Everything from its atmospheric opening chords to its sweet like honey vocal melodies to the Johnny Marr-like guitar riffs that come in at the 2:19 mark, “Don't Believe Everything You Hear” sounds like the work of a British band. Kind of like when British soul-pop singer Rick Astley first appeared on American radio stations, and everyone thought he was a black American, many of my friends figured The Ocean Blue hailed from across the pond when we first heard them in the late '80s.
From a sonic standpoint, the Hershey, Pa. combo had more in common with UK acts like Echo & The Bunnymen and The Mighty Lemondrops than they did with their American college rock peers.
“Don't Believe Everything You Hear” was the second single off The Ocean Blue's third album, 1993's Beneath the Rhythm and Sound. If you're big into jangle-pop, this song will be your new best friend. Imagine The Railway Children's "Every Beat of the Heart," but even catchier. Don't get me wrong, I own and love most of The Ocean Blue's discography (their 2013 album, Ultramarine, is excellent), but there's something about "Don't Believe Everything You Hear" that has kept me coming back to the song more than two decades after I first heard it.
While Beneath the Rhythm and Sound didn't make the young band piles of cash, the album still managed to sell over 100,000 copies, a figure most musical artists would kill for these days.
