Honest Men

"Honest Men"
Single by ELO Part II
from the album Electric Light Orchestra Part Two
B-side"Love For Sale"
Released15 April 1991
GenreRock
Length4:25 (remix)
6:13 (full version)
LabelTelstar, Disky
Songwriter(s)Eric Troyer
Producer(s)Jeff Glixman
ELO Part II singles chronology
"Honest Men"
(1991) 		"For the Love of a Woman"
(1991)
Music video
"Honest Men" on YouTube

"Honest Men" is the debut single by ELO Part II. It is the second track on their self-titled debut album. It peaked at No. 36 on the Dutch Single Top 100 and at No. 60 on the UK Singles Chart.

Overview

A music video of "Honest Men" was first aired in June 1991.[1]

Music & Media noted "Honest Men" as sounding very similar to ELO Part II's predecessor Electric Light Orchestra.[2] In his review of the album, Doug Stone of AllMusic said, "…'Honest Men', 'Every Night', and 'Heart of Hearts' imitate the band's glory daze to the point of enjoyability".[3]

The inspiration was that there’s too much corruption and dishonesty in our public figures … even the honest ones still bend the rules …

— Eric Troyer[4]

The single's B-side, "Love For Sale", was a song written by Bev Bevan and Pete Haycock. "Love For Sale" only appeared as a B-side to "Honest Men" and thus did not appear on the album.

Track listing

Personnel

Personnel list according to the inner sleeve.[5]

ELO Part II

  • Bev Bevan – drums, percussion, backing vocals
  • Pete Haycock – guitars, bass, backing vocals
  • Eric Troyer – keyboards, lead and backing vocals
  • Neil Lockwood – backing vocals

Additional Personnel

Charts

Chart (1991) Peak
position
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[6] 36
UK Singles (OCC)[7] 60

References

  1. ^ "Electric Light Orchestra Honest men". mvdbase.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2005. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  2. ^ "New Releases – Albums" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 8. Issue 24. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 15 June 1991. p. 8. Retrieved 15 March 2021 – via WorldRadioHistory.Com.
  3. ^ Stone, Doug. "Electric Light Orchestra Part Two". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  4. ^ Sinclair, Keith (28 May 2009). "Calling All Honest Men". elobeatlesforever. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  5. ^ Honest Men (inner sleeve, back). ELO Part II. Telstar. 1991. ELOCD100.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  6. ^ "Electric Light Orchestra Part Two – Honest Men" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  7. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 November 2020.