Customer Reviews

Earthspan

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Another odd album from the twilight years of the Incredibles, this was the last to feature Licorice McKechnie and her departure really signalled the final nail in the coffin of the ISB we knew and loved. She actually contributes quite a lot to the album providing the (rather odd) lyrics to "Sunday Song" and the stratospherically high lead vocals to "Banks of Sweet Italy". That prancing dancer Malcolm Le Maistre also makes his presence felt, contributing three songs, the spritely and catchy "My Father Was a Lighthouse Keeper", the rather limp-wristed and louche "The Actor" and the quite stirring "Sailor and the Dancer". Whether, his plummy vocals brought very much to the ISB is rather more debatable. As for Heron and Williamson, they seem oddly subdued. Williamson contributes two diffuse jazzy ballads and the aforementioned "Banks of Sweet Italy", a brief and delightful return to more folky waters rendered difficult to listen to by Likky's fingenails-down-a-blackboard vocals. From Mike Heron we have the tortured one-man-and-his-church-organ "Antoine", which reads like a film script but errs on the side of melodrama. "Black Jack Davy" from "I Looked Up" is revisited and revitalised as "Black Jack David". [....] Finally, there is "Sunday Song", something of an epic (though not by ISB standards), this features a three-pronged vocal attack of Likky, Mike and Malcolm and an often very inventive string arrangement from Mike. Somewhat overblown in places and about as far from the original ISB as is humanly possible but still an interesting track (rather poorly produced tho, black marks there Mike). The closing string coda happens to be one of the most stirring moments in the ISB canon, IMO!

I listened to this record a lot when I was 16. I'm 48 now, and I listened to the cd of this today while driving through near-tornado weather conditions. It's such a beautiful record from start to finish. A later piece by the ISB, yes, but it's just about perfect. Wee Tam, The Big Huge, and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter are among the very top of the top of 60's pop music. This lp shows them moving away from "folk" music, with influences of 20's jazz a little, and so on. But this music is performed by extremely skilled musicians, on the order of the best you've ever heard. The Incredible String Band's music is truly and deeply wise in a way that very few young musicians ever achieved (they were in their 20's when these records were made). "Cosmic" was such a cheap designation, or became such, but this music, so skillfully arranged and played, is just mind-boggling, still to me at this age. You can't go wrong with this one, as far as I'm concerned. It'll touch you deep down inside, and the level of musicianship is incomparable. Like many very good records, this one irritated me a lot when I first heard it, but it's safe to say it's one of the best pop lps I ever learned to love. The ISB deserve to be far more well known than they are.

This album found the Incredibles in one of their many transitional phases...not yet the full-blooded rock band of "Hard Rope", no longer the whymsical hippy minstrels of "Hangman's"...this was a band with an identity crisis. They gamely tried out different musical styles, Robin's jazzy excursions here are only partly successful, Mike's "Antoine" is powerful but essentially melodramatic, Likky's "Sunday Song" is strangley affecting but does takes some getting into. Malcolm's "Sailor and the Dancer" is one of the more enjoyable tracks in an eclectic collection. Still great because its the Incredibles, but not essential like "Hangman's"

I bought this album expecting something different from the earlier days of the Incredible String Band, and in some ways it was different, in other ways similar.

The songwriting efforts of LeMaistre don't exactly satisfy. Granted, he was not an experienced songwriter--but it certainly showed. They are in no way bad songs (especially "Sailor and the Dancer"), but when put alongside the prophetic Heron and Williamson, it is hard for him to hold his own.

This album also showed a lesser effort from Robin Williamson. Luckily, this was only a bump, and not the start of a decline, as he shows us on his subsequent solo albums. Again, the songs are good, but not his best. Although "Banks of Sweet Italy" will surely lilt your heart off to a faraway place.

That being said, the efforts of Mike Heron and Licorice McKechnie shine on this album, enough to give it four stars. Licorice's singing is infinitely beautiful, mesmerizing, and eternal. It was her final performance before the curtain fell and we were to hardly hear from her again, and it was as good as it ever could have been.

Heron's compositions on the album are among his best. Starting with "Antoine", a bright, windy, dreamy song of life, longing, and freedom, with some beautiful fiddle parts--I'm guessing which are from Williamson.

"The Sunday Song" is without a doubt one of the gems to be found on this album. A song cowritten with licorice, it is a sad, sometimes lilting and sometimes intense array of colors. Many different sounds, voices, and instruments.

After that, Heron's composition "Black Jack David" will greatly entertain anyone who appreciate's ISB's music. It's a fun, happy folk song with some of the best vocal performances Heron's ever given.

The last composition by Heron, and last song on the album "Seagull" is a unique song with all the band member's voices, and all sorts of atmospheres. The perfect way to end this album.

I'm glad I bought it.

ISB have always been underrated by most. I think that the reason is that few people have the patience or aesthetic refinement to appreciate it fully. Let's face it: the masses want music that is easy to like. For those who have are prepared to make the effort to open their minds and ears, I recommend this as one of the finest of the late 60's and early 70's. (To give an idea, it features, for me, amongst "Led Zeppelin II", Jimi Hendrix's "Band of Gypsys", CSN ("Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" album), Big Brother & Janis' "Cheap Thrills", Rolling Stones' "Sticky Fingers", Santana "Abraxas" and others... Yes, that is how highly I rate "Earthspan" by Incredible String Band!

This album found the Incredibles in one of their many transitional phases...not yet the full-blooded rock band of "Hard Rope", no longer the whymsical hippy minstrels of "Hangman's"...this was a band with an identity crisis. They gamely tried out different musical styles, Robin's jazzy excursions here are only partly successful, Mike's "Antoine" is powerful but essentially melodramatic, Likky's "Sunday Song" is strangley affecting but does takes some getting into. Malcolm's "Sailor and the Dancer" is one of the more enjoyable tracks in an eclectic collection. Still great because its the Incredibles, but not essential like "Hangman's"

... I only caught a glimpse of "Antoine" but enough to realize Mike Heron at his finest(barring perhaps Ithkos). I wrote a general review for "Changing Horses" and gave rave reviews to, who I recognize as the greatest, most experimental, and most underated music artist of any age--Robin Williamson. I see this album's title as relevant to the most vital issues of humankind. But what really makes this album, to me, and whoever else may recognize greatness, is LICORICE. Her vocals reach a whole new asthetic level.