All of the songs that were intended to be included on the 1966 album ‘Time is Honey’ have now been traced: most of them of reasonable quality and a surprising number of them in stereo. For many years, the only available Raspberry Parade recordings were made from ¼ “ tapes that had been copied many times, and suffered badly from tape hiss and drop-out. In 2003 though, a hoard of acetates, some in excellent condition, were found in a San Francisco apartment that had been frequented by Brian Heddon. Miraculously, these included the Joe Meek-produced single ‘When it’s Christmas on the Moon’ – thought by most fans to have been lost forever, or even apocryphal! It is quite badly damaged though, and although it was transferred to tape, no attempt has yet been made to restore it.

There are many surviving live tapes, some of such poor quality that they are virtually un-listenable. A few tracks are surprisingly clean though, and it is hoped that eventually a double CD can be issued: one disc of ‘Time is Honey’ and another of extra tracks. These include the 1965 classic ‘Over the Sky’ (which may well be the world’s first example of tape flanging); ‘Beatnik Chick’ by The Hedonists; and ‘Mandragora’ with a backwards pedal steel part played by the 19-year-old BJ Cole!

British musician Steve Marshall has been co-ordinating the reconstruction of ‘Time is Honey’ for the last year; Nick Robbins of Sound Mastering in London has already begun the arduous task of removing the hiss and crackles. It is hoped that the first legal release of the album might be possible sometime in late 2006 - as soon as the many legal problems have been resolved. Steve is also working on a book about the band, with ex-Paul McCartney publicist Geoff Baker.

On the following page are four mp3 snippets. A further three tracks are available on myspace.com
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