Thursday, June 7, 2007

The Incredible String Band - The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion [1967]

"The Incredible String Band" was formed in 1965 by Scottish folk musicians Robin Williamson, Mike Heron and Clive Palmer, taking its name from an all-night folk club (Clive's Incredible Folk Club) run by the band in Glasgow. They were signed by their future manager Joe Boyd, then working as a talent scout for the influential folk-based label Elektra Records, and recorded their first album, titled "The Incredible String Band", in 1966. It was released in Britain and the United States and consisted mostly of self-penned material in solo, duo and trio formats, showcasing their playing on a variety of instruments. In a 1968 Sing Out! magazine interview Bob Dylan praised the album's "October Song" as one of his favorite songs of that period. The band broke up after recording the album, but reformed within a year without Palmer who had left for Afghanistan. In the meantime Williamson visited Morocco from where he returned laden with Moroccan instruments including a gimbri, which was, much later, eaten by rats.

1. "Chinese White" (Mike Heron) – 3:40
2. "No Sleep Blues" (Robin Williamson) – 3:53
3. "Painting Box" (Heron) – 4:04
4. "The Mad Hatter's Song" (Williamson) – 5:40
5. "Little Cloud" (Heron) – 4:05
6. "The Eyes of Fate" (Williamson) – 4:02
7. "Blues for the Muse" (Williamson) – 2:49
8. "The Hedgehog's Song" (Heron) – 3:30
9. "First Girl I Loved" (Williamson) – 4:55
10. "You Know What You Could Be" (Heron) – 2:46
11. "My Name Is Death" (Williamson) – 2:46
12. "Gently Tender" (Heron) – 4:49
13. "Way Back in the 1960s" (Williamson) – 3:11

Here

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good words.

Anonymous said...

I love this Band! Great Music!

Gaines said...

Just getting to know them; heard "Chealsea sessions" and really liked it, so I have high hopes for this one. Thanks.

www.notassinpartitura.blogspot.com

Elliot Knapp said...

Definitely a pysch classic, folk or not! Just wrote about this one too.