Honeybus

British pop outfit Honeybus operated from the tail end of the 1960s into the opening years of the following decade, crafting their most familiar work at the point where the understated psychedelia of the Beatles’ Rubber Soul period overlapped with the decorative baroque pop favored by the Left Banke and the earliest incarnation of the Bee Gees. Pete Dello and Ray Cane channeled a Lennon/McCartney-style creative rapport on the group’s lone charting single, “I Can't Let Maggie Go,” while the rest of their 45s ventured across a broader stylistic range. Although frequent personnel shifts continually hampered forward momentum, the ensemble’s singular blend of tunefulness and sonic exploration earned them lasting regard among lesser-known sunshine pop acts, prompting successive anthologies and reissues over subsequent decades. In 2023 the collection Under the Silent Tree: Gentle Sounds with Strings and Things gathered every surviving BBC session, encompassing enough previously unissued material to fill an entire album.

Dello and Cane launched Honeybus in 1966 after prior stints in groups such as Grant Tracy and the Sunsets and the Yum Yum Band, the latter featuring former Them drummer Terry Noon. Conceived strictly as a recording project, the original roster placed Dello on vocals, keyboards, and guitar, Cane on vocals and bass, Pete Kircher behind the drums, and Colin Hare on second guitar. After signing with Deram they issued several singles before achieving their breakthrough in 1968 with “I Can't Let Maggie Go,” which entered the U.K. Top Ten and lingered there for months. Around the same period Dello departed, reluctant to commit to extensive live work; Jim Kelly stepped in, allowing the band to begin regular touring and preparation for a debut album. The group nevertheless dissolved in 1969, shortly before the 1970 appearance of that album, Story. Dello reassembled the original lineup in 1971 for fresh recordings, yet a change in label management prevented 1972’s Recital from receiving an official release; a limited run of promotional copies was manufactured and later became a sought-after collector’s item. By 1973 the band had ceased activity altogether.

Former members continued working in music, while “I Can't Let Maggie Go” maintained its historical footprint through reissues throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Interest in the group’s sound persisted among successive waves of listeners, resulting in several compilations that documented their brief but distinctive career. In addition to various greatest-hits packages, the 2002 anthology She Flies Like a Bird presented previously unreleased tracks alongside known material. The 2023 set Under the Silent Tree: Gentle Sounds with Strings and Things compiled every documented Honeybus BBC broadcast dating from 1967 to 1973, covering all lineups and featuring numerous songs that exist in no other format.