… Hirofumi "Dr. K." Tokutake gibt acht Eigen- und vier Fremdkompositionen zum Besten, deren Stilrichtung sich zwischen Country, Bluegrass, Folk, Rock und Gitarrenballaden bewegt. Über Tokutakes individuelle Thumb-Pick-Spieltechnik gibt es bereits fünf Videos - der Mann ist gewissermaßen Nashville-geprüft. Den japanischen Einfluß hört man, wenn auch geringfügig, dennoch - beispielsweise bei "Kyotobojo", einem auf einer Melodie der "Ventures" basierenden Song. Es ist tatsächlich - der Titel lügt nicht - eine seltsame Platte: "A Strange Tale", das namensgebende Stück, steht mit seiner verspielten, gitarrenbetonten Manier und seiner Leichtigkeit exemplarisch für das ganze Album. Wichtig ist, sich einfach überraschen zu lassen und der nicht zu bremsenden Spielbegeisterung der Musiker zu folgen. - Eine außergewöhnliches Album!
Ireland's answer to the Incredible String Band, Dr. Strangely Strange engaged in the same type of psychedelic acoustic music with folksy arrangements. With traditional instruments like penny whistle, fiddle, harmonium, and mandolin, Dr. Strangely Strange was more solidly rooted in melody and structure than the group's flaky Scottish counterparts. Produced by British modern folk guru Joe Boyd, "Kip of the Serenes" is built around simple and repetitious melodies occasionally interrupted by stream-of-consciousness musical and lyrical diversions. This simplistic approach would be abandoned with their 1970 follow-up, "Heavy Petting", which saw their first partnership with electric guitarist Gary Moore.
An unsuccessful attempt to assemble an album of live/BBC material by Dr. Strangely Strange (not enough usable stuff could be found), unusually, led to something better - an entire LP's worth of well-preserved 1969-1970 studio outtakes. Those ten outtakes (with two versions of one song, "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo") form the bulk of this 2007 release, topped off by three 2006 recordings supplied specifically for this project. It's the 1969-1970 material, naturally, that's the main attraction, and it's a surprise to find that - unlike the unissued cuts excavated for most collections of this sort - they're pretty much on a par with the two albums this fairly obscure Irish acid-folk-ish band issued during their brief lifetime…