The Circle Is Unbroken: Live and Studio 1967-1972 [Remaster]

Performer: The Incredible String Band
Engineer: John Wood
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: The Incredible String Band: Mike Heron, Robin Williamson. This 28-track, two-disc set presents the Incredible String Band in a pair of notably different scenarios. The first disc consists of acoustic demo sessions that the influential British psych-folk ensemble (essentially multi-instrumentalists Mike Heron and Robin Williamson) cut in 1967 before its second album, 5000 SPIRITS OR THE LAYERS OF THE ONION. While some of the songs from that record appear here in early versions (including the wistful "First Girl I Loved" and the spare, whimsical "Little Cloud"), a number of non-album tracks surface as well (the absurdist "Lover Man" and others). The second disc captures the Incredible String Band on its '72 tour of Canada, with the duo augmented by additional musicians, making for a loose, dynamic batch of tunes that includes the madcap extended narrative "Giles Crocodile." Though not an ideal introduction to the ISB, THE CIRCLE IS UNBROKEN will certainly be of interest to devoted fans of the revered U.K. act.

Uncut (p.88) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "This was the defining line-up of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron, each fronting his own distinctively flavoured songs with the other providing esoteric and exotic back-up." Mojo (Publisher) (p.109) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[With] a playfully ragged potpourri of folk songs, jigs, novelty kazoo numbers and even a bossa version of 'First Girl I Loved'..."

Active from the mid 1960s, godfathers of the British underground psychedelic-folk movement the Incredible String Band mixed folk, Eastern influences, psychedelia, and a loopy, mythology-laced sense of humor. Long time associates of famed folk-rock producer Joe Boyd, the ISB evolved from a trio down to a duo (Robin Williamson and Mike Heron combining to make what is arguably their most successful incarnation) and later expanded to a full band. They sputtered out in the mid 1970s; however, Heron, Williamson, and assorted backing musicians re-formed to play several scattershot reunion shows in the late 1990s/early 2000s.

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