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Chamber pops
A trio of releases rocking string quartets.
By Jim Irvin.
Brolly good: baroque’n’roll stars Honeybus (from left) Pete Kircher, Colin Hare, Jim Kelly and Ray Cane; (below)
Recital & More
and Duncan Browne’s
Give Me Take You
.
Tony Gale/Alamy
A BOUNTIFUL MONTH for lovers of baroque’n’roll, that distinct blend of thoughtful pop in small-scale orchestral settings prevalent at the end of the 1960s. Honeybus were an inventive quartet featuring, as it turned out, three talented solo artists, that suffered from mistimed opportunities, a common fate in the frenetic evolution of late-’60s pop. Lead singer Pete Dello (né Blumsom) fronted their two hits on Deram in 1967/68 – his lovely (Do I Figure) In Your Life and the classic Top 10-er I Can’t Let Maggie Go, both marrying his rueful, flutey voice with string and woodwind arrangements (oboe to the fore) to pastoral effect. Then he quit, apparently allergic to touring and promotion, before the debut Honeybus album, Story, which included no singles and featured second singer Ray Cane and his equally engaging songs. But the group split before the album appeared in 1970. After Cane, third member Colin Hare and Dello had all made overlooked solo albums the following year, they reunited, signed a new deal with Warner Brothers and cut Recital, an album unfortunately shelved after promo copies were sent out in 1973.