Pete Dello and Ray Cane had been working together in various London groups since the early 60's, with Dello being lead guitarist with Red Tallis & The Tallismen and Cane handling bass duties with The Outlaws. They joined up in Grant Tracy & The Sunsets and the pair wrote a number of the band's single sides for Ember and Decca, but they were not successful and so they took a break from gigging to concentrate on writing, producing and arranging. During this period they wrote a clutch of single sides for The Applejacks (including the beat classic 'Baby Jane') as well as arranging material for Lionel Bart and playing on sessions for The Roulettes and Unit 4+2 among others, but in 1965 they found themselves back on stage, backing soul singer Steve Darbishire as The Yum Yum band. The line-up was completed by drummer Terry Noon, who had spent time with Them, and after signing a deal with Decca Records, Darbishire cut five singles for them between 1965 and 1967, mostly written by Dello and Cane. In 1966 Dello succumbed to a collapsed lung on the eve of a major tour, and after several months' recuperation, decided to quit the band to put together a new project to showcase his and Cane's new material. Christened Honeybus by Cane, the pair installed Terry Noon as their manager and entered Regent Sound studio to cut their debut single in spring 1967. The recording was made using Russ Ballard and Bob Henrit of The Roulettes, and two Dello-penned tracks were laid down, with 'Delighted To See You' b/w 'The Breaking Up Scene' appearing on the label's Deram subsidiary in June.
Despite it's commercial potential, the single flopped, and after finalising their line-up with the addition of Colin Hare on guitar and Pete Kircher on drums, they cut two more singles, one of which has become something of a standard since its release. Dello's '(Do I Figure) In Your Life' was released in October 1967, with Cane's 'Throw My Love Away' on the flip, and they followed this in March 1968 with another classic 60's recording, 'I Can't Let Maggie Go', ensuring their place in the history books for recording this classic piece of 60's pop. The single hit number 8 in the UK and became a huge hit in dozens of territories, but the resulting merry-go-round of gigs, press and TV conflicted with Dello's vision, as he saw Honeybus as essentially a studio project, and had had enough of life on the road during the early 60's. With a record in the top ten, the record company screaming for a follow-up and an album, and widespread adulation, Dello quit his own group. Such a blow would have signalled the end for most bands, but the remaining members of Honeybus were more resourceful than that, and so first they recruited Jim Kelly on vocals and guitar, then set about recording a follow-up single, although it would be six months before Cane's 'Girl Of Independent Means' appeared in September 1968. It was a great upbeat single featuring brass and an insistent hook, but it nevertheless failed to sustain the group's success.
Cane followed it with 'She Sold Blackpool Rock' in May 1969, with Colin Hare's first recorded composition 'Would You Believe' on the flip, but once again the single flopped in the UK, although it sold well in Europe, prompting the recording of an Italian language version. The band had virtually called it a day by summer 1969, but at Terry Noon's insistence sessions for a proposed album continued, and soon they'd completed enough new material. Kircher had left the group during the sessions to join Englebert Humperdinck's touring band, and was replaced by Lloyd Courteney and old friend Bob Henrit, and the album was eventually released without promotion in February 1970, by which time Honeybus was no more. 'Story' is a fine album, and is now rightly regarded as a classic of the era, but it was too little too late, and Honeybus were consigned to the vaults alongside other one-hit wonders of the 60's. The 'Story' album didn't include any material recorded before 1970, and so the band never released the cash-in album that the record company so desperately wanted after the success of 'I Can't Let Maggie Go'. If they had succumbed to the pressure and put something together then it might have sounded something like this.
Track listing
01 (Do I Figure) In Your Life
02 Tender Are The Ashes
03 The Right To Choose
04 Maxine's Parlour
05 Arise Sir Henry
06 I Can't Let Maggie Go
07 She Sold Blackpool Rock
08 She Comes To Me
09 The Breaking Up Scene
10 Would You Believe
11 Delighted To See You
12 Girl Of Independent Means
13 Francoise
14 Throw My Love Away
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