Customer Reviews

Liquid Acrobat As Regards the Air

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

 

 

All of the Incredible String Band albums have something to offer, and many of them are total masterpieces. My first exposure was to WEE TAM & THE BIG HUGE, which remained my favorite until this one came out. LIQUID ACROBAT is aptly titled, as it positively drips with drama, atmosphere, and musical daring-do. Some moments are beautiful, others border on grating, and some of the songs are really funny, but all of this comes together as one marvelous, trippy, fantastical tour de force. "Darling Belle" is a crowning achievement of storytelling in song that knows no parallel, except maybe on another ISB album, EARTHSPAN (the much shorter song, "The Actor"). I have listened to "Darling Belle" countless times and have never gotten tired of it, but then, I often put this record/Cd away for months and even years, because I never want to become bored with it ... and I always return to it eventually. I suppose my love of "Darling Belle" relates to my theater background and my love of movies, because it conjures up such vivid images of a time long before I was born, both through the lyrics and the haunting music. Whether the group is rocking ("Talking Of The End," "Dear Old Battlefield"), spacing out ("Worlds They Rise And Fall"), waxing acoustic ("Tree"), or pulling legs ("Adam & Eve," "Evolution Rag"), this music is as fresh and inventive today as when it was new.

This sounds much, much better than the previous CD issue, spectacularly so in many places: on "Here Till Here Is There," Robin and Likky sound like they're singing live in your living room. The music is superb, one of the last great ISB albums, ranging from delicate folk to full-out rock, culminating in the masterpiece "Darling Belle." (Only "Adam and Eve" displeases, though it shows ISB were one of the first white bands to embrace reggae: always ahead of their time.) You can't go wrong with this one.

best album by anyone anywhere, ever. period.

Very sad. Tracks 7 and 12 have quite obvious glitches, the first a squiggle, the second some static. Just two spots that I can tell, but unforgiveable on an otherwise fantastic album.