In 1993, Voice Of The Beehive teamed up with former Bronksi Beat and Communards singer Jimmy Somerville to record a cover of the Rolling Stones track "Gimme Shelter" for the British charity "Putting Our House In Order". The idea behind the project was for unlikely recording artists to each record duets of the Stones classic which would then be released on one of four genre-specific singles (rock, alternative, dance, and pop) in order to raise funds and awareness about the homelessness crisis in the U.K.. The Somerville/Beehive collaboration ended up being included on the 'pop' version of the single release, which, unlike the other three genre versions, was only issued on cassette, making it one of the rarest of V.O.T.B. tracks. Sadly, due to poor marketing and a confusing release launch, the charity record was somewhat of a bust with the singles reaching only a collective peak of #23 on the U.K. singles chart before facing an immediate eviction the following week. "Gimme Shelter" indeed.
Fun fact (or should I say....sad fact): Two members of the band were M.I.A. for the recording of "Gimme Shelter": Drummer Daniel "Woody" Woodgate had just left the band to rejoin Madness prior to, and Melissa Brooke-Belland was on holiday during the "Gimme Shelter" tracking sessions. (Brooke-Belland did however participate in all promotional chores for the single and does appear in the video.) This would also be the last recording of the original "full-band" incarnation of Voice Of The Beehive - the third Voice Of The Beehive album "Sex & Misery" (released in 1996) would only feature sisters Bryn and Brooke-Belland.
NOTE: This is what I call a 'video recreation', meaning that while this clip does feature 100% footage used in the original "Gimme Shelter" video, only about 95% of it is in the completed form it was intended to be. I've used the original source footage that I had to recreate a beginning and end for the video as my source file was incomplete. Enjoy!
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