1969 Orig Hippie Folk Psych INCREDIBLE STRING HORSES

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1969 ORIGINAL FIRST PRESSING                                                              

UK HIPPIES FOLKPSYCH CHARMER!                                                          

            THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND

           Changing Horses

                     USA - ELEKTRA Records -  EKS -  74057

CLEAN, MINTY, ORIGINAL 1969 first pressing in lovely gatefold cover...

The Incredible String Band were innovative in their time, with an ever-evolving style that blended traditional folk instrumentation and storytelling songs with an eclectic mix of unusual instruments, including weaving webs of sitar and exotic instruments, often Eastern philosophical and compositional nuances, and the effervescence of youth, love and hippie naiveté. The band managed to remain quite active in various forms for a decade or so and sporadically resurfaced for decades after their formal disbanding in 1974. But this 1969 release really marks a pivotal turning point in many ways, and the band would never regain the same level of creativity or appeal they experienced in the late sixties.

The most pronounced change in the band was their lineup. Following several years as largely a duo consisting of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron (with various transient members and Williamson’s girlfriend Licorice McKechnie performing on their earlier albums), the band had settled on the lineup of Williamson, Heron, McKechnie and Heron’s girlfriend Rose Simpson. Dr. Strangely Strange keyboardist Ivan Pawle plays piano and organ, but for the most part the band for a brief period was primarily its two founding members and their significant others. Many instruments on this album are plugged in as well, with the band beginning to move to a more electric sound.

The four members also claimed to have gone ‘clean’ (i.e. not 'stoned') prior to these recording sessions, leaving behind the drugs that clearly had fueled some of their creativity in 1967 and 1968. And both Williamson and Heron were dabbling in Scientology at the time, which may have had something to do with both of their girlfriends’ departures a couple years later.

As far as the music; in keeping with the sort of split-personality that characterized the group’s music thanks to the distinctively different styles of Williamson and Heron, the six songs here are a varied bag of styles. “Big Ted” is a strangely structured acid folk tune that tells the story of a pig that supposedly broke into the band’s communal house and ransacked their record collection. “Dust Be Diamonds”, the only ISB song in which Williamson and Heron claimed co-credits, features singing from all four members with McKechnie on kazoo, and trips into mostly nonsensical lyrics early on. The album also includes an a’cappela number (“Sleepers, Awake!”) which is interesting in that it’s the only instrument-free song they ever recorded. And Williamson offers up another of his trademark bard-like Brit folk numbers with “Mr. and Mrs.”, featuring mostly – well, him.

The rest of the album consists of two long and drifting compositions that would find some favor performed live. “White Bird”, written by Heron, is pleasant and melodic as the band manages to focus for the nearly fifteen minutes the epic runs. Like many ISB songs there are mild Eastern lilts and several extended laconic stretches of exotic instrumentation, and overall the band’s claim of being hallucinogen-free is somewhat suspect when this song is listened to in the sterile detachment of the twenty-first century.

The other lengthy number is Williamson’s sixteen-minute alternate-reality version of the Genesis story, “Creation”. This one features a wide array of instrumentation and percussion in addition to the soothing chanting of both of the band’s ladies. This may be plenty cool for those folks who are old enough to have enjoyed the band back in the day, and for anyone discovering the band now there is surely enough going on that they ehould too walk away expressing similar sorts of epiphanies that the band’s hippie fans did those many years ago.

Joe Boyd, who had discovered the original lineup that included Clive Palmer, would once again act as producer. But the times they were a’changing, and so was the band. A stint at Woodstock would turn out to be a bust, and both Simpson and McKechnie would be gone within a couple of years. In fact the most memorable thing to come out of the Woodstock appearance was a handful of photos of a radiant Rose Simpson on stage in a long cotton dress made see-through thanks to the heat, sweat and humidity of that day.

This was a pivotal album for the band and their fans back in 1969, which itself was a pivotal period for anyone who was drawing breath at the time. The album undoubtedly garnered stronger reactions back then...

- Robin Williamson / organ, flute, guitar, percussion, piano, violin, electric guitar, keyboards, vocals, washboard, gimbri, Chinese banjo
- Mike Heron / bass, guitar, mandolin, percussion, piano, electric guitar, horn, keyboards, sitar, vocals, vibraphone
- Licorice McKechnie / organ, guitar, percussion, violin, kazoo, keyboards, vocals
- Ivan Pawle / organ, piano
- Rose Simpson / bass, percussion, vocals

1. Big Ted (4:21)
2. White Bird (14:46)
3. Dust Be Diamonds (6:14)
4. Sleepers, Awake! (3:44)
5. Mr. and Mrs. (4:54)
6. Creation (16:04)

CONDITION: The thick gatefold cover is top clean M- with no bends, no writing no seam splits, no upgraded necessary, this IS the upgrade or TOP first time score!

The vinyl, all glossy clean and smooth M- expect to enjoy the clear grooves....

      A cool addition to anyone's music library!

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record