"Honest Men" is the debut single by

ELO Part II The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) Part II was a British-American rock band formed by Electric Light Orchestra drummer and co-founder Bev Bevan. The band also included former ELO bassist and vocalist Kelly Groucutt, and violinist Mik Kami ...

. It is the second track on their self-titled debut album. It peaked at No. 36 on the

Dutch Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales, legal downloads and since July 2013 streaming and composed by Dutch Charts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Du ...

and at No. 60 on the UK Singles Chart.

Overview

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

of "Honest Men" was first aired in June 1991. ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' noted "Honest Men" as sounding very similar to ELO Part II's predecessor

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...

. In his review of the album, Doug Stone of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

said, "…'Honest Men', 'Every Night', and 'Heart of Hearts' imitate the band's glory daze to the point of enjoyability". The single's

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, "Love For Sale", was a song written by

Bev Bevan Beverley Bevan (born 25 November 1944) is an English rock musician who was the drummer and one of the original members of the Move and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). After the end of ELO in 1986, he founded ELO Part II. Bevan also was a drum ...

and

Pete Haycock Peter John Haycock (4 March 1951 – 30 October 2013) was an English musician and film score composer. He began his career as lead guitarist, vocalist, and founding member of the Climax Blues Band. Early life and career Haycock was born in Staff ...

. "Love For Sale" only appeared as a B-side to "Honest Men" and thus did not appear on the album.

Track listing

CD # "Honest Men" (remix) – 4:25 # "Love For Sale" – 4:14 # "Honest Men" (full version) – 6:13 12" Vinyl # "Honest Men" (full version) – 6:13 # "Love For Sale" – 4:14 # "Honest Men" (remix) – 4:25 7" Vinyl, Cassette # "Honest Men" (remix) – 4:25 # "Love For Sale" – 4:14

Personnel

Personnel list according to the inner sleeve. ELO Part II *

– drums, percussion, backing vocals *

– guitars, bass, backing vocals *

Eric Troyer Eric Lee Troyer (born 10 April 1949) is an American keyboardist, singer, songwriter, and occasional guitarist. Troyer was a founding member of ELO Part II, having been recruited by band leader Bev Bevan in 1988. He wrote a substantial quantity ...

– keyboards, lead and backing vocals * Neil Lockwood – backing vocals Additional Personnel *

Jeff Glixman Jeff Glixman is an American record producer. He has produced, mixed or remastered artists such as Kansas, Magnum, Gary Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen, The Georgia Satellites and Black Sabbath. Combined sales of his projects exceed 30 million units. Ca ...

- producer *

Don Arden Don Arden (born Harry Levy; 4 January 1926 – 21 July 2007) was an English music manager, agent, and businessman. He managed the careers of rock acts such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Air Supply, Small Faces, The Mo ...

- executive producer *

Louis Clark Louis Clark (27 February 1947 – 13 February 2021) was an English music arranger and keyboard player. He trained at Leeds College of Music. He is best known for his work with Electric Light Orchestra and ''Hooked on Classics''. Clark started o ...

- string arrangement * Ron McPherson - art and design

Charts

References

{{authority control Song recordings produced by Jeff Glixman 1991 songs 1991 debut singles Telstar Records singles