Customer Reviews

Chelsea Sessions 1967

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The "Chelsea Sessions" contains a lot of material that was used on the ISB's great "5000 Spirits" album, this time with a much more modest cover (not even psychedelic !). This album is absolutely great and a must-own for any ISB-fan. Apart from the familiar material there's quite a few songs that somehow didn't make it, and more often than not quite undeservedly.

In general, the Spirits-songs are less "orchestrated" than the official versions, but they sound fresh and just fine. In fact, in some cases I'm almost inclined to prefer the alternative version ! "The Iron Stone" from "Wee Tam ..." with some textual differences and not having the festive ending is an example of this.

Most of the "new" material is by Williamson, usually performed just by him. Heron's "Lover Man" is fine although its lyrics are a bit too psychedelic at times. His also is the weakest song by far on this album, and that's "Frutch" with completely nonsensical lyrics that take us nowhere. In Williamson's songs the arabic influence is quite clear, and they're all worth your while. Some special attention should be given to "God Dog" - a very, very lovable song that expresses Williamson's love for a dog, presumably his own.

This album doesn't give you the bad and the obscure. These recordings totally deserve to be released, and it's hard to imagine why they haven't done this a long time ago. But hey - it's great to find another iron stone.

Hans Wigman

This belated release comes as no great surprise -- the cover and the title reveal almost everything -- and I'd classify it as a treat rather than a revelation. From the days following the first album and Clive's departure, we get very tight but very spare demo versions of songs which (mostly) would later wind up arranged to the hilt on "The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion." A few lyrical variants, a few duds, and the incredible charm and surprise of "Lover Man" with its amusing lyrics ("Baby/Won't you tell me 'bout your black rose/And the garden where your love grows/among the cabbages and beans") -- basically these demos are sketches of a band in transition, caught midway between the recognizable traditionist ways of their first album and the maniacal Joseph-Campbell- on-Dimethyltriptamine- attempts-an-impersonation-of -Ravi-Shankar- impersonating- the-Panama-Ltd.-Jug-Band- impersonating- the-Buddha of the groundbreaking next two albums. Worth it.

Fascinating stuff this - music recorded by Robin and Mike between the first album and the astonishing "5,000 Spirits" and featuring several songs which ended up on that album. Comparisons have been drawn with the Beatles Anthologies, but what we have here is more than a collection of out-takes and studio foul-ups: this album stands on its own merits as a delightful collection of innovative and enjoyable songs. If the musical textures lack the fullness of "Spirits" there is a freshness to every song which more than compensates. I agree with Mr Wigman the only bummer is "Frutch" which never goes anywhere very interesting and is more irritating than whimsical. Apart from that, every track is a delight. This album beautifully fills the gap between the Incredibles' first album (basically a folk club performance) and the almost indefinable "Spirits".

It's a CD that takes time to grow on you but it's worth the wait. Better than the Studio versions by far.

Buy it!

Worth it just for "See Your Face and Know You," which, in my opinion, is one of the all time best ISB songs. I have no idea how it never made it to a proper album.