The Incredible String Band

In the liner notes to these carefully packaged reissues, all four of the Incredible String Band principals– co-founder Clive Palmer, core duo Mike Heron and Robin Williamson, and Elektra records executive Joe Boyd– offer their insights in separate essays. Three of them mention the smell of patchouli. Such were the times, certainly, but the ISB are loved equally by avant-garde musicians, psychedelia enthusiasts, and those slightly dweeby young gentlemen who hang around music shops on college campuses. The reissue of their first four albums probably put to rest any notion that the ISB were a properly great band, releasing just one true classic, but they were rarely anything less than brave, inspired, and profoundly weird.

The Incredible String Band - The Incredible String Band
FLAC | Artwork | 24Bit: 458 MB | 16Bit: 141 MB | FS + HF
Cat#: Elektra EUK-254 (original UK mono) | Country/Year: UK 1966 | Genre: Folk

The Incredible String Band is the band's eponymous debut album. Released in 1966, it is the only Incredible String Band album to feature the original trio line-up with Clive Palmer as well as Robin Williamson and Mike Heron. The album was released in Britain in June 1966, and in the USA, and showcased their playing on a variety of instruments. It won the title of "Folk Album of the Year" in Melody Maker's annual poll, and in a 1968 Sing Out! magazine interview Bob Dylan praised Williamson's "October Song" as one of his favorite songs of that period. The original LP sleeve used in the UK showed the band holding obscure musical instruments in Boyd's office in London.

The Incredible String Band - The Incredible String Band
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 302 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Strange Days Records # POCE-1032 | Country/Year: Japan 2006, 1966
Genre: Rock, Folk | Style: Folk Rock

…While this album is a tremendous launch pad for potential enthusiasts, be aware that every Incredible String Band recording is also extremely individual and reflects the current membership of the group.

Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending is the eighth album by the Scottish psychedelic folk group, the Incredible String Band, featuring Mike Heron, Robin Williamson, Licorice McKechnie and Rose Simpson. It is the soundtrack for a film of the same name, and was released on Island Records in March 1971, failing to chart in either the UK or US. It would be the first album from the band on the Island label, and the last to feature Joe Boyd as the producer. Recording of the album and soundtrack came during a transitional period for the band. Tracks were completed during Wee Tam and the Big Huge and I Looked Up sessions. As a result, the girlfriends Licorice McKechnie and Rose Simpson are more involved in some tracks in comparison to others.

The Incredible String Band - The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion
FLAC | Artwork | 24Bit 96kHz: 970 MB | 16Bit 44.1kHz: 294 MB
Cat#: Elektra K 42001 | Country/Year: UK 1976, 1967 (Reissue)
Genre: Psych Folk, Folk Rock | Hoster: FS + HF/FF

The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion was the second LP by The Incredible String Band, released in July 1967. The album demonstrated considerable musical development and a more unified ISB sound. It displayed their abilities as multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters, and gained them wide acclaim. As well as winning favourable reviews in the music press, it was received enthusiastically by the DJ John Peel, who regularly featured tracks from the album on his influential Perfumed Garden programme on the pirate radio ship Radio London. The 5000 Spirits… went to Number One in the UK folk chart, and was named by Paul McCartney as one of his favourite records of that year. wikipedia

Described as one of the most engaging groups to emerge from the esoteric 1960s, The Incredible String Band was essentially the duo of Mike Heron and Robin Williamson. Their sound was comprised of haunting Celtic folk melodies augmented by a variety of Middle Eastern and Asian instruments. During the summer of 1968, The Incredible String Band played a remarkable concert at the legendary Fillmore East venue in New York. The concert was recorded by the venue's sound desk. This is a 24-bit remaster, approved by the band, taken from that original 1968 concert tape.