, Virginia would play while they waiting for the Jack Daniels to age in its oak barrels.

Track 9: sounds like a stilted jam session.

Track 10: Finally something interesting in the form of novel harmonic progressions in the two-bar electric guitar intro. But then the harmonic revert back to the mundane. The character of this song is somewhat akin to white tourist singing kareokee with a native Mexican band on a hot summer day. The song is strongly evocative but adds nothing to the genre.

Track 11: Here we are at the title track, "Home in a Hive". This is the best track of the album by far and thank goodness the artist ended the album strong. Closing the aqlbum in this way give me a much better lasting impression than I would otherwise have had of the artist. Here I find the lyrics interesting, the vocalist's turn of the phrase a good reflexion of the lyrics, and his expression of the melody occasionally catches the ear as it plays with the simple chords below. Those positive attributes seems as if they are going to be overshadowed by more repetition but to my relief the piece gladly ends-- none too soon.

Coda: sounds like the background music to an acid-induced laser light at a Pink Floyd concert.

All in all: unsuccessful and derivative; demonstrates no mastery of performance or composition; succeds in strongly evoking moods. Much improvement could be made by using harmony more freely to emphasize the artist's talent for evoking a mood. Less reliance on musical conventions and a more varied use of form would greatly improve these works.