The Incredible String Band - BBC Sessions, Volume 7: In Concert, Golders Green Hippodrome, London, Britain, 5-17-1974

Here's the seventh and last of the BBC albums I'm posting from the Incredible String Band. This one is a 1974 concert.

This concert came near the tail end of the band's first time together. Here's some info from their Wikipedia entry: "The group's changing lineup, adding Stan Schnier on bass, Jack Ingram on drums, and Graham Forbes on electric guitar, reflected moves toward a more conventional amplified rock group. Their final albums for Island [Records] were received disappointingly, and the label dropped them in 1974. By then, disagreements between [singer-songwriters Robin] Williamson and [Mike] Heron about musical policy had become irreconcilable, and they split up in October 1974."

After that, there was a reunion much later, from 1999 to 2006. That seems to have been the final split.

Only two songs from here were released on the band's official BBC album, "Across the Airwaves." Those are "1968" and "Log Cabin Home in the Sky." But everything else comes from a bootleg that sounds so good, you can't tell the difference on the sourcing.

This album is an hour and three minutes long.

01 Ithkos (Incredible String Band)
02 talk (Incredible String Band)
03 Log Cabin Home in the Sky (Incredible String Band)
04 talk (Incredible String Band)
05 1968 (Incredible String Band)
06 talk (Incredible String Band)
07 Jack Straw's Wishes [Instrumental] (Incredible String Band)
08 talk (Incredible String Band)
09 Maker of Islands (Incredible String Band)
10 talk (Incredible String Band)
11 Dear Old Battlefield (Incredible String Band)
12 talk (Incredible String Band)
13 Jigs [Good Morrow-Crawley's Reel-Small Coals for Nailers-Katie Hill] (Incredible String Band)
14 This Moment (Incredible String Band)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/SkghByZo

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/g0tj4cCJ86wmO8F/file

The cover photo is from the London Music Festival at the Alexandra Palace, in London, in August 1973.

The Incredible String Band - BBC Sessions, Volume 6: In Concert, Paris Theatre, London, Britain, 11-23-1972

Once again, here's a BBC album by the Incredible String Band. It's a short concert from 1972.

I'm posting this due to the poll from some months back about which musical acts had the greatest demand for more BBC albums. I'm still having a hard time getting into the music of this group, but I only have one more album to go and then I can post albums from others chosen in that poll. 

This is all from one concert. However, only some of the tracks have been officially released, specifically: tracks 2, 6, 10, and 12. Those all appeared on the "Across the Airwaves" BBC compilation. But a bootleg source fills in the gaps and has the same sound quality. Actually, the vocals were low in all the unreleased songs, but I fixed that using the UVR5 program, so you shouldn't notice a difference in the sourcing now.

This album is 38 minutes long.

01 talk (Incredible String Band)
02 I Know That Man (Incredible String Band)
03 talk (Incredible String Band)
04 My Father Was a Lighthouse Keeper (Incredible String Band)
05 talk (Incredible String Band)
06 The Circle Is Unbroken (Incredible String Band)
07 talk (Incredible String Band)
08 Turquoise Blue (Incredible String Band)
09 talk (Incredible String Band)
10 The Old Buccaneer (Incredible String Band)
11 talk (Incredible String Band)
12 Black Jack David (Incredible String Band)
13 talk (Incredible String Band)
14 Jigs Medley [Instrumental] (Incredible String Band)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/BzpVMQVi

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/ZZmTH8eIg92PGdi/file

The cover photo comes from the Lincoln Folk Festival in May 1972. 

The Incredible String Band - BBC Sessions, Volume 5: 1972-1973

Here's another album that I'm posting due to the big BBC poll from a few months ago. It's an album of studio sessions from the Incredible String Band. 

Note that, right now, I'm concentrating on posting albums by Richard Thompson and the Incredible String Band for that poll. I've got two more from this band after this one, and lots more from Thompson. Once I finish with those two, XTC and Elvis Costello will probably be my next main targets from that poll.

This album consists entirely of music from four BBC studio sessions in 1972 and 1973. Seven of the 14 songs - exactly half - have been officially released on the official album "Across the Airwaves." Most of the sessions are split, with some songs appearing from a session and some not. However, the sound quality is pretty close between the released and unreleased ones.

This album is an hour and three minutes long. 

01 Restless Night (Incredible String Band)
02 Down Before Cathay (Incredible String Band)
03 Secret Temple (Incredible String Band)
04 Oh Did I Love a Dream (Incredible String Band)
05 Rends-Moi Demain (Incredible String Band)
06 Hangman's Medley (Incredible String Band)
07 Maker of Islands (Incredible String Band)
08 Raga Tune (Incredible String Band)
09 Saturday Maybe (Incredible String Band)
10 At the Lighthouse Dance (Incredible String Band)
11 Black Jack David (Incredible String Band)
12 Dreams of No Return (Incredible String Band)
13 Jane (Incredible String Band)
14 Dear Old Battlefield (Incredible String Band)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/VSHsMUz2

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/WSE9ujK4cIo1XGP/file

I don't know any details of when or where this cover photo of the band was taken. But I have very few good color photos from this band from around this time. 

The Incredible String Band - BBC Sessions, Volume 4: In Concert, Paris Theatre, London, Britain, 3-18-1971

Some months back, I posted a poll asking which musical acts would you like to see more BBC albums from. That project has taken a back seat for me in recent weeks, because I keep finding interesting stuff that I want to post first. But I'm going to keep going back to that poll until I finish. It may take me years, since there are many hundreds of albums involved, but I'll get there. Here's another one from one of the top voter getters in the poll, the Incredible String Band. This one is a full BBC concert from 1971.

I've mentioned that I'm not that keen on the music of this band, and I'm posting these albums due to the poll results. But maybe they're growing on me a bit, because I liked this one more than the previous three volumes. Perhaps it's helped by the live concert vibe, and the explanations about the songs.

This concert has been officially released in part, but not in full. Most of it was released on "Across The Airwaves" as well as "BBC Radio One Live In Concert," but a few songs were missing, as well as some of the banter. I found a full version via bootleg. The sound quality is excellent. 

The album is an hour long.

01 talk by John Peel (Incredible String Band)
02 Bright Morning Stars (Incredible String Band)
03 talk (Incredible String Band)
04 Worlds They Rise and Fall (Incredible String Band)
05 talk (Incredible String Band)
06 Sunday Is My Wedding Day-Drops of Whiskey-Grumbling Old Men-Eyes like Leaves [Instrumental] (Incredible String Band)
07 talk (Incredible String Band)
08 Spirit Beautiful (Incredible String Band)
09 talk (Incredible String Band)
10 Willow Pattern (Incredible String Band)
11 talk (Incredible String Band)
12 Cosmic Boy (Incredible String Band)
13 talk (Incredible String Band)
14 Turquoise Blue (Incredible String Band)
15 talk (Incredible String Band)
16 Whistle Tune [Instrumental] (Incredible String Band)
17 talk (Incredible String Band)
18 Darling Belle (Incredible String Band)
19 talk by John Peel (Incredible String Band)
20 Adam and Eve (Incredible String Band)
21 talk (Incredible String Band)
22 You've Been a Friend to Me (Incredible String Band)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/juydxUuh

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/p870NIJiQm6E6HU/file

The cover photo is from a concert at the album Fillmore East, in New York City, circa 1969.

The Incredible String Band - BBC Sessions, Volume 3: 1970-1971

I'm still not into the Incredible String Band, but here's another BBC album from them, due to their high results in the BBC poll I did a while back. This is a third volume of BBC studio sessions.

There's an official album of BBC performances by this band, but it skips a lot of music. This album is a case in point. The first four songs are from that album, "Across the Airwaves," but everything else remains unreleased. Also, those first four songs are from two different BBC sessions in 1970, while tracks 5 to 8 are from one 1971 BBC session, and tracks 9 until the end are from another 1971 BBC session. 

In the time period here, the band was still a foursome, with Mike Heron, Robin Williamson, Licorice McKechnie, and Rose Simpson. But that would change around the end of 1971. During this time, the band released no less than four studio albums: "I Looked Up" and "U" in 1970, and "Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending" and "Liquid Acrobat as Regards the Air" in 1971. 

This album is 50 minutes long.

01 Everything's Fine Right Now (Incredible String Band)
02 Raga Puti (Incredible String Band)
03 Ring Dance (Incredible String Band)
04 Long, Long Road (Incredible String Band)
05 You Get Brighter (Incredible String Band)
06 Jigs [The Bird that Lives on Rain - Yellow Flames of Whin - Jenny in the Mosshouse - Drunk] (Incredible String Band)
07 How We Danced the Lord of Weir (Incredible String Band)
08 The Actor (Incredible String Band)
09 The Circle Is Unbroken (Incredible String Band)
10 Sailor and the Dancer (Incredible String Band)
11 Tree (Incredible String Band)
12 Living in the Shadows (Incredible String Band) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/xeM2CQYY 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/uwp1nSK4SfcXQKg/file 

The cover photo shows the band's two main singer-songwriters, from around this time: Robin Williamson with blonde hair and a beard and Mike Heron with dark brown hair. I believe I took this as a screenshot from a documentary about the band. 

Texas International Pop Festival, Dallas International Motor Speedway, Lewisville, TX, 8-31-1969, Part 1: Incredible String Band - Herbie Mann

It's time for me to tackle more of the 1969 Texas International Pop Festival. With this album, I'm beginning the second day of the festival. So note in the album title this is "8-31-1969" instead of the 30th, and thus Part 1 (again). 

I really wanted to have one musical act per album, but this is the one exception. I was only able to find 11 minutes of the performance by the Incredible String Band, and 14 minutes of the performance by Herbie Mann, so I put them together. I don't know if they played back to back, but the odds are low that they did. At least it's known they both performed on the second day.

All the music on this album is from a soundboard bootleg source. I'd guess maybe half or less of the total music from the festival has been made public with soundboard sound quality, but it's very strange how it sometimes is only parts of sets, as is the case both times here. In some cases, I've found an audience bootleg to fill in missing pieces, but not here. So something is better than nothing, I guess.

I've already posted some Incredible String Band albums at this blog, so I don't need to introduce them. Obviously, they must have played more than two songs, but I couldn't find any complete set list for them.

Herbie Mann (who died in 2009 at the age of 73) had an unusual career. He was a jazz flutist. What was unusual was that he managed to have some pop hits, and got enough of a following to be invited to a rock festival like this one. No doubt, he wouldn't have been invited had it not been for his album "Memphis Underground," released in April 1969. Recorded in Memphis with soul musicians, it fused jazz and soul, and went on to become of the best selling jazz albums of all time. 

In this concert, all his songs were instrumentals, with his jazz flute being the lead instrument. Just like the Incredible String Band, he must have played more than two songs, but these are all we have. Here's his Wikipedia entry:

Herbie Mann - Wikipedia  

Regarding the festival in general, the attendance dropped about in half on the second day. That was largely due to the negative media coverage. The front-page headline on the morning of the second day in the Dallas Morning News was "Drugs Mar Pop Fest!" The article told of "freak-outs" and "bad trips" suffered by at least thirty youthful "hippies" who'd taken mescaline or LSD, requiring treatment in the festival's first aid tent. One of the festival's promoters later told Rolling Stone Magazine, "The press hurt us bad. I could just see parents looking up from their papers at breakfast and telling their kids, 'You're not going out there.'" In actual fact, the percentage of people having bad trips was extremely low compared to the overall size of the crowd, something that Dallas Morning News article even acknowledged deeper in the article. But one has to keep in mind the cultural conservatism in Texas at the time. It's a wonder the festival was allowed to happen at all. In fact, a similar festival planned to take place that same summer in Oklahoma City was cancelled by the authorities at the last minute.

A bigger problem was that the festival was really hot. Many people were treated for heat exhaustion, and also for cut feet, due to going barefooted. Another problem was outsiders who continued to go to the lake next to the venue to ogle at naked people skinny dipping there. But other than that, the festival ran quite smoothly compared to other festivals of similar size in that era.

Here's the list of all the music acts on the second day, in alphabetical order, since I don't know the actual order they appeared:

Chicago
James Cotton Blues Band
Delaney & Bonnie
Grand Funk Railroad
The Incredible String Band    
B.B. King
Led Zeppelin
Herbie Mann
Sam & Dave
Santana 

In addition to this album, I'm posting the sets from Led Zeppelin, Sam & Dave, and Santana. For all the others, they also performed on either the first day and/or third day as well, and I have albums from all of them on those days. So, very luckily, nothing really important is missed from this day.

This album is 26 minutes long. 

01 talk (Incredible String Band)
02 Waiting for You (Incredible String Band)
03 Black Jack Davy (Incredible String Band)
04 Tangier [Instrumental] (Herbie Mann)
05 Improvisation [Instrumental] (Herbie Mann)
06 talk (Herbie Mann)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Qcq67t43

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/m59CqMvUzhl3F6i/file

Both photos are from this exact concert. On the left, that's Robin Williamson, one of the two lead singers for the Incredible String Band. On the right, that's Herbie Mann. Both of the original pictures were in black and white. I used the Kolorize program to colorize them.

The Incredible String Band - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: 1969-1970

Here's a second volume of the Incredible String Band performing for the BBC. Like Volume 1, it consists entirely of studio sessions.

In 1967, the band consisted only of singer-songwriters Robin Williamson and Mike Heron. But by the time of this album, Licorice McKechnie and Rose Simpson joined as well, as you can see from the cover image. They released the albums "Changing Horses" in 1969 and "Looking Up" in 1970.

In 2007, the archival album "Across the Airwaves: BBC Radio Recordings 1969-74" was released. Seven of the songs here come from that, while the rest remain unreleased. Those seven are the first four, plus tracks 9 through 11. It's obvious that that album wasn't meant to be complete, even with sound quality considerations, because the unreleased tracks 12 and 13 are from the exact same BBC session as three that were chosen.

A bunch of the songs on this album had the lead vocals low in the mix. I fixed that for all the songs except the first four, which sounded fine. As usual, I used the UVR5 audio editing program to do that.

This album is an hour and four minutes long.

01 Fine Fingered Hands (Incredible String Band)
02 All Writ Down (Incredible String Band)
03 Dust Be Diamonds (Incredible String Band)
04 Theta (Incredible String Band)
05 The Letter (Incredible String Band)
06 This Moment (Incredible String Band)
07 Gather Round (Incredible String Band)
08 Waiting for You (Incredible String Band)
09 Empty Pocket Blues (Incredible String Band)
10 Beautiful Stranger (Incredible String Band)
11 Won't You Come See Me (Incredible String Band)
12 Flowers of the Forest (Incredible String Band)
13 Dark Eyed Lady (Incredible String Band)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/PEVAtdFC

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/SHImL7mI3Tgkrfn/file

All I know about the cover photo is that it's from 1970.

The Incredible String Band - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1967-1968

In the poll I conducted in February of new musical acts you'd like to see BBC albums from, the Incredible String Band tied for third place. So here's the start of a series of BBC albums by them. I found enough for seven albums.

Personally, I've never really gotten into the Incredible String Band. I know they were talented, and their style of psychedelic folk was unique and interesting, but their songs generally don't grab me. Still, the voters have spoken, so here you go.

The heart of the band were the singer-songwriters Robin Williamson and Mike Heron, with the two roughly doing about the same number of songs. In fact, for some of the time period of this album, they were the only two members of the band. However, in 1968, their girlfriends at the time, Licorice McKechnie and Rose Simpson, were also made band members. Happily, they were talented singers and musicians.

This band arguably peaked early, around the time period of this album. If you look at the crowd-sourced ratings of their albums on rateyourmusic.com, their 1967 album "The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion" and their two 1968 albums "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" and "Wee Tam and The Big Huge" are their highest rated ones. 

All the performances here are unreleased. The first four songs are from a 1967 appearance on the "Top Gear" radio show, hosted by John Peel. The rest all date from early 1968. Tracks 5 through 7 are from "Once More with Felix," a BBC TV show hosted by Julie Felix. Tracks 8 through 12 are from the "Night Ride" radio show, which was also hosted by Peel. The last two songs are from another appearance on "Once More with Felix."

Unfortunately, one song is repeated, "Painting Box." It's both the first song and the last song. And two of the songs have "[Edit]" in their titles because Peel spoke over the music a little bit. That was pretty unusual for him. I did the usual, using the UVR5 program to wipe the DJ vocals while keeping the music.

This album is 52 minutes long.

01 Painting Box [Edit] (Incredible String Band)
02 Mercy I Cry City (Incredible String Band)
03 Chinese White [Edit] (Incredible String Band)
04 Nightfall (Incredible String Band)
05 Three Is a Green Crown (Incredible String Band)
06 Geordie (Incredible String Band)
07 See All the People (Incredible String Band)
08 You Get Brighter (Incredible String Band)
09 All Too Much for Me (Incredible String Band)
10 Ducks on a Pond (Incredible String Band)
11 I Bid You Goodnight (Incredible String Band)
12 Won't You Come See Me (Incredible String Band)
13 The Half-Remarkable Question (Incredible String Band)
14 Painting Box (Incredible String Band)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/kfLHempX

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/UmFrpOKn2L0yyJM/file

The cover image is from around 1967, when the band was only a duo. That's Robin Williamson with blonde hair and a beard and Mike Heron with dark brown hair.