Across the Airwaves: BBC Radio Recordings 1969-74

Incredible String Band | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 5, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Hux Records
• ASIN: B000OLG5JU
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,975 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Bright Morning Stars

2. Worlds They Rise and Fall

3. Spirit Beautiful

4. Willow Pattern

5. Turquoise Blue

6. Whistle Tune

7. Darling Belle

8. You've Been a Friend To Me

9. I Know That Man

10. The Old Buccaneer

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. All Writ Down

2. Dust Be Diamonds

3. Theta

4. Beautiful Stranger

5. Won't You Come See Me

6. Oh Did I Love a Dream

7. Secret Temple

8. Rends-Moi Demain

9. Dreams Of No Return

10. Jane

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a very welcome, but not perfect compilation, May 25, 2007

By 

J. R. P. Wigman "Hans Wigman" (Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Across the Airwaves: BBC Radio Recordings 1969-74 (Audio CD)

As a true ISB & Robin fan I simply cannot resist the temptation of buying practically all ISB stuff that hits the market, and this cd of BBC recordings seemed like a wonderful addition. And it is, really. The packaging is well taken care of with an insightful essay regarding the sessions, lyrics of a couple of songs and perhaps best of all a "sessionography" of BBC sessions. While the performances are fine, the sound quality is not as uniformly excellent, due to the fact that some of the tracks, mostly due to lost tapes, have been recorded off-air. But this will not daunt the true fan.

In fact, it's mostly these tracks that make this collection interesting. Some Robin songs especially have by their absence from any release gained an almost mythical status, like "Fine fingered hands". Absolutely wonderful to hear these songs!

On the downside, from my point of view, is that I already did have most of the recordings. The tracks 1 - 12 featured on cd1 have been released as "Live in concert", while a lot of songs on cd2 have been released as "On air". This leaves some 13 songs that were previously unreleased. In the booklet we find a little story by Mike Heron that accompanied the already mentioned "Live in concert" so, unfortunately, it's not exactly a story fresh from his pen. I cannot tell from the liner notes or the sessionography which songs survived on tape or as an off-air recording. But it seems to me that some strange choices have been made, certainly in the knowledge that a lot of songs have already been released. An example: the "Live in concert" songs are in the same order (absolutely fine in itself of course), but looking at the session list some songs are still omitted. Why? I would have liked a better understanding of the choices made by the compilers, for now I am left with an uneasy feeling that this is not the perfect and final release. I'm all for the release of complete sessions unless there are very good reasons not to do this. Another example: the songs are not presented in a chronological order. This would have made perfect sense.

In all, this is a fine and long-awaited release and easily worth 5 stars when it comes to content. But it loses a star for its seemingly odd and arbitrary choice and order of the songs. I suspect (and hope) that this is not the final word on the matter.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars bbc performances, April 12, 2009

By 

David Calandra (pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Across the Airwaves: BBC Radio Recordings 1969-74 (Audio CD)

Lots of good songs not found on studio albums and some interesting renditions of familiar songs. Mostly good clear recordings.