Customer Reviews

U

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"U" is something special, and almost accidental. Its structure, dictated by its title, seems almost unapparent in the music itself. Look closely at the cover: it represents a "Siddhartha" like journey from the purity of innocence, down into the temptation and turmoil of the physical world, returning to a high level of spirtuality. What is lost? Innocence, represented by the little ball at the top left, then left behind at the lower right. Easy enough.

Judging from the cover, the song that tells this story best is "The Juggler's Song", a lovely little parable that reveals the whole story, and sets the band free to amble through their "surrealist " mutli-media adventure at will. The liner notes fill you in on the history of the few performances of "U" and it's demanding recording schedule. But, despite all the limitations, setbacks and misinterpretations, the music remains magical, adventurous and charmingly beautiful. The CD is a fitting record of an idiosyncratic project that shines all the more for its eccentricity.

Listening, you feel that in this instance, in a more profound way than in other early period ISB recordings, Williamson and Heron worked apart from one another. Williamson does the heavy lifting: with the exception of "Robot Blues", "The Juggler's Song", "Time" "Queen of Love", "Astral Plane Theme", "Invocation", "Puppet Song" and "Cutting the Strings", are solemn, striking a sometimes ominous and serious tone in both music and lyric. These pieces advance the story in the most tangible way.

Heron delivers less-abstract, more emotional charges to the proceedings. His plaintive voice is perfect in "Light in time of Darkness" and the "Hirem Pawnitoff" medley with the traditional "Fairies' Hornpipe" injects energy and spirit. But Heron's "Rainbow" crowns the whole project with a wonderful, melodious sing-along that will stay with you. Does anyone remember his marvelous "Feast of Stephen" from "Smiling Men With Bad Reputations"? "Rainbow" gives off the same light.

ISB is again eclectic, drawing freely from a range of traditional musics and instruments in a broad and masterful
variety of styles and ideas. Sitars and fiddles move us from one culture to another in relative ease - the music is never forced or artificial. "Rainbow" and many other parts of "U" stayed with me for years. The melodies would turn up unexpectedly, in quiet moments or while falling to sleep. As would the words: "I was your slave, now you are mine, I am time..." So much so that I tracked down a good-condition copy of the LP just two years ago and had it coverted to CD. Needless to say, the sound quality of this reissue easily surpasses what I remember from the vinyl.

Music offers each of us so much more than the Billboard charts and A&R men can ever hope to understand. "U" is unique in it's singular and eccentric existence, and it's back again. If you remember it, buy it once more. If you've never heard it, listen closely. It represents a time and a music that the untiring commercial impulse of the industry has conspired, but failed, to erase.

OK, I'll admit to being a hardcore Stringhead from way back. I've been awaiting the release of "U" on CD for years. I had the LP version and always loved the dreamy idyllic musical portrayals of life and love that only The Incredible String Band (ISB) could carry off.

I listened to "U" throughout the 1970s when the music scene dissolved into disco and raged into the punk scene. All that was acoustic or "unplugged" seemed to have been lost in the noise.

One reviewer described ISB music as a cross between nursery rhymes and hymns. I'd have to agree. If you want eclectic and thoughtfully provocative music "U" is definitely for you.

The ISB did "world music" ten years before most people even knew what it was, but, as always, didn't stop there. Some of my favorite songs on "U" range from semi-rock blues pieces to the haunting (Licorice solo) "I know you" and the closing celebratory "Rainbow." "Walking along with you" is a love song in action. "Queen of love" is indefinable, but I can't keep the song out of my head.

There are also comic relief pieces here; the country western "Bad Sadie Lee," medieval "Hirem Pawnitof" and futuristic "Robot Blues" are only a few.

I don't remember, and can't quite make sense of "Invocation" - it sounds like a clarion call to paganism. I used to find the utopian idealism of near nature worship appealing but I've seen far too much evil in the guise of a bland universalism to tolerate much in the way of spongy spirituality.

I also didn't remember, but was quite delighted by the instrumental pieces - especially "Bridge theme" and "Partially belated overture."

I had also forgotten the barely contained delight of "Walking along with you."

I certainly have missed the gentle spirit of "U" as I (and the world) have gotten far too hard and cold.

If I were stranded on a desert island with my solar operated CD player by my side, I would definitely take this set with me.

The one ISB CD set I'd still like to see on CD is "Relics" a compilation of truly the best of ISB.

"You're a rainbow" indeed.

PS. I picked up my copy at my local (bookstore)- they had ONE copy and weren't planning on ordering any more - and that was the day "U" was released! Demand that stores carry this one. It is not to be missed.

This is the album that turned me on to The Incredible String Band over 25 years ago. Since collecting all their other releases since that time, it hit me how odd this album must have looked to the group's followers upon its release.

While there are many tunes in here that are in the spirit of The String Band's previous albums, there are some very offbeat tunes that sounded very 1970s folk with a large twist of children's music thrown into the recipe, most notably in "Bad Sadie Lee," "Hiram Pawnitof," and "Robot Blues." While a verse or two in "Robot Blues" might not be suitable for the kiddies, the childlike aura works here, though a few more tunes like these would have brought The Incredible String Band just a dangerous step away from turning into Peter, Paul and Mary!

The crowning glory on "U" is, in my opinion, the final tracks on Disc 2, "I Know You," and "Rainbow." Never has Licorice's voice sounded so genuinely sensuous and haunting. This is a great song to play at a party late at night, with the lights turned out, in order to creep out your inebriated friends. This song is beautiful and eerie at once. It concludes, shifting immediately into "Rainbow," which will bring your party-pals back into the comfort zone. Similar to Licorice in "I Know You," this is one of those pieces where Mike Heron's unique voice drives the spirit of this song. This is one of the most underrated "soulmate" songs I have ever heard.

The other great high-spots on "U" include "The Puppet Song" (those who know the history of the band members' spiritual quests will no doubt recognize various flavors of various pop-religions in the 1960s & 70s), Williamson's calming "Queen of Love" (one of his finest songs in ISB history), and "Walking Along With You."

I would not rank this album over "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" or "I Looked Up," but "U" is excellent, and an essential CD for anybody who is more than just a casual Incredible String Band fan.

On this sprawling, epic-length (2 hrs) collection, ISB ranges from their normal Anglo fairyfolk into Indian ragas, blues, rock & roll, mock-cowboy songs, and long progressive instrumentals. Even though parts of it are gratingly awful, others are among the best pieces in their oeuvre. Such genre-exploding variety is almost never heard these days and they must be given huge points for the effort. A programmable CD player makes this album the best 40 minutes of ISB available.

When I wrote my review of the ISBs I LOOKED UP album, I called it the end of an era for them  released later in the same year (1970), the ambitious 2-disc U shows the band in the throes of growth and transition. The project was a collaboration between the ISB and the dance/theatre troupe Stone Monkey (Malcolm LeMaistre of SM later joined the ISB as a full-fledged member when Rose Simpson departed)  typical of the era, the stage production had only the barest threads of a plotline, and by all accounts, performances varied greatly from show to show. There are almost two hours of recorded material in this set  and while it could be argued that to leave anything out would be to misrepresent the work as a whole, theres a lot of what even I, a die-hard ISB fan from almost near their beginnings, consider filler. This would have made a really good 60-minute album  a fact noted by at least one other reviewer below.

As I mentioned, this is a difficult thing for me to admit. The String Band were one of my very favorite acts of the era  and I still listen to several of their recordings regularly  and I feel almost disloyal in making that statement. That being said, there is some brilliant music here. The instrumental pieces  El wool suite, Partial belated overture, Bridge theme and Astral plane theme are enjoyable, and give the band a chance to stretch out through the sound of its myriad instruments and influences. Mike Herons songs give a couple of nice moments  his duet with Rose on Walking along with you is touching and sweet; Light in time of darkness is nice, but the tune its paired with, Glad to see you, is pretty trivial.

The finest parts of the album are some of Robin Williamsons songs. The jugglers song is classic Robin, describing the forces and forms of creation as balls being tossed back and forth. It segues nicely and appropriately into Time, which is a lovely showcase for his vocal abilities (his melody lines are influenced greatly by the characteristics of traditional Middle-Eastern vocalists). Queen of love is beautiful, if a bit of a departure for Robin, arrangement-wise, with its piano and strings. One of the absolute highlights of the set  and one of Robins most memorable songs  is Invocation. The words are stunning and moving  and its just as effective today as in 1970, when this was originally released. Licorice McKechnies I know you is another gem.

Some of the tracks here are in the mix, Im sure, for their humorous value  after all, its hard to keep an audiences attention through not-quite-two-hours of performance with dark and serious things. Still, on record, without the benefit of the visual element, tracks like Bad Sadie Lee, Hiram Pawnitoff and Robot blues come across as a bit silly  regarding Bad Sadie Lee, make that downright embarrassing.

The Incredible String Band was about to go through rapid, repeated changes over the course of the next four years. U is only the first of many corners they were to turn. Im glad I have this in my collection  and Im glad, for the sake of preserving their musical history, that its been made available on cd. I cant help but wish that the folks responsible had found a way to include the printed lyrics to the songs  some of them are pretty hard to understand, especially, I would imagine, for someone unfamiliar with the ISBs assorted voices.

I feel it's my duty to give an opinion on this amazing album, seeing as how I'm an American who'd never heard of this band until recently. When ISB played my house last year (I live in a an old meat packing Werehouse refurbished as a club and living space) I hate to tell you, nobody'd ever heard of them. Even the older 'Hippies' I know who were way into music and know their obscure (from this continent at least) 60's fare (Captain Beyond, Fairport Convention, etc) were at a loss. I'm quite sure there's many a Brit who'd be offput by my almost casual categorization of ISB and FC, but as marvelous as they are, hardly anyone over here knows it. The best we could muster was, "Well, the press packet says they were a huge influence on Zeppelin's acoustic/eclectic/world oriented stuff..." Well, it was a wonderful experience to meet these guys and hear them do what they do best. Other than that most recent album, I'd still never heard any of their seminal recordings until now. Wow! This thing starts off on the perfect groove for the ensuing 100+ minutes of otherworldliness. The sitar (vina perhaps) intro lets you know they're in no hurry and though sprinkled with quirky bright dittys, the overall pace and impression is of a more meditational nature. Though I obviously don't know their body of work; craftily written wry humor, tranced out bliss and esoteric instrumental virtuosity seem to be what these folks are all about. It's rare for me to say, I don't know if the lady or man's voice is prettier. It's my earnest hope that this review on Amazon.UK will be read by someone stateside that needs to find this amazing band. 4 stars cause I know they have a deeper body of work and yet no one else does this quite so well or has the humor and fortitude to pull it off.

Wow! The Incredible String Band definitely lives up to its name. I've never heard anything quite like *this* before.

I feel it's my job to try and convince you, loyal readers, just what makes U one of the more underrated albums of the early 70's. It's like a perfect illustration of the flower power movement. Despite being a 70's album, it really captures every single one of the more beautiful and creative moments of the late 60's rock scene (and does so in hypermode, so to speak). However it's entirely possible to interpret them in a completely *other* way- that being, they take the hippie movement and make it much much darker and ominous with a haunting atmosphere making several appearances.

I don't really know how to describe the music either. I guess it has folk rock tendencies, but... well, those moments are few and far between. You really can't put these guys in the same category with other folk rockers. What knocks me out is the fact this album has (in abundance, might I add) plenty of *diversity*. I hear folk elements combined with soul, opera, classical and who knows what else. Many of these musical styles are actually combined together to create otherworldly-like effects. Truly fascinating. Throw in violins, piano, acoustic guitar, male and female lead singers constantly alternating their singing roles and well... yes, this is definitely not your ordinary band by ANY stretch of the imagination. If this is supposed to be folk rock, well, it's quite different from Peter, Paul and Mary for example. Nothing remotely like Fairport Convention either. Gordon Lightfoot? Get out of here!

U is sort of like an equally bizarre -but more listenable and likable- version of Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica as far as utter oddness and experimentation is concerned. The two albums are from a completely different world of course, and don't sound even remotely the same in any way, shape or form, but they both do one thing *really* well- they both leave me totally shocked that a group of musicians -at one point in time- were actually devoted enough to create such a spectacular... thing.

Let's talk about some of the songs. The opener "El Wool Suite" takes the sitar to a WHOLE new level. I'll be honest- before hearing this song I never really felt like rock artists utilized the sitar to its full potential. Therefore, I never understood its appeal.

Well finally, a band that knows how to use that sucker! I am now officially a fan of the sitar. Ever since I heard the Beatles "The Inner Light" I've been waiting (rather impatiently!) for somebody to use the sitar in a way that appeals to me so I can understand what all the fuss is about concerning that musical instrument. Well *finally* someone has accomplished that- the Incredible String Band. Thank you!!!

Anyway, about the song (sorry got sidetracked there, hehe). You are treated to a lengthy sitar solo during the first half that leads way to a very Renassiance flute jam near the end. It's really impressive- the entire song, I mean. It keeps my attention because, well for one thing it's extremely melodic, but also because it qualifies as completely unique. Originality is important to me. When you realize time and time again that most artists aren't willing to go the extra step in order to be creative, it kind of makes you really appreciate a band that *does*. That's the biggest reason why I'm praising this album so much in this review.

Alright, "Queen of Love" HAS to be the best example imaginable of the whole hippie movement. I'm totally serious. This song features absolutely everything that's great about the late 60's/early 70's summed up beautifully in a 9-minute song. This is a promise- despite coming across as an obvious fanboy here, I have to say it anyway- in order to truly get this song you simply *must* listen contently to the lyrics, the background arrangements, and the colorful atmosphere because I know for an absolute fact the moment you *do*, this song will take on a whole new meaning. However not paying attention to any of it and letting your mind wander will result in a different impression- that being, it's an overlong, messy jamfest. It is what I consider to be a challenge.

I promise you it's not terrible!- a song of this magnitude simply demands careful attention in order to fully appreciate on the part of the listener. I mean my goodness, what's not to like? The song is constantly jumping around from violins to flutes to acoustic guitar and... that's not even the most amazing part. It's the way the lyrics contain immense feeling and imagery that adds up to one unbelievably fascinating experience. We're talking a *true* epic here, folks.

"Light in Time of Darkness/Glad to See You" is another really impressive song. Maybe it's just me, but the lead singer closely resembles Pete Townshend during this lengthy, vocal melody-driven track. The piano playing near the end is quite melodic too, and in fact, the piano that plays throughout the song borders on sophisticated classical arrangements. The diversity doesn't stop there either- "Bridge Song" contains ANOTHER highly unusual and original experiment- taking operatic vocals and combining them with folk guitar playing. It's completely different from anything I've ever encountered before.

In fact, that's really only ONE aspect that makes the song so astonishing to me. First of all it must be said that the female singers operatic style is being used creatively and melodically to really trigger an emotional response out of the listener, but when the male singer comes into the picture, he actually sings a soulful vocal melody similar to Steve Winwood but with acoustic guitar strumming along at lightning speed, making this song yet ANOTHER unforgettable creation. So basically it's opera one minute, and soulful folk rock the next. I bet you haven't heard anything like this before, have you? Again, why isn't the Incredible String Band more well-known?

I wonder if that German rock band Amon Duul II were listening to these guys back in the day because I've heard Amon Duul II utilize similar creativity and diversity around the same time. Either way, I'm thoroughly impressed with both the vocals and instrumental playing.

"Robot Blues" is, I believe a fast-paced acoustic instrumental played with a level of sophistication and speed that's simply out of this league (if I'm remembering the correct song, that is) and "Invocation" is just flat out bizarre with the spoken words and weird background arrangements building up to a pretty cool atmosphere. A song that really doesn't have a clear explanation what makes it work so effectively. I can't understand what the lyrics are about but who cares? It's all about the cool atmosphere.

This album can't possibly have any MORE variety, can it? Not after everything I mention above? Yes it can! Check out "Hirem Pawnitof/Fairies' Hornpipe" for a hoedown good time! Nothing like it. "Puppet Song" contains lyrics that are... yes, the magic word of the day- VERY creative. The lyrics pertaining to God are really awesome. Let's put it this way- it's a fast-paced folk rock tune with a lot of emphasis on the lyrics. "Walking Around With You" features a haunting atmosphere and piano, putting the image in your head of a late night, smokey pub scene.

Overall, U is a lost classic. There's no other way to put it. It simply *is*.

To me, this is the most interesting and entertaining of the Incredible String Band albums. You can hear how their minds, their hearts, and their souls were open, but all while keeping a leveled head ;)

The songs vary to extreme extents, and all of them are very nice and entertaining. The spiritual element to this album is humongous as well, I've never heard anything like it.

Nothing that you will read in these Amazon.com reviews will reach what this album is :) We are not poets like Heron and Williamson. Buy the album, and become swept away.

The Incredible String Band is certainly an acquired taste; a taste I have acquired since their inception. The String Band was never one for singing on key or playing in tune. It was free form music at its best. At times, however, their free form approach was grating. But, if you were a true hippy, their lack of conformity is what appealed to you most. Mike Heron the more commercial of the two leads actually had a good voice. It was hard to tell early on because there was so much going on musically, that vocals became secondary. But, on their later recording Heron's voice stood out. Robin Williamson was the more avant garde of the two. His voice and song structures were weird beyond immediate comment. But, weird in a good "artsy" kind of way. The two females were there to add to the strangeness. Vocally they were both off key most of the time and at great lengths their voices could crack glass. But, that was the point of the String Band. They obviously had no commercial aspirations. Their music was directed at a particular audience, an audience that has faded as quickly as your best tie dyed t shirt. The String Band are an important band in the evolution of music. Historically their impact is essential. Anyone entering their realm must do so with extreme caution; their music was and is not meant for the masses.

When U came out in 1970, I had not discovered ISB. But by 1973, I had purchased every album they had made and continued to do so until by the time they disbanded a year later, I had caught up. Over twenty recordings, and each one a prized possession to this day. "U" is among the best of them. "U" is not a perfect work of art. But it IS a work of art. And it is standing the test of time. In fact, it is getting better with age.

With the exception of Bad Sadie Lee, the first disk is about as close to a transcendent experience as one is likely to have on this plane(t). And Bad Sadie - a song everyone loves to hate - serves a purpose. This is one of three vignettes of stereotypical beings on the "manifested" side of the story. It is in British Music Hall tradition. Hiram Pawnitoff is a better attempt at the comic relief. But Bad Sadie, whatever her other personal disfunctions is, alas, too long a song. Especially when book-ended by "Time" and "Queen of Love", two of the most powerful songs imaginable. And it is true that even the eloquent and haunting "Queen of Love" would have been better served without Tom Constanten's string arrangement which, given the tempo, often sounds rushed.

But these are all quibbles. No musical artists in the late 20th century tried anything so grandiose as telling the story of humanity situated in the larger spiritual context - and got away with it. Williamson and Heron failed to make money on the project, but they succeeded artistically. How? Despite the theme, it's not pretentious. The music never tries to be melodramatic; these are simple songs, simple arrangements, small in forces and production. The pieces are always dedicated to story-telling, not (despite the fact they had become Scientologists) proselytising. They are songs of heart - both human and fallible. They are often pieces of exquisite delicacy and, in songs such as "I Know You," and "Bridge Song," full of poignance and a sense of loss. The ending, marred by "Rainbow's" last section hootnanny, yet manages to uplift.

Never trite, often un-categorizable, this is the Incredible String Band at their mature best, foretelling places only Robin Williamson would tred in later decades.