As someone who over time has collected much of what the band produced, including their first 45, and a stereo and mono copy of Story, I'm happy to see Recital finally get its due. And I don't even regret the fact that this reissue makes my Story lps are now less "rare" because in my opinion they never should have gone out of print. Now, if somebody can put together a good Mirage lp with acetates like Ebeneezer Beaver, etc. that would also be a great lp. No reason wht they should be only on CD or original 45s.
Yeah, and this time they can give it a decent cover! Hot air balloons belong on a Free Design CD. Or the Association...
The art department needs to study the Zombies boxed set, about as cool as a cover shot gets, and even the typography looks great on that collection. Plus the music is pretty great as well.
Honeybus could have used better marketing! And no balloons!😡😄
The hot air balloon would have been a reference to the long-running 1970s English TV ad for Nimble bread that used 'I Can't Let Maggie Go' as its theme and had a hot air balloon featured prominently in the ad. A big nostalgia thing for people based in England who grew up with the ad and will forever associate Honeybus with that imagery, but obviously a mystery for non-Brits!
Good to have that explained. I've disassociated that song so much from the band (it's certainly the one I listen to least) that I didn't even think it had a connection to the cover art. I think of Honeybus as on a par with the Idle Race or the Zombies, and while Pete Dello can get a bit treacle-y, it's usually balanced by the other songwriters in the band. And I think several of Dello's songs are great, just never liked that Maggie song very much.
But I had read in liner notes how it was given extra life due to a bread "advert" (there! i'm catching on now😀) or commercial in England, and of course, you're correct that reference completely passed me by, as I only discovered the brilliance of Honeybus when perusing the Tower Records in Tokyo back in the 2000's...
I still don't know how I made it all the way to this century before discovering that Honeybus were part of the pantheon of great sixties bands.
Getting excited about these vinyl releases!