THE 5000 SPIRITS OR THE LAYERS OF THE ONION

And what a difference one album makes: still the Heron/Williamson (but Palmer-less) team, the Boyd/Elektra connection, but 5000 Sprits is definitely the birth of acid folk with all the possible ramifications possible, including a completely freaked out artwork (done by a Dutch couple in vogue in London's Swinging Sixties), going even a bit pagan with the leafy (druid) duo's back cover pictures, this is a pure hippy product instead of a pure traditionalist album, which of course will enrage the purist corner still not forgiving Dylan's treachery of going electric. The duo is now coming out with a couple of guests, including Pentangle's bassist Danny Thompson and a girl called Licorice (who would move into their beds before securing a permanent spot in the band. The duo is also now multi-instrumentalists including percussion, flute and a bunch of Eastern string instruments (already present on the previous album), but were not exactly on friendly terms and apparently only agreed to a song from the other if they could arrange it. In some ways this cooperation seemed to work fine, although producer Joe Boyd remembers walking on hot coals and having lengthy negotiations.

Starting on the medieval-sounding Chinese White (where they approach Third Ear Band's soundscapes a few years later), and following with the phantasmagorical No Sleep Blues (my fave on the album) and its deep flutes and multi-layered guitars, we are light years away from their debut album, an album sprinkled with eastern spiritualism and Indian influence as the sitar and tale drums indicates. Yes a Mary Jane and LSD-induced trip, a nice mellow one. But one of the reason this is called acid-folk is partly due to the high- perched, almost squeaky voices .While there are groundbreaking songs (in its genre, the semi-lengthy First Girl I Loved), there are also a few of them where it just smells the hick's barn wrestling with his animals and the straw picking and string plucking gets mixed-up very easily (Hedgehog's Song).

An album that musically speaking was at least as important as the Beatles Sgt Pepper or The Nice's Thoughts, ISB's sophomore album is a good step forward but more and better is to come in further albums. An interesting album for progheads, but I wouldn't call this essential and I will refrain from adding a bit to the rating for an historically important album, but I can find 6 Pentangle albums I prefer to any ISB. .

The Incredible String Band saw founding member Clive Palmer depart before this release on a journey of personal discovery in India (and later to form both the Famous Jug Band and C.O.B.); but they would add Robin Williamson’s girlfriend Licorice McKechnie and take on help in the form of the Pentangle’s Danny Thompson, Eastern instrumental guru Nazir Jairazbhoy and Joe Boyd’s UFO Club manager Hoppy Hopkins on piano for an overall much more robust, psychedelic and modern sound than anything on their self-titled debut. Hopkins would be in jail for possession of marijuana by the time this record released, and the recently-deceased Jairazbhoy would be off to complete his PhD in folk music and on his way to a lengthy professorship at UCLA in the U.S. For the band’s third album they would add Shirley Collins’ sister Dolly briefly, as well as jazz harpist David Snell, but the rest of their guests would be gone (although Thompson would have a longstanding relationship with the band).

In my opinion this record represents the peak of the band’s creative period, which arguably lasted only until around the time they appeared for a disappointing and delayed set at Woodstock. Williamson and Mike Heron split the songwriting almost evenly with Williamson penning seven of the tracks finally included versus six for Heron. Boyd wrote in his ‘White Bicycles’ biography that there was a lot of dissention and disagreement between the two over which songs to include and how each should be arranged, but in the end the creative tension would produce something of an acid folk gem and possibly the first truly folk-tinged progressive psych album of the era.

Williamson displays his measurable talent for turning traditional British-inspired folk arrangements into wandering and intricate acid-dripping vignettes, complete with fanciful and ethereal themes and clever lyrical twists; while Heron ended up contributing the more memorable tracks including an incredibly innovative and almost calypso-sounding "The Hedgehog's Song" as well as the brief but tightly-constructed folk icon "You Know What You Could Be".

For his part, Williamson leverages Jairazbhoy’s Indian strings and percussion for the spiritual and laconic "The Mad Hatter's Song" as well as the wordy but beautiful ballad “First Girl I Loved”, a song that challenges even today the notion of what a folk ballad should be capable of. His unrhymed poetry and jangling mandolin on that offering fit neither an Eastern nor a psychedelic mold, but instead stretch acoustic folk into something that approaches an almost American sound (especially the vocals) and I suspect is imbued with more of Joe Boyd’s production influence than Williamson would care to admit.

The last parts of the album are somewhat disjointed in their sequencing, with the recorder and percussion laden “Gently Tender” falling between a staid folk tune (“My Name is Death”) and the hippy anthem “Way Back in the 1960s”, which today probably belongs on some flashback documentary of the late seventies (and maybe someday will be used that way).

Overall there aren’t any weak songs here, although a couple like “The Eyes of Fate” and “Blues for the Muse” are not quite as strong as the rest of the songs. I’d say this is a very solid three star record, but I can’t quite come to bring myself to give it four as much as I’d like to. This is my most recommended album for anyone new to the band though, followed immediately by “The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter” which isn’t quite as strong folkwise in my opinion but will likely have the broader appeal between the two. Well recommended to prog folk fans as well as people who just like late sixties music in general.

peace

The second album of this band is in my opinion their best. This decision grew after I had listened these records independently for some years, I think here the average song quality is best, nearly all really mind blowing and only few last songs not so good, they being really fine too. The lyrics are understandable and wise, and music interesting but not trying to be experimental for sake of being it.

This marvelous album opens with raw violin, guitar and voice delivering "Chinese White", a beautiful ballad with thoughtful lyrics, crystallizing major key elements of the group right away. "No Sleep Blues" is more traditional folk song with surreal lyrics, funny feeling and some subtle sitar lines. "Painting Box" is then a true classic, with exceptional melody and lyrics that really grew to my mind, creating thoughts which I could identify with in bad times. There's a nice film of this song which was performed in Julie Felix show with her. Following "The Mad Hatter's Song" has interesting ancient sound in the melody, strong wailing vocals included and also really powerful lyrics. The song structure alters, there are wonderful moments of silence, and changes which do not return to previous themes. "Little Cloud" opens interestingly with weird vocal harmony, changing then as really playful and happy, healing song. "The Eyes of Fate" is a Slowly rolling and quietly opening kaleidoscope of religiously-scoped thoughts, with holy moment of chanting as verse. "Blues for the Muse" is then a happy world-hugging bluesy folk tune with accordion and sitar ringing in the background, fine twist in the lyric at the end, heh. "The Hedgehog's Song" is a really peculiar small song, with funny lyrics of a metaphorical hedgehog arriving to tell the same universal truth applicable to all possible events. Following "First Girl I Loved" is another melodically suberb and strongly personal classic song for long wailing voice and guitars. Next "You Know What You Could Be" is circled by ancient sounding sequence with tablas, pipe and guitar studying the chords. The the song starts to roll happily forward, building quite nice logical melodic folk song. Powerful "My Name Is Death" has really wonderful lyrics, and is a sad quiet contemplative song so true (optimal for ruining teenage parties). "Gently Tender" is a happy tune for flute, tablas, voice and guitar with slightly experimental sequences in the end. The album closes with "Way Back in the 1960s", a raw descriptive rant for guitars and vocal with some sitar. I usually skip this song when listening the album, as it is the least best when compared to others, which are in my opinion exceptional, creating an album difficult to match in quality or emotional sincerity and richness. That doesn't mean that it would be a really poor song though! The other tunes of this record are just so much better and form a different feeling for me. These songs have been big solace for me and the record has grown as personal all-time favorites. I would recommend this psychedelic gem wrapped to a nice dualistic hippie drawing for anybody open for thoughtful and sincere European acoustic music.

The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion is the 2nd full-length studio album by UK folk rock act The Incredible String Band. The album was originally released by Elektra Records in 1967.

The music on the album is acoustic psychadelic folk with some progressive elements. The instrumentation is varied throughout the album and in addition to acoustic guitars, which are the dominant instrument on the album, we are treated with mandolin, oud, gimbri, flute, assortive percussion, harmonica, bass and double bass, tamboura, piano, violin and sitar. The two main songwriters, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron, handles most of the vocals on the album. Licorice McKechnie sings some additional female vocals. The vocals are warm and at times quirky and humourous. There are lots of harmony vocals in the songs which adds an extra dimension. The atmosphere in the songs are mostly jolly but there are darker moments too which gives the album good variation. As for progressive elements they are mostly present in the longest song on the album The Mad Hatter´s Song. With its 5:40 minutes long playing time the song is given time and space to develop in unpredictable directions. Other than that most of the tracks are actually pretty straight forward, but minor progressive ideas appear from time to time. The overall quality of the songs on the album is very high. I enjoy each track on the album and haven´t found anything I would call sub par. The lyrics are warm and humourous and songs like The Hedgehog's Song, No Sleep Blues and Little Cloud make me smile and wish I could make something that brilliant.

The production is warm and suits the music perfectly.

The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion is my first encounter with The Incredible String Band, but it won´t be my last. I think it´s an abslutely brilliant acoustic psychadelic folk album and a 4 star rating is fully deserved.

In fact, this album should deserve five stars and it would have them had we been in folkarchives.com or acidfolk.com. Actually, this is a seminal album. Its originality, novelty and absolute freshness would infect a host of folk musicians and bands. This album and the rebirth of The Incredible String Band after the leaving of Clive Palmer would set the rules and canon to a new genre, the Acid Folk.

Some may say there was also the contemporary The Pentangle, but they were more jazz/ blues based and asumed a different direction.

The Incredible String Band brought a new way of doing things to the average folk musician, both to writers or performers. The main influence was East and modal music, with its melismatic chant and a tight connection between text and music. But the Middle Ages were at hand, too. The sixties were the time when Ancient Music came up to find its place in the world of music and has never quitted since. Folk and Rock were not insensitive to that. Great musicians and investigators searched the old churches and colleges archives to find out what and how the music in the Middle Ages was. Names such as David Munrow, René Clemencic or Gregorio Paniagua are among the most important restorers of a genre whose patrimony has not ceased to grow since.

It is not strange that in this ambient people like Williamson & Heron, John Renbourn, Alan Stivell, The Chieftains brought a Renaissance of traditional music.

But what TISB made was setting it into the very core of the pop-rock music of the moment and that was: psychedelia. This, added to an open structure in the compositions; to a melodic line which fluctuates together with the emotions provided by the lyrics; to an oriental-oriented way of playing the string instruments, including the very oriental ones, mainly the sitar with its caracteristic sound; to an impressionist writing and arranging... makes of the TISB's music one of the most original artistic works

It is also true that, in spite of a long career, the quality of their production is not always at the same level but, because of their novelty and creativity, they deserve your listening, at least, to this 5000 spirits that lay in the layers of a both sweet and acid onion.

Four and a half stars or 9 out of 10.

Updated to the fifth star (17/07/2014)

The Incredible String Band - The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion (1967)

Raw creativity, sprinkling all over the rather amateurish - yet enthusiastic - songs. Many will discard the Incredible String Band at first listen, but when you get to know their style and intention it is really a joyfull experience. On this second album Mike Heron and Robin Williamson really found their sound and the flow of inspiration seems endless on these journey of thirteen songs. The Incredible String Band is a multi-instrumentalist group using acoustic instruments like guitar, flute, percussion, harmonica and many more, singing with untrained English folky vocals that show real dedication. The performances are much more 'in the moment' and fresh then almost all folk acts I know of - as if the song was written before your eyes. some songs are folky in a happy crazy way (Syd Barret comes to mind), whereas others are more pastoral and intimate. Because of the amount of songs the album takes a while to get into (like eight spins) but is very rewarding.

Together with 'The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter' the best works of the band I'd say. Four stars, recommended to folklisteners and those in search of free flowing inspiration. Defenitly among the most enduring acts of the sixties.

After the departure of their co-founder Clive Palmer, the String Band reconfigured with the creative duo of Heron and Williamson as their core. This second album finds them plunging deeper into psychedelia than before, with extensive use of the sort of Indian instruments and pastiched borrowings from Indian music that the Beatles had popularised at the time. However, they had not "gone electric" the way Dylan had - nor were they veering down a sunshine pop path in the manner of Donovan (though closing song Way Back In the 1960s is a spot-on parody of Donovan's style).

A resolutely psychedelic folk album, with a strong emphasis on both halves of that equation, The 5000 Spirits contends with The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter - a lighter and more whimsical take on similar territory - for the title of the Incredible String Band's best album. I am slightly inclined to give the trophy to 5000 Spirits, but it's a close-run thing.

THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND formed as the trio of Clive Palmer, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron in 1966 after Palmer and Williamson had been performing together since 1963 in night clubs. As a trio the band released only one album, its eponymously titled debut the same year as formation and immediately clicked with a folk crazed public with kudos even from Bob Dylan who claimed the STRINGS were his favorite new band however for whatever reason Clive Palmer decided to go separate ways thus leaving the band as only a duo.

Given the changing times as the year 1966 ceded into the Summer of Love, THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND adopted the psychedelic flavors of the brave new world and released its second album THE 5000 SPIRITS OR THE LAYERS OF THE ONION to critical claim for its bold transition into a more progressive style of folk music that added the contemporary Indo-raga trends of incorporating not only the sitar but also other exotic instruments such as the oud, tamboura, bowed gimbri as well as finger symbols.

The album was quite long for the sixties with thirteen tracks that added up to over 50 minutes but somehow managed to be squeezed in on a single album. THE 5000 SPIRITS was perfectly tailored for the psychedelic 60s with an audacious but beautiful colorful album cover and authentic English folk melodies accompanied by exotic instrumentation which were performed by four guest musicians including Pentangle's Danny Thompson on double bass and legendary UFO Club owner John Hopkins on piano. Nazi Jariazbhoy performed the sitar and Christina McKechnie added some feminine charm in the form of background vocals.

Despite only reaching #25 on the UK album charts, THE 5000 SPIRITS was championed by none other than DJ John Peel who played multiple tracks during his gigs and even Paul McCartney jumped on board as a big fan thus making the album quite successful in folk circles. The album featured excellent original songwriting with thought provoking lyrics as well as fairly complex folk arrangements for the year 1967 and the impetus for the world of psychedelic folk to expand in the following years. In addition to the world ethnic sounds the folk guitar strumming is also accompanied by the occasional harmonica, mandolin, flute and drums.

THE 5000 SPIRITS OR THE LAYERS OF THE ONION is one of those albums that perfectly epitomizes the era from which is arose but also retains a sense of timelessness as the album resonates even more than a half century later. By adhering to the traditional folk values that preceded the psychedelic movement with only enough experimentation to capture the attention of the folky freaks of the era, THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND not only successfully reinvented themselves with a STRING of beautiful albums to follow but also provided a blueprint for all the psych bands on the mellower side to follow. In short, this is a beautiful pastoral piece of poetic acoustic music that came out in the wild and crazy 60s that ages quite well.

This album was published in 1967, ie it's coeval with Sgt Pepper and The Piper, we are in a pre-prog era, where pop groups, in this case a pop-folk group, played melodic beat songs mixed with pischedelia and Indian ragas. This album, in short, is a folk album with psychedelic and raga overtones.

It is not a prog album.

That said, this folk (and freak) album is truly sensational and iconic from the year 1967, we may consider it the folk version of Sgt Pepper (pop album) and The Piper (psychedelic album).

As is known, the ISB is the fusion of two songwriters who share songwriting and singing, a bit like Lennon and McCartney. The more inspired of the two is undoubtedly Robin Williamson.

Let's go.

Side A 1. Chinese White (3:40) It is a slow folk song by Mik Heron led by the acoustic guitar and a string instrument that seems to me similar to the violin: I suppose it is the bowed gimbri played by Williamson. Rating 7.75.

2. No Sleep Blues (3:53) Williamson's nasal voice is colder and more English than Heron's warm voice. This second folk song is more narrative and rhythmic than the previous one and enhanced by the flute. The guitar has some finger-picking passages. Donovan is around the corner. Vote 8.

3. Painting Box (4:04) Heron sings a ballad with double bass and a sitar-like sound that I can't identify. The arrangements close to being the pearl of production because the instruments move on a carpet of free folk music (Astral Weeks, the year after, is a relative). Rating 7.5. 4. The Mad Hatter's Song (5:40) This song is a psychedelic raga thanks to sitar and tamboura (Soma) and it is the album's first masterpiece. Here we are going towards Shawn Phillips, Williamson improvises a theatrical piece with a country & western saloon music (J. Hopkins at the piano) that stops before the third minute. This is a generational anthem. And it is a decidedly "porogressive" piece. The only flaw is that a solo is missing. Rated 8.5.

5. Little Cloud (4:05) Heron moves the arrangements with percussion (Williamson), churning out another very narrative ballad. More traditional piece but always beautiful. All inspired songs so far. Rating 7.5

6. The Eyes of Fate (4:02) An emblematic title for a song-elegy where Williamson's singing leads the music, thanks to changes in tempo and atmosphere. This is also a proto-prog song thanks also to the choir present in the middle of the track. Wiliamson shows his singing skills by performing remarkable vocal progressions. Another peak of the album. Rated 8+.

The second side sees Williamson prevail over Heron.

7. Blues for the Muse (2:49) is a bluegrass characterized by Williamson's harmonica and singing, a perfectly successful traditional piece. Rating 8.

8. The Hedgehog's Song (3:30) Heron responds to Williamson with another guitar and percussion (played by Christina McKechnie) ballad. The best part is the finger picking of the guitar. Heron's singing is reminiscent of Dylan. Rating 7.5. 9. First Girl I Loved (4:55) Once again the quality of the music goes up when the songwriter is Williamson. The freer arrangement, the more modulated and courageous singing make his songs a small fre-folk masterpiece that approaches those of Tim Buckley and Shawn Phillips, except that Williamson is ahead of them. Double bass (Danny Thompson) has a strong role in this song. This track, with a less refined arrangement than the others, still remains on good levels thanks to its singing. Rating 7.75.

10. You Know What You Could Be (2:46) Short song, almost a folkloric dance, marked by the mandolin. Very good final tail with flute and percussion. Rating 8. 11. My Name Is Death (2:46) Funeral lament guitar and vocals. Williamson displays his gifts with ease, without fear of boring the listener. Crystal clear beauty. Rating 8.

12. Gently Tender (4:49) Heron's pastoral ballad with excellent arrangement, especially Williamson's flute. This song is less narrative than its previous ones and more lively, it remains his best, the only one at the height of Williamson's peaks. Williamson's unison and counter-melody choirs to embellish it with a "progressive" vocal passage. Very nice. Rating 8+.

13. Way Back in the 1960s (3:11) Last blues song for Williamson, who prefers to be more folksinger and less psychedelic goblin on the second side. He also mentions Bob Dylan and in fact one of his vocal progression recalls It's Alright Ma. Rating 8.

Total Time 50:10

The album as a whole exalts more than the qualitative value of the individual songs, the beauty of this music is enhanced by the sequence of these songs (with no flaws, no weak passages), by Williamson's singing, by the general atmosphere and by the refined and fantastic arrangements.

Small masterpiece.

Rating 9. Five Stars.