Customer Reviews

5000 Spirits / Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

With the release of their eponymous first album, the ISB made it know to the music listening public that a new force had arrived - one which would inject some energy and vitality into the folk music scene in the UK and the world. With the appearance of this album, THE 5,000 SPIRITS or THE LAYERS OF THE ONION, there could be little doubt that something special had been born. It was released originally in 1967 - at the height of the psychedelic music movement, filled with rapidly expanding imaginations and creativity at work, breaking new ground right and left. I feel it stands head and shoulders above most other releases of its day, in many ways, and should be regarded as a classic for its lyrical content alone. Musically, the ISB were going places - and drawing from sources - that other artists would only dare to touch in years to come. I believe it was their long-time producer, Joe Boyd, who once said that the ISB was the original `world music' group - he couldn't have stated it better.

The set opens with Mike's `Chinese white' - the bowed gimbri played by Robin on this track lets the listener know right away that things have `expanded' a bit since the band's 1966 release. `The bent twig of darkness grows the petals of the morning', sings Mike - a beautiful image worthy of traditional Asian poetry. Mike's other songs on this album run the gamut from love songs (`Painting box' and the eternally lovely `Gently tender') to humorous looks at our place in the world (`Little cloud' and `The hedgehog's song') to a song offering encouragement to the listener to reach for his full potential (`You know what you could be'). The seriousness of some of his topics is gently offset by a childlike quality that, through the ensuing years, would infuse most of his writing with an innocence that would endear it to his fans.

Robin's offerings here are for the most part more serious than Mike's - but there is humor in his writing as well, as is evidenced by `No sleep blues' and the hilarious `Way back in the 1960s'. His `First girl I loved' - covered by Judy Collins as `First boy I loved' on her WILDFLOWERS album - is simply one of the most beautiful songs ever written to a first love, looking back with honesty and tenderness on the gifts exchanged, both physical and emotional. His guitar work on this song is (as always) astonishingly creative and lovely. In 'The eyes of fate', he muses `O who can see in the eyes of Fate all life alone in its chronic pattern?' He is one of the most amazingly talented writers ever to pen a verse.

THE HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER is the third album by the ISB, recorded in late 1967 and released in early 1968. Combining instruments and melodies from the far corners of the earth with lyrics unequalled in their day (and rarely since) reflecting on everything from humankind to the natural world, from love to violence, from ancient mysticism to modern realities, the ISB made music like no one else. It spoke - and still speaks - to the heart, the soul, the mind and the body.

The album begins with a trio of Robin Williamson compositions, extremely varied in their presentation, but all tied together by myth. 'Koeeoaddi there' mixes images from Williamson's childhood, including imaginings, songs and games shared with his playmates (including Licorice McKechnie). The variegated visions are pulled together by the chant that becomes the refrain: 'Earth, water, fire and air met together in a garden fair - put in a basket bound with skin. If you answer this riddle, you'll never begin'. The third track, 'Witch's hat', is quite simply one of Williamson's most beautiful songs. The visions his words invoke are dark and crystalline, fog-shrouded shapes moving in the woods - the kind of stuff that scares the hell out of kids and grown-ups alike, but which is beautiful at the same time.

The album's longest composition, Mike Heron's 'A very cellular song' follows. It's a tour-de-force, encompassing several styles of music and themes - including a West Indian funeral song. His subject is nothing less than the beauty and interconnected nature of life itself, told from the level of a single cell. This has been singled out by many reviewers as not only the high point of this album, but of the band's career as well -- and to be sure, from this period onward, it remains one of their most adventurous, popular pieces. Heron's 'Mercy I cry city' is next - a simple man's troubled view of the confusion we call 'civilization'. Humor and innocence play large roles in these lyrics, as in several of Mike's songs over the years (check out 'Cousin Caterpillar' on their WEE TAM/THE BIG HUGE).

Another trio of Robin's songs follow. The first of these, 'Waltz of the new moon', incorporates spiritual images from China, India and the Nordic countries of Europe into a swirling tapestry. Dolly Collins' harp and harpsichord arrangements of this song are especially beautiful. This piece flows effortlessly, seamlessly (and appropriately) into the next tune, 'The water song', another of Williamson's most moving pieces, an ode to the beauty, energy and sacredness of water itself. "Three is a green crown' follows, a beautiful but separate companion to his later work 'Creation' (on CHANGING HORSES), with many mystical references to the process by which the earth was formed, and life appeared and progressed. This is a very hopeful song (I believe), encouraging us to learn all we can about the earth and each other - through knowledge and understanding will come peace: '...the book of life is open to us, there'll be no secrets between us'.

Mike Heron's 'Swift as the wind' is next, in which a child's parents scoff at his nightmare visions - but the visions belong to the child, not the parents - and the fear and dread he feels are very real to him. 'Nightfall', a Williamson composition concerning the power of the night and of sleep itself, end the album very fittingly: 'O sleep come to me, you who are night's daughter, and I'll give you my eyes for the colors that rise as time's echoes reflect on your water...O river of sight flow through me, washing thoughts of the day on your waters away...for the morrow that dawns never knew me'.

This double-disc package brings together two if the Incredible String Band's most creative and important recordings. It's nice to have them available together at an affordable price.

I've owned, worn out and re-bought both of these albums over the years. If you're interested in inspired mystical poetry, exotic instrumental textures or soaring, highly-ornamented vocals--this is the best of the best. Musicians can learn all kinds of riffs and melodic phrases from these albums. There's some great bluesy and flamenco-esque guitar work, raga-like drones in alternate tunings, undulating rhythms with Moroccan drums and flute styles, spontaneous, chaotic vocal harmonies that somehow fit perfectly, natural water sounds, and some aggressive backing on accoustic bass from Danny Thompson (Pentangle, Donovan, Songhai).

The ideas contained in these two seamless sets have a lot in common with the mystical themes found in the writings of Blake, Yeats, Thoreau, Jung and especially in Lao Tzu's book, Tao Te Ching. Putting it another way, if getting to know the root of existence itself is on your list of things-to-do, you might want to consider spending some quality time with these songs. Brilliantly played accoustic music chock-full of meaningful dream words/worlds.

The only thing I'm not sure of on some of these new CD releases is this: Have the engineers added sufficient warmth (via sonic maximising, spectral enhancement, etc.) during the process of remastering--going from analog to digital? But hey, it's great to have this stuff available again in any format. This is as significant as Sgt Peppers or Axis Bold As Love. It's that good. Buy it and delve deeply. Then move on to Robin, Mike and Clive's current stuff, via Robin Williamson's Pig's Whisker label. And don't forget The Merry Band's re-releases, too--or Robin's storytelling CDs. Players--don't forget to check out Robin's two instructional books: Fiddle Tunes and The Pennywhistle Book for lots of well-introduced tunes that can fit on any melodic instrument.

`The 5000 Spirits or The Layers of the Onion' (5000 Spirits) and `The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter' (Daughter) by The Incredible String Band (TISB) in a single package gives you the opportunity to get the two albums which put this band on the 1960's musical map.

The easiest way to point out the company this band was in is to cite a 1968 newspaper review of the `5000 Spirits' album which compared it favorably to the very summit of pop music at that time, the Beatle's epochal `Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. On the one hand, there is no question in my mind that this album is NOT as good as `Sergeant Pepper...'. And yet, we are still listening to both albums today.

`The 5000 Spirits or The Layers of the Onion' and that review was strong enough for me to look out for the TISB's next album (Daughter) and I was appropriately rewarded when I first heard this work on vinyl about 35 years ago. For starters, it simply hangs together much better than the earlier album. `5000 Spirits' seems to be just a collection of imaginative songs, most of that are probably considered `novelty songs'. `Daughter' is tied together by several parallel themes, the most important of which is linked to the album title and consists of stories admonitions, and entertainment's for an adolescent girl. The second theme running though most of the songs is the classic ancient elements of earth, air, fire, and water.

Oddly enough, these are TISB's second and third albums. The first presented the group as a trio of men, which slimmed down to just Williamson and Heron for the second album, to grow to the pair of men plus a healthy chorus of women and children backing them up on all sorts of oldish instruments.

The very best thing about these old albums is that they are so much better than the material Williamson and Heron are doing today. Williamson has largely become the traveling minstrel of Medieval days whose material he transformed into highly original songs for a decade, starting in the late 1960's. It is also appropriate to see these and other albums released in pairs, as TISB did more than their share of double albums, starting with their next release, `Wee Tam & The Big Huge' which puzzled me when they were simultaneously released by Elektra in 1968 as two different albums.

See my reviews of the individual albums for more details.

Listen and enjoy, Listen and enjoy...

I have these records in single cd's, but having this double is double magic!!
These works (specially Hangman's...) fulfilled my life over eight years ago, when I finally found it on cd. The Incredibles are so unique, a lot of people trying to imitate them with fabulous and theatrical worlds, but this mysticism is in many ways the most sincere, with that naif flavour and gayness and pure "joie de vivre"...
"The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" it's a kind of an Ancient Magic Compendium...also one of the most brilliant records of the sixties...to me in a very high place...
I love them, Robin and Mike and the childish girls Licky and Rosie...I bound to them...

I agree with what's been said further below, i.e. great albums, masterpieces, etc. Should go without saying (what the hell does "instrumental competence" have to do with great music anyway? The road to hell is paved with "virtuostic" albums). Just wanted to add that the "I bid you goodnight" riff on "A Very Cellular Song" goes back further than the ISB, and is also heard on an album by Joseph Spence & The Pinder Family (called "The Summer of '66" if I remember correctly) in its original (?) recorded form. I suspect it's one of those many songs that fits into the "traditional" section of writing credits (think of how many trad arrangements are on the first ISB album). I recommend the Spence/Pinder album as well, but even more, PLEASE find a copy of Joseph Spence's Complete Folkways Recordings! No more joyous music has ever been put to tape and released for the public. Not even on ISB discs (sorry!).

Of the ISB's dozen or so albums released between 1966 and 1974, 5000 Spirits and Hangman's Beautiful Daughter rank as the two most essential, if not the most accessible (5000 Spirits is more accessible than Hangman, and that's saying something, anyway). Psychedelic silliness aside--and I'll admit it took me some time before I completely warmed to The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (I had to rediscover Robin Williamson through his more recent work to really "get" what the Incredibles were about)--these are real classics of the period, and have stood the test of time far better than many other psychedelic albums.

The Incredible String Band have often been called the "first world music band," and given that they beat Kaleidoscope (whose most famous member is David Lindley) to the punch with their first LP by a year (the ISB's eponymous debut appeared in 1966, while Side Trips, the first Kaleidoscope album, hit the racks in '67), this claim is not exaggerated. Nor is it unjustified--there are many styles and instruments represented across the band's albums; you can hear sitars and Moroccan bowed gimbri on these tracks, along with raga, Balkan and Middle Eastern stylings. Later albums would feature the group steering a bit more toward their Celtic roots, but here, you can see the flags of many nations flying colourfully throughout the music. Personal favourites for me include "Chinese White," "No Sleep Blues," "Little Cloud," "The Hedgehog's Song," "Painting Box" and "First Girl I Loved" on 5000 Spirits; then "Koeeoaddi There," "The Minotaur's Song" (for the sheer silliness of it), "A Very Cellular Song," "Mercy I Cry City," "Three is a Green Crown" and "Swift as the Wind" on Hangman's Beautiful Daughter.

And I must disagree strongly with the reviewer who said that Robin Williamson's more recent work is that of a minstrel--that's most disingenuous. Williamson is a *bard*, thank you very much (he's even an honourary member of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids). It is my fond hope that he'll eventually return to the U.S. and tour here; that's one show I'd gladly pay admission for.

When I first put this on -- after not having heard the music anywhere but in my head for 30 years -- I had to readjust my ears to ISB's out-of-tune vocals and eccentric rhythm (thinking that perhaps digital clarity leaves them too exposed). But then the brilliance, creativity, innovation, whimsey, poetry and humor permeating these two albums -- that swept me up as a teen -- made my ears once again receptive. The collaboration between these two young men at this point in their lives evidenced a Beatle-esque genius that unfortunately could not be fully retained in subsequent albums. I found a great little documentary about them on youtube, by the way.

It took half a dozen of times to appreciate (first time I wasn't very impressed at all -- at first it sounded just fake-artistic outdated stoned-out hippy experiment). But after that, you either hate or love it. I happen to love it -- these are absolutely fundamentally positively great. Others probably have pointed these out, but beyond songs themselves being great, acoustic guitar work is pretty good; and lyrics are not only witty but well layered. There is always more to find. And I am a fool for whimsical tunes; mr. Heron's songs are just the fix. More bluesy songs by his partner in crime are not half bad either.
Right now my favorite is the 5000 sprits, but given rave others have for hangman I'm sure it'll grow nicely too over time.

It is also amazing how easy it's to notice similarities to other great (and much better known) artists of the era. If you ever wondered where David Bowie got influence for his early work (first 2 or 3 albums, Space Oddity, Man who sold the world, and the collection of oddities prior to those), this may well be the band. And at least Heron's songs sound like they might as well have been written by Syd B, the original Pink Floyd madman. And some songs sound a lot like Kinks as well.

The ISB were for many years one of the most mysterious 1960s rock groups to me. Their 1968 album "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" has always been lavishly priased by the critics, with both Joe S. Harrington and David Keenan listing it among their all-time Top 100 Albums. Yet, though at the time absorbing Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, I ignored the ISB at first, because I perceived them as perhaps too close to the "alternative" music I was in my teens. Moreover, when I did take a brief listen in one of the major underground record stores, the ISB seemed so slight that I could not understand why Harrington and Keenan adored them. There seemed to be in fact nothing at all in their music but a few notes repeated.

However, the superb critical reviews of the ISB's music and increasing findings that it was pivotal in the development of an underground folk scene that continues right to this day made me feel as though I was completely missing the ISB's music, so I first took another listen on YouTube and - actually by then not so much to my surprise - I realised I had overlooked a great deal. Listening to "Mercy I Cry City" revealed a brand of folk music completely different from the traditional folk songs of the bands mentioned in the previous paragraph. Instead of electrifying folk, the Incredible String Band aimed to make the basic sound of acoustic guitars more intricate through the addition of instruments whose textures were different but compatible with those of a guitar. In the process they achieve a sound that is mysteriously twinkling like a very dense orchestra of bells.

On their second album, 1967's "The 5000 Spirits of the Layers of the Onion", the Incredible String Band even at an early stage in their career create a work of whimsical, mysterious beauty. Most of the songs can best be described as humorous and romantic, but throughout there are unexpected twists in the voices of both Robin Williamson and Mike Heron that make sure "The 5000 Spirits" never goes anywhere close to losing interest. "No Sleep Blues" is the funniest of all their songs and also the most accessible with its very simple chorus, whilst "First Girl I Loved" became a standard in later years, and then "Painting Box" and "The Hedgehog's Song" have a wonderfully odd beauty. The opening track, "Chinese White" is the most radical here with its use of melodic strings and fairy-like Christmas-based lyrics. "Mad Hatters" surprisingly uses a simple piano line but has the mood and texture changes that were to dominate in the ISB's following albums - which some saw as self-indulgent. The hypnotic playing on "Little Cloud" is another highlight in which the instruments seem never to be played deeply but their hypnotic softness adds up to a great deal.

Their third album, 1968's "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" is a radical advance on the impressive work beforehand. The acoustic guitars are less emphasised and are replaced by harpsichords, harps and a number of ethnic instruments. Dolly Collins also adds significant vocal backup to Mike Heron and Robin Williamson. The songs are also much more complex, as seen in the amazing epic "A Very Cellular Song", a mystical epic that changes mood as if it was moving from place to place across the Earth, yet has a recognisable, if completely embedded, verse/chorus structure ending with "good night, good night". Williamson's opener "Koeeoaddi There" and "Witches Hat" show how the ISB had retained their basic sound even with the many new instruments, whilst "The Minotaur's Song" is really funny yet touching in a rare way. "Mercy I Cry City" shows how much more serious Heron had become with its anti-war theme, whilst on "The Water Song" Williamson turns to a beautiful, mystical celebration of nature backed by a wonderful organ line. "Swift as the Wind" is a really touching song that could be called a ballad, whilst "Three Is a Green Crown" is a dense interworking of spirtual voices and percussion that manages to be so melodic it adds to a remarkably touching piece.

All in all, even if the Incredible String Band are an acquired taste, they are a taste worth acquiring. These two albums are indeed the biggest long-term influence upon underground folk music right up the "freak folk" of the 2000s.

Both of these albums are great. They're classics, as anyone can hear. Collector's Choice Music has marketed them together, thus we can get both for a great price--which didn't used to always be easy with the Incredible String Band.

Certainly a worthy buy.