Incredible String Band

espers (fishtown, philadelphia, PA) will be the opening act. they opened for Ghost last night. very witchy folk.

not really. i've deferred to quentin compson on many issues in the past. one slip up about a local band (that has hardly any fans at home) is inconsequential.

Their magical self titled debut combines the elemental sound of acid-folk with the baroque arrangements of late 60s chamber rock. Fully versed in the sumptuous vernacular of drug music, the cradle of Appalachian song, and the succinct truths of the three-minute pop ballad, Espers is an irresistible collection of sweet and subtle songs essential for fans of Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Jackson C. Franck, Linda Perhacs, Bread, Love & Dreams and Bert Jansch. Espers give us the sound of music the way it should be heard - with the ease, infectious grace and absolute beauty of an ever expansive trio bound for always greater pastures.
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OK, so they're a six piece now. Chris plays some percussion/bass, and they have a percussionist. they don't really have a drummer as such. so it's: two acoustic guitarists, a keybs/harpsichord, bass, cellist, percussionist.

sad thing is MTS, based on the crowd for Ghost the other night, most folks in philly don't know about them either.

Dude bought everything Ghost were selling.

If I didn't have to work tomorrow night, i'd find a way to get over to the NorthStar. It's a banner day when I cross Broad St.

"The Incredible String Band will be doing some downsizing for their forthcoming US tour, their first in thirty years.  The economic constraints of transatlantic touring mean the ISB will be going over as a three-piece in September - Mike Heron, Clive Palmer and Lawson Dando.  This also opens the way for a more acoustic and intimate approach, well suited to the spirit of their classic 1966-70 albums from which they will be drawing the greater part of their concert repertoire.  Lawson will accordingly be playing less keyboards, concentrating instead on guitar, mandolin, harmonium, percussion etc."

confirmed that otto's from rochester. he claimed that we'd met at a party once. i have no recollection of this [swigs vodka from glass]!

i got 5000 spirits today. it's great. yeah.

better than the c.o.b. lps, which are just ok.

Hey! What the hell is this: http://www.amazon.com/Tricks-Senses-Incredible-String-Band/dp/B001K859PC
Anybody heard it? Worth the $$$?

haven't heard it yet, but 'All Too Much for Me/Take Your Burden to the Lord/Let It Shine on Me' was previously on some versions of the Chelsea Sessions CD, was recorded at the same time as Wee Tam & Big Huge and is just as good as anything on those albums.

I'll sing you this October song,
Oh, there is no song before it.
The words and tune are none of my own,
for my joys and sorrows bore it.

Beside the sea
The brambly briars in the still of evening,
Birds fly out behind the sun,
and with them I'll leavng.

The fallen leaves that jewel the ground,
They know the art of dying,
And leave with joy their glad gold hearts,
In the scarlet shadows lying.

When hunger calls my footsteps home,
The morning follows after,
I swim the seas within my mind,
And the pine-trees laugh green laughter.

I sed to search for happiness,
And I used to follow pleasure,
But I found a door behind my mind,
And that's the greatest treasure.

For rulers like to lay down laws,
And rebels like to break them,
And the poor priests like to walk in chains,
And God likes to forsake the.

I met a man whose name was Time,
And he said, "I must be goin,"
But just how long that was,
I have no way of knowing.

Sometimes I want to murder time,
Sometimes when my heart's aching,
But mostly I just stroll along,
The path that he is taking.

every cell in my body has it all writ down.

one day when the moon was full i thought i might settle down
found myself a pretty little girl
and i stopped all my running around
but just when the preacher come along
and he's just gonna pop on the ring
this funny little hedgehog comes
running down the aisle
and i don't have to tell you what he did sing

highly recommend this radio bcast from 1968. http://ow.ly/eBVVJ

The Clive Palmer book through Helter Skelter was a very interesting read. Not sure if it would be remotely available now. I got it for a couple of pounds a few years ago, think literally £2, probably from FOPP.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Empty-Pocket-Blues-Music-Palmer/dp/190513925X

right you can get it then.

huh didn't know that existed. looks good. i need to get those COB records too.

They or at least Moyshe Mcstiff was the main impetus for the setting up of Sunbeam records thanks to Richard Morton Jack having worked for the rip-off artists at Radioactive.
RMJ wanted to do the release as well as he could and make sure royalties were paid, Radioactive weren't so hot on the royalties.

Anyway, I'd recommend the Sunbeam Moyshe, haven't seen if they have a Spirit Of Love & can't find one mentioned.
I have one on another label, not sure which.

There was a live set from '72 on Dime in May. think it was pretty good.

I couldn't make it through that Clive Palmer book. Must still have it around somewhere. I paid top whack (well - £15) for the Sunshine Possibilities album a few years ago and didn't think much of it. Consequently I've got a bit of a downer on Clive.

Saw Robin at the Half Moon Putney a couple of years ago and he was excellent.

would love to see williamson sometime. i saw the robin-less ISB a few years ago in the US w/ Palmer looking very amused/ancient.

While my students were working on album-cover art the other day, one of them--triggered by having seen the covers for Cheap Thrills and After Bathing at Baxter's--asked to hear some actual hippie music. So I played "Dark Star" and "China Cat Sunflower" off YouTube, and then, just on a whim (it's not really hippie music, but it's strange, and great hippie music is almost always strange), I switched over to "A Very Cellular Song." My twenty-something student teacher: "What is that? That's awful."

Couldn't take the gimbri?

haha i put on A Very Cellular Song at work a couple weeks ago, my co-worker couldn't deal.

I tried playing a tape of the HGB lp on camp in the early days and it was viewed as unlistenable by Levellers fans. Gorlumme, how does one deal with people with poor taste?

don't know where I got the initials HGB for HBD but anyway, would have thought that it would be more popular and even something that people would be familiar with. But no, people's noses turned up at one of the greatest lps of all time in favour of post-commercialisation Levellers. bleurgh.

Thanks jay, I read/watched both of those things. Rose is awesome and what happened to licorice is incredibly depressing. I also had no idea miscavige’s dad was doing a Scientology expose series on youtube til now!

Ha yeah Jon I shoulda mentioned that about who the host was!

sad stuff — knew that she had disappeared into the desert, but didn't know about her breakdowns ... weird that her ex claims that the ISB was hugely responsible for scientology's spread in the UK ... is that accurate?

also, goddamn, scientology is weird. (obvious, but it always bears repeating)

XP - Someone should tweet Rose and ask her about that, were the whole band scientologists at one point? How did they raise awareness without it ever being documented? Seems off.

Wow on that video, just wow.

Also it's very odd that with the benefit of hindsight he doesn't seem one bit reproachful that as his wife was being driven mad by scientology and to help her, instead of taking her to a doctor he took her to see the people that were driving her crazy.

Pretty sure it was well known that ISB were all Scientologists at the time that they were into it... which was for years.

"Back in 1971, ISB and Chick Corea were the biggest names Scientologists could lay claim to." — Joe Boyd http://cosmedia.freewinds.be/media/articles/grn040197.html

yeah, i just didn't know how active ISB were in terms of actually recruiting people. is Corea still a scientologist?

Not sure that they themselves were active in recruiting; it's more that their public example of embracing Scientology drove curiosity towards Scientology from their followers.

As for Chick Corea, yup, still a Scientologist.

(xp) OTM on ISB and LRH. They never hid the fact they were Scientologists, and from '69/70 onwards their songs are peppered with Scientology references, I think their albums often carried dedications to 'the Commodore' (guess who) - Robin Williamson's solo albums certainly were - and there's even a picture of LRH on the sleeve of "Earthspan" if you look for it.

http://philippe.andrieu.free.fr/concerts/Affiche/009024.jpg

Wow on that video, just wow.

^^

I hope all the downvotes on that video are scientologists.

Changing Horses is a good album! There are no bad songs, it's just that the writing isn't quite as tight and the performances aren't quite as magical.

Can't find a Clive palmer or C.O.B. thread. Just seen that somebody has upped the live C.O.B. set from 1972 to Dime.
THought some of you might want to know.

As a follow-up to that scientology video posted upthread, there have been a number of posts on the "Amoeba's Are Very Small" facebook page since then, saying with confidence that Likky is alive and living in Northern California.

I was contacted by an individual, a writer for a music publication, who wanted to do an update on her. He saw this FB page and that I knew her years ago. He had some leads on where she was, he sent me photos of various people wondering if I thought they were Likky. We went back and forth for about a year. None of them looked right to me. Finally, he hired someone from law enforcement, and working with that person they found her. The law enforcement person was very friendly, he spend a few hours with Likky at her home in California. They went through old photo albums of her with the band, talked about "the old days" etc. She was shocked that anyone cared. The journalist relayed this all back to me. As far as I know Licorice didn't actually say "don't disclose my location", but out of respect we are just not doing it. When I knew her, the ISB was something she was very sad about. I just don't want her to be flooded with people. I don't know if she's in touch with any of the former members. My guess is no, but I could be wrong about that. Things change. The breakup of the band was not good. They really splintered off into different ways. But time can heal these things so maybe its all ok now. I was Likky's friend for a while. That doesn't grant me access into her life or the band. I'm just reporting what I found, what I know and what I think based on knowing her. The person who found her said it was actually pretty easy, it just took a little digging and there she was.

not ISB but incredibel

https://blogthehum.com/2016/03/02/ellen-fullman-her-long-string-instrument-and-three-archival-films/

I just listened to 5000 Spirits for the first time ever and this is cracking me up:

Yutututututut-yutututututut-yututututata-ta-tawowowow!

I heard it as "bow wow" which is even funnier imo.