Mike Heron - Flowers of The Forest +

Because Robyn mentioned Mike in the last post from TWILIGHTZONE there is THIS! 

Mike Heron - Flowers of The Forest

Incredible String Band 17.08.2017 (+ Joe Boyd)

Everything’s Fine Right Now - ISB (1970)

More Robyn Hitchcock "Trolley Bus 2” 2010 from TWILIGHTZONE

Robyn Hitchcock "Trolley Bus 2" 2010

Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano and bass guitar...
...Coming to prominence in the late 1970s with The Soft Boys, Hitchcock afterward launched a prolific solo career. Hitchcock's musical and lyrical styles have been influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Syd Barrett. Hitchcock's lyrics tend to include surrealism, comedic elements, characterisations of English eccentrics, and melancholy depictions of everyday life. His themes include the eternal contingencies of existence — namely: death, sex, and eating. (Recognising these themes, he released an EP in 2007 called Sex, Food, Death and Tarantulas.)
He was signed to two major American labels (A&M Records, then Warner Brothers) over the course of the 1980s and '90s, but mainstream success has been limited. Still, he has maintained a loyal cult following and has often earned strong critical reviews over a steady stream of album releases and live performances.

trax:
01 Be Here Now (Studio Outtake) 02 Blue Moon of Kentucky (PT Session Vocal Nick Lowe) 03 Candyman (Nashville with the Tennessee Crawdads) 04 Changes (3 King Halloween 2010 MSF Benefit) 05 Copper Kettle (Propellor Time session) 06 I Still Miss Someone (PT Session Vocal Scott McCaughey) 07 LIfe On Mars (Live at the 3 Kings Halloween 2010 MSF Benefit) 08 Pink Moon in C (Studio Outtake) 09 Quicksand (Live at the 3 Kings Halloween 2010 MSF Benefit) 10 Song for Bob Dylan (3 Kings Halloween 2010 - MSF Benefit) 11 Very Cellular Song (Lead Vocal Mike Heron at Petsival 2009) 12 Wang Dang Doodle (Propellor Time session)

mostly because Mike Heron is featured on this collection I couldn't find them doing a Very Cellular Song togather but found ‘Olé' and . . . . 

Mike doing his very own Cellular Song on Record Store day back in 2013

The Mike Heron Band - "A Very Cellular Song" live at Record Store Day 2013

See above for more Mike Heron

Incredible String Band - World They Rise and Fall | jt1674

 

https://www.tumblr.com/jt1674/780554661878988800/the-incredible-string-band-worlds-they-rise-and

Incredible String Band - Three Is a Green Crown | jt1674

 

https://www.tumblr.com/jt1674/771956564733181952/the-incredible-string-band-three-is-a-green

All Hallows Eve 31st Oct - 1 November Samhain [or Sauin] Must be the Season of the Witch!

 Incredible String Band - Witches Hat

Incredible String Band - Witches Hat (1968)

Certainly, the children have seen them,
In quiet places where the moss grows green.
Colored, shells, jangle, together,
The wind is cold, the year is old
The trees whisper together, and bend in the wind, they lean……

Donovan Season of The Witch

Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger Trinity - Season Of The Witch

Bloomfield Kooper Stills - Supersession : Season of The Witch

THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND : TRICKS OF THE SENSES | JEREMIAH : New Adult Bookstore Motel, Records and Liquor

Now this is worth checking out too! The Bookstore is on fire lately (Fahrenheit 451 since you ask!?!!)

with a ton of magic from Brother Jobe and our fellow traveller Jeremiah (he’s a Bull Frog you know!?) 

Jeremiah posted this over at the Voodoo Wagon (check the New Adult Bookstore Motel, Records and Liquor!) and as it’s long out of print I asked permission to share it here . . . fascinating and maybe just for completists after we looked at the ISB’s extent work over at Urbanaspirines recently and this made me reacquaint myself with their entire out put and fondly reminisce I thought it worth adding here. Also by coincidence having just been out to the local store and buy the latest Uncut Magazine I found this article on the website (see link below)

https://workupload.com/file/EzfcVB9sCgf

The Incredible String Band - Tricks of The Senses - Review UNCUT Magazine

The Incredible String Band @ Urbanaspirines 9 Albums reviewed here

Classic Tracks | The Incredible String Band :: Painting Box

 And yes I bought this when it came out and I was living in Banbury going to the Art School there and this song almost makes me think of my wife (to be then . . . . .) 

we saw them a few times and had pretty much all the early albums . . . . . going on to follow Mike Heron in his solo regards 

were we hippies? I hear you ask?

why of course . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. they influenced Led Zeppelin too

and played Woodstock!

so what ya gonna do?  . . . . . . . . . wait for the smoke to clear

The Incredible String Band on The Julie Felix Show 1968

 THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND

JULIE FELIX SHOW

"The Half Remarkable Question" & "Painting Box''

Quite rare footage of the ISB playing 2 tracks on the Julie Felix show 1968 the first track is written and sung mainly by Robin Williamson and the second track is written and sung by Mike Heron, Julie Felix joins in on this second track.

Robin's 'The Half Remarkable Question' always reminds me of this painting by Paul Gauguin and of course being a painting it is reflected in Mike's 'Painting Box' . . . . . . . . . 

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

Paul Gauguin, Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?, 1897-98, oil on canvas,

(Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Julie who passed away last year in March aged 81 was a unique and influential voice on television and early on had surprise guests of great interest and quality and we always watched out for her shows. Among those featured on her show were the Kinks, Fleetwood Mac, Leonard Cohen and Led Zeppelin's lead guitarist, Jimmy Page, who played the "White Summer" and "Black Mountain Side" guitar solo pieces. She will be missed. Mike and  Robin are still very much playing music.

Led Zeppelin (I know?!) named Incredible String Band as a major influence, especially Robert Plant.

The Incredible String Band - Retying The Knot part 1 (1997 BBC Scotland)

The Incredible String Band - Retying the Knot part 2

GOD's HOLIDAY!

Volumes 15/16

The band in Amsterdam 1970 - Bert Verhoeff  

The INCREDIBLE STRING BAND

and true to form and as promised Big O post the final two volumes of the fan project 'God's Holiday' on The Incredible String Band this morning (or late last night depending where about's on the planet you are! (Big O comes out of Singapore) 

The Incredible String Band - God's Holiday vols 15/16

The last albums seem to consist of a Peter Drummond Radio broadcast from 1974 and a final disc covering the years 67-74 of different edits and single versions of classic like 'Big Ted'

List of band members over the years:

Mike Heron
Robin Williamson
Clive Palmer
Licorice McKechnie
Rose Simpson
Malcolm Le Maistre
Stan Schnier
Jack Ingram
Gerard Dott
Graham Forbes
John Gilston
Lawson Dando
Bina Williamson
Claire Smith

All the past volumes are linked here:

God's Holiday Vols 1/2 The Past and The Future and Similar Tenses & Exchanging Love Tokens

God's Holiday Vols 3/4 Fiddlehead Ferns & A Very Small Door

God's Holiday Vols 5/6 Love of Love Is Very Huge & Peacocks in The First, Kokilas In The Fifth

God's Holiday Vols 7/8 The Sun In The Pale Silence & The Fruit of The Stars

God's Holiday Vols 9/10 I Tasted Every Drink I was A Sober Man & My Scales Are Lined With Care

God's Holiday Vols 11/12 The Key To The Highway & Scraping a Living In A Very Devious Style

God's Holiday Vols 13/14 Trying To Play The Simplest Chords I Know & Her Hands Are Trembling With Emotion

and above

God's Holiday Vols 15/16 The Voice of Water Running Cold & She Turns In Her Grace

The Incredible String Band complete official works available here:

Mike Heron webpage here

Robin Williamson (and Bina) official webpage here:

Clive Palmer gifted banjo player and founder member of the Incredible String Band passed away in 2014 in Penzance Cornwall

'Licorice' has a webpage maintained by fans here Likkie Shrine on Angelfire

Rose is believed to be living happily in Wales studying languages and other cultures after being Lady Mayoress of Aberystwyth   

Rose in the Welsh press

Big O has posted the next from volumes in the fan project story of The Incredible String Band 'God's Holiday' and most welcome it is too!

The Incredible String Band - God's Holiday 5/6

In detail then:

The Incredible String Band - God Holiday vols 7/8 of 16

In more detail then:

Enjoy! I know I did . . . . . 

INCREDIBLE STRING BAND 

- God's Holiday

A new megapost of The Incredible String Band material from Big O lately. Yesterday the first two of 16 (yes sixteen!) discs of the history of ISB. Now we loved ISB back in the day, as popular idiom would have it, and saw them a few times latterly at Leicester in 73 at college there. I have pretty much everything official release wise down in the vaults here at Swappers mansions down past the keep and dungeon and turn left at the ha-ha!

Incredible String Band - 'God's Holiday CD 1/2 of 16

Today they post volumes 3/4

Incredible String Band - God's Holiday 3/4 of 16

Now I will let you know if and when they post the rest but this 'history' is from mixed sources and therefore likely to vary quite a bit in quality but I will leave you to judge as it is worth posting the full set if you can bear with me. 

It is difficult to stress the influence and range thereof for the ISB but that they were influences upon bands as varied as Led Zeppelin (go figure!?) and folk fellows like John Martin and Nick Drake to name but a few they did more than most to popularise a unique folk song tradition brought into the 20thC

Now one of the advantages of Big O is they don't police the comments much (if at all judging by the desperate & filthy juvenile trolling - ED) and a colleague there has posted a link this morning to two other ISB gems one from 1973 and one from twenty years later from 1993 which is a more Mike Heron project as he has done quite a few solo projects since the split and is still playing and touring.

These are truly fascinating short EP like sets a live one from the band in 73 but apparently very different from the four piece band we saw in Leicester Poly all those years ago now. The picture with the set shows a six piece and apparently includes Licorice who had definitely left by the time we saw them as Malcolm Le Maistre was back in the fold by then.

Here from the frankly extraordinary Roots and Traces blog (German)

who have a set published by Oh Boy and say it is Spring or Late winter of 1973, whatever it is well worth it for fans 

I will gladly remove this if Oh Boy wish it or anyone else claiming responsibility but I can't find this anywhere!

(else)

and a fanzine release of the Mike Heron band Incredible Acoustic Band (yes, really!) at the same link

both well worth having and actually highly listenable not just for fans 

From the truly extraordinary 

here . . .

The Incredible String Band :: Radio Unnameable – NYC, 1968

Imagine dialing around on the radio and stumbling across this utterly fried live session from The Incredible String Band late one night in 1968. Transmitted via Bob Fass’ legendary Radio Unnameable show, this is some seriously psychedelic free-folk, with Mike Heron and Robin Williamson delivering ecstatic visions and out-of-time tales. Rob Young, in his highly recommended Electric Eden, summed up the ISB best when he said the group “captured [the] elemental essence of music as an intimate rite in the flickering light, imparting sacred mysteries to rapt ears in the sapphire deep of night.” Radio Unnameable, indeed. Tune in. words / t wilcoxDownload: The Incredible String Band :: Radio Unnameable – NYC, 1968

I have mentioned the Incredible String Band before and told the story about going to see them last in Leicester and how much we loved the band but paths were changed, forks in roads discovered and we could not follow into the ludicrous stupidity of LRH into the very depths of Scientology. Here the radio broadcast, which I suspect needs some qualification as to what "utterly fried" may mean, includes a few of my very favourite songs from 'You Get Brighter', 'Maya' and the peerless 'Douglas Traherne Harding' as it explores albeit through a clumsy portmanteau of ideas and inherent in the name's misuse, amalgamating as it does two seperate individuals, one the 17thC English Christian mystic Thomas Traherne and the highly mystical concept of D.E. Harding's On Being Without a Head which I still hold as relevant and explored at Art school where we did such things in those days. It is still worth exploring IMHO as a self exploration into experiencing who you really are! This is of course how the ISB came across Scientology with it's missives of 'Find Out Who You Really Are' issued as a threat! [see Cyril Vosper's 'The Mind Benders etc] I prefer to stick with Harding . . . . . .even Traherne over Hubbard. Zen over nonsense . . . . . . love over gold

Ernst-Mach-drawing - on being without a head exercise