Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 1971 | |||
Recorded | August 1971 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | Psychedelic folk, British folk rock | |||
Length | 48:29 | |||
Label | Island | |||
Producer | Stanley Schnier | |||
Incredible String Band chronology | ||||
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Liquid Acrobat as Regards the Air is the ninth album by the Incredible String Band. It features Mike Heron, Robin Williamson, Licorice McKechnie and Malcolm Le Maistre. The album was the band's first almost entirely electric recording; a new feature that was to define the change in the band's sound throughout their final period through 1974. [1]
This was also the first album without Rose Simpson who was going to become a sound engineer, but started a family instead. Gerry Conway, a drummer of Fairport Convention appears on the album. [2]
The most ambitious track is also its lengthiest. "Darling Belle", the track Williamson said "came to me in a dream", is composed of three-way vocals and spoken-word. Heron would vocalise and McKechnie would mimic his words with her high-pitch vocals. It tells the story of a woman from childhood to old age. [3] [ unreliable source? ] "Tree" is a remake of the song "The Tree" from the band's first album.
All tracks are written by Robin Williamson except as noted.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Talking Of The End" | 5:30 | |
2. | "Dear Old Battlefield" | 3:05 | |
3. | "Cosmic Boy" | Mike Heron, Licorice McKechnie | 3:49 |
4. | "Worlds They Rise and Fall" | Heron | 3:23 |
5. | "Evolution Rag" | 4:42 | |
6. | "Painted Chariot" | Heron | 3:42 |
7. | "Adam and Eve" | 2:31 | |
8. | "Red Hair" | Heron | 2:05 |
9. | "Here Till Here is There" | 3:04 | |
10. | "Tree" | Heron | 2:58 |
11. | "Jigs: Eyes Like Leaves / Sunday Is My Wedding Day / Drops Of Whiskey / Grumbling Old Men" | Traditional, arr. Williamson | 2:41 |
12. | "Darling Belle" | 10:59 |
with:
Chart | Entry date | Peak position | Weeks charted |
---|---|---|---|
UK Albums Chart [4] | 30 October 1971 | 46 | 1 |
The Billboard 200 [5] | 19 February 1972 | 189 | 3 |
The Incredible String Band were a British psychedelic folk band formed by Clive Palmer, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron in Edinburgh in 1966. The band built a considerable following, especially in the British counterculture, notably with their albums The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, and Wee Tam and the Big Huge. They became pioneers in psychedelic folk and, through integrating a wide variety of traditional music forms and instruments, in the development of world music.
The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion is the second album by the Scottish psychedelic folk group, The Incredible String Band (ISB), and was released in July 1967 on Elektra Records. The album was recorded following the reformation of the band as a duo consisting of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron. Notably, the album was a change in musical direction for the two as they transitioned from their more conventional folk music structures into complex psychedelic compositions influenced by British folk and Indian music.
The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter is the third album by the Scottish psychedelic folk group, The Incredible String Band (ISB), and was released in March 1968 on Elektra Records. It saw the band continuing its development of the elements of psychedelic folk and enlarging on past themes, a process they had begun on their previous album, The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion. Instrumentally, it was the ISB's most complex and experimental album to date, featuring a wide array of exotic instruments. In addition, the album captured the band utilising multi-tracks and overdubbing.
The Incredible String Band is the debut album by the band of the same name, released in Britain in September 1966 by record label Elektra. It is the only one of the band's albums to feature the original trio line-up with Clive Palmer, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron.
Christina 'Licorice' McKechnie is a Scottish musician. She was a singer and songwriter in The Incredible String Band between 1968 and 1972. Her whereabouts have been publicly unknown since 1987, when she was last seen hitchhiking across the Arizona desert.
U is a double album, the seventh studio album overall, by the British psychedelic folk group the Incredible String Band (ISB) and was released on Elektra Records in October 1970. The majority of the material featured on the album was taken from the mixed-media production of the same name, which saw the band backed by the dancing troupe the Stone Monkey. The concept of U derived from the ISB's fascination and subsequent conversion to Scientology in 1969.
Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending is the eighth album by the Scottish psychedelic folk group, the Incredible String Band, featuring Mike Heron, Robin Williamson, Licorice McKechnie and Rose Simpson. It is the soundtrack for a film of the same name, and was released on Island Records in March 1971, failing to chart in either the UK or US. It would be the first album from the band on the Island label, and the last to feature Joe Boyd as the producer.
Wee Tam and the Big Huge is the fourth album by the Scottish psychedelic folk group, the Incredible String Band, released in Europe as both a double LP and separate single LPs in November 1968 by Elektra Records. In the US, however, the two discs were released separately as Wee Tam and The Big Huge.
Changing Horses is the fifth album by the Scottish psychedelic folk group, the Incredible String Band (ISB), and was released in November 1969 on Elektra Records. The album saw the group continuing their use of unique instruments while integrating a standard musical structure. In addition, the album is seen as a transitional period in which the ISB shifted in musical textures, including early utilization of electric-based instruments.
I Looked Up is the sixth album by the Incredible String Band. Recorded at a time when the band was busy rehearsing for their ambitious upcoming stage show, U, the album has been described by band member Robin Williamson as a "quickie" album.
Robin Duncan Harry Williamson is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and storyteller who was a founding member of The Incredible String Band.
Strangers is the third studio album by British singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt.
No Ruinous Feud is the eleventh album released by The Incredible String Band in 1973.
Smiling Men with Bad Reputations is the 1971 solo debut album by Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band (ISB).
Rose Simpson is an English former musician. Between 1968 and 1971, she was a member of the Incredible String Band, with whom she played bass guitar, violin, percussion and sang. She later became Lady Mayoress of the Welsh town of Aberystwyth.
Malcolm Le Maistre is an English musician, experimental artist and theatre director, who was a member of The Incredible String Band in the 1970s.
Earthspan is the tenth album by The Incredible String Band, released in 1972 on Island Records. It features Mike Heron, Robin Williamson, Licorice McKechnie, and Malcolm Le Maistre.
Journey's Edge is the second solo album by Scottish folk artist Robin Williamson and his Merry Band. The work was released in 1977, and re-released in 2008 by Fledg'ling Records with ten bonus tracks.
Myrrh is a folk album and the solo debut of Robin Williamson, released in 1972. Robin Williamson is noted as being a founding member of The Incredible String Band. Myrrh was subjected to a low budget and placed on the Island label's lowest sub-label, Help. The album was downgraded by poor-quality sound mixing and a single-sleeve cover design.
"A Very Cellular Song" is a song by the Incredible String Band, written by Mike Heron, released on the 1968 album The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter.