The Incredible String Band - Curlew (1972)

1972 was a pivotal year for The Incredible String Band, as having released a string of well-received albums on Elektra Records, their manager Joe Boyd severed ties with the band in 1971 and returned to the US, while Rose Simpson left the group, to be replaced by Malcolm Le Maistre, formerly of the Stone Monkey troupe. Mike Heron had taken time out to record a well-received solo album 'Smiling Men With Bad Reputations', which featured a host of session guests, among them Pete Townshend, Ronnie Lane, Keith Moon, John Cale, Richard Thompson, and Elton John on an unreleased out-take, and in 1972 Licorice McKechnie left, to be replaced by Gerard Dott, an Edinburgh jazz musician and friend of both Heron and Robin Williamson. Williamson himself also recorded a solo album 'Myrrh', which featured some of his most extraordinary vocal performances, and so to a casual observer it would seem that the band was on the verge of falling apart. However, they had managed to secure a deal with Island Records, and following the release of the soundtrack to the film 'Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending', they issued the eclectic 'Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air' in 1971 to renewed praise from the critics. So in 1972 they began laying down tracks for the upcoming 'Earthspan' album, which, compared to its predecessors, was a more generic folk album. The band was continuing its exploration into progressive rock and synthesizers in order to create a more commercial-oriented sound, which was mostly due to Heron's influence over the group, and as a result they would lose much of their trademark style that made them popular in the British underground counterculture of the 1960's. 

They recorded a couple of sessions for the John Peel Show on Radio 1, and previewed unrecorded songs such as 'Secret Temple' and 'Oh Did I Love A Dream', as well as performing a full band version of 'Rends-Moi Demain' from Williamson's solo album. Clive Palmer had left the band in their early days and formed his own group C.O.B. or Clive's Original Band, and had released their debut album 'Spirit Of Love' in 1970, but in the same year that the ISB was preparing to go into the studio for the 'Earthspan' sessions, they released their second album 'Moyshe McStiff And The Tartan Lancers Of The Sacred Heart', bringing him back to the attention of ISB fans who remembered his early involvement with the band. So although things weren't going swimmingly for the Incredible String Band, there was a lot of music from the individual musicians in that year, so I though I'd bring some of it together as a summary of what was going on in their lives. We start with a track from each of the solo albums which were around in 1972 (Heron's having been released a few months earlier), followed by an out-take from the 'Earthspan' sessions, and the un-issued track from Heron's solo album that featured Elton John. An out-take from Palmer's album follows, and then we have the ISB version of Williamson's 'Rends-Moi Demain', and another leftover from Heron's album. Another 'Earthspan' out-take, Licorice McKechnie's 'Secret Temple', is next, followed by Palmer's instrumental out-take 'Falconer's Glove', and then another track from Williamson's 'Myrhh' as he was starting to feel a bit neglected, and finally we round off with the lovely instrumental title track. This is something of an unusual post, as it mixes released album tracks, demos, radio sessions and out-takes, but it captures a moment in time for the members and former members of this unique band.

Track listing

01 Dark Dance 
02 Martha & Mary  
03 Feast Of Stephen 
04 Oh Did I Love A Dream  
05 Make No Mistake 
06 Sweet Spring 
07 Rends-Moi Demain 
08 Lady Wonder   
09 Secret Temple   
10 Falconer's Glove 
11 Cold Harbour 
12 Curlew    

Richard Thompson - ...and on guitar (1971)

Most of the posts in this series cover an artists contributions as guest guitarist over a period of five to ten years, but Richard Thompson was so prolific in his guest slots that this album covers just 1969 to 1971, and this was while he was still a member of Fairport Convention, and also a part of Ashley Hutchins' Morris On project, and The Bunch, who were a group of English folk-rock musicians (including Sandy Denny, Linda Peters and members of Fairport Convention) who recorded a selection of classic rock and roll tunes. He has said that when he left Fairport Convention in 1971 he did a lot of session work as a way of avoiding any serious ideas about a career, but by 1972 he'd released his first solo album 'Henry The Human Fly', and that was the start of a very long and extremely well-respected solo career, which still carries on today.
His first guest spot was to provide guitar on Al Stewart's 'Love Chronicles' album, most notably the lovely solo at the end of 'Life And Life Only', and he also played on Nick Drake's 'Five Leaves Left' and 'Bryter Later' albums, from which I've picked the classic 'Time Has Told Me'. Marc Ellington is a Scottish folksinger and multi-instrumentalist who has guested with Fairport Convention, starting with providing some vocal support on the 'Unhalfbricking' album in 1969, and he also worked with Matthews Southern Comfort on their self-titled album in 1969, and when Ellington recorded his debut album that same year, he asked Thompson to help out guitar, and The Matthews Southern Comfort link carries on with Thompson's contribution to that self-titled album, for which he wrote and played on 'A Commercial Proposition'. By 1970 Gary Farr had left Gary Farr And The T-Bones to embark on a solo career, and Thompson was invited to play guitar on a few tracks from his second album 'Strange Fruit'. The following year he was on hand to assist John Martyn with his 'Bless The Weather' album, and in what was a very busy year for him, his guitar could also be heard on albums by Sandy Denny, Mike Heron, Iain Matthews, Stefan Grossman, Shirley Collins, and the undeservedly overlooked Shelagh McDonald. The one linking factor for most of these artists is that they operate in the genre of British folk music, which is undoubtedly Thompson's great love, and the fact that so many of our respected folk musicians wanted him on their records just shows the high regard in which he was, and still is, held by his peers. 

Track listing

01 Life And Life Only (from 'Love Chronicles' by Al Stewart 1969)
02 Time Has Told Me (from 'Five Leaves Left' by Nick Drake 1969)  
03 Four In The Morning (from 'Marc Ellington' by Marc Ellington 1969)
04 A Commercial Proposition (from 'Matthews Southern Comfort' by Matthews Southern 
                                                                                                                           Comfort 1970)
05 Old Man Moses (from 'Strange Fruit' by Gary Farr 1970) 
06 Sugar Lump (from 'Bless The Weather' by John Martyn 1971)
07 The Sea Captain (from 'The North Star Grassman And The Ravens' by Sandy Denny 1971)
08 Flowers Of The Forest (from 'Smiling Men With Bad Reputations' by Mike Heron 1971)
09 Odyssey (from 'Stargazer' by Shelagh McDonald 1971)
10 Desert Inn (from 'If You Saw Through My Eyes' by Iain Matthews 1971)
11 Blues Jump The Rabbit (from 'Those Pleasant Days' by Stefan Grossman 1971)
12 Poor Murdered Woman (from 'No Roses' by Shirley Collins 1971)