The Incredible String Band Live at the Lowry

The Incredible String Band recorded during the autumn tour, 27 September 2003, at the Lowry, Salford Quay, Manchester.

Includes an exclusive interview.

Release date: May 2004

Disc One

1. Everything's Fine Right Now
2. Ducks on a Pond
3. Log Cabin Home in the Sky
4. Maker of Islands
5. Banjo Tune
6. Painting Box
7. Empty Pocket Blues
8. You Know What You Could Be
9. Cousin Caterpillar
10. This Moment

Disc Two

1. How Happy I Am
2. The Hedgehog's Song
3. The Water Song
4. Chinese White
5. Douglas Traherne Harding
6. Medley of Fiddle and Pipe Tune: Cuckold Army, Because He Was a Bonnie Lad
7. Worlds They Rise and Fall
8. A Very Cellular Song
9. Black Jack Davy

Disc Three (DVD)

1. Everything's Fine Right Now
2. Ducks on a Pond
3. Log Cabin Home in the Sky
4. Maker of Islands
5. Banjo Tune
6. Painting Box
7. Empty Pocket Blues
8. You Know What You Could Be
9. Cousin Caterpillar
10. This Moment
11. How Happy I Am
12. The Hedgehog's Song
13. The Water Song
14. Chinese White
15. Douglas Traherne Harding
16. Medley of Fiddle and Pipe Tune: Cuckold Army, Because He Was a Bonnie Lad
17. Worlds They Rise and Fall
18. A Very Cellular Song
19. Black Jack Davy

***

Fair record of their current live act.

Cards on the table: I've never really grasped what it is about the ISB that some people get so passionate about. To me, their unwordly/otherwordly whimsy captured or filled a moment in British music in the late 60s. But what was charming and quirky in that era can seem - certainly to me - simply shambling and under-rehearsed in this. So, with that caveat - that frankly, you probably need to be a fan already - is this DVD any good?

Well, yes, it is - it's a professionally shot, unabridged and honest record, with good sound, of the current version of the institution onstage at a theatre in Salford in September 2003. Casual observers may not be aware that founder member (and by far the most visible of its scions, during the decades between the 1974 split and 2000 reunion), Robin Williamson was effectively chucked out of the band a year ago, apparently because he wasn't keen on rehearsing much. Replaced by one "Fluff" (Clare to her folks), original members Clive Palmer and perma-smiling Mike Heron are also augmented by Lawson Dando - everyone handling various instruments, as of old. The repertoire determinedly spans the group's first five albums, with Clive fronting two of Robin's songs - most effectively, indeed, on Ducks on a Pond. Bolstered by a cheery if largely unrevealing interview, the show will doubtless delight the faithful - with only a serious tuning issue during Empty Pocket Blues blighting the party.

Colin Harper