Tonight I’ll be checking out The Incredible String Band’s album, The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion (1967). Admittedly, I don’t really know anything about the band, other than I was told they were somewhere in the realm of 1960s folk rock. That seems to be true to some degree, as according to Wikipedia the band is something of a psychedelic folk group, which incorporates elements of British folk and Indian raag (or raga) woven together to form a certain type of psychedelic folk. This album is the band’s second album, and was generally well received from what I can tell. Something interesting is that this album incorporates more eastern instruments with things like gimbri and sitar, which other bands of the same time had already begun as well, only this album featured a master sitar player instead of some western trained musician adapting skills to the instrument. Also of note, the album artwork is pretty sweet, so with that said I’m going to jump on into the music.
“Chinese White” starts out very gently with light mandolin or very high notes on an acoustic guitar gently picking you up into the song, while a fiddle of some sort brings a really repetitive raga sounding line on top of the tune. Oh wow, this song is really awesome. The vocals are droning yet bring somewhat of a discordant harmony to things that seems to be overlooked and washed away by the pure acoustic folksy sound of the rest of the rest of the instrumentation. The song definitely mesmerizes you as you’re gently introduced to the album. Definitely a really nice tune that is making me excited for the upcoming songs.
“No Sleep Blues” hits some incredibly tasty notes right away with some bluesy acoustic guitar. I’m getting flashes of Bert Jansch and the Pentangle (whose bass player is a session musician in this album) in the acoustic guitar playing. Oh wow, the sitar accompaniment is incredibly interesting that is made further interesting with the traveling sound of the vocals in the styles of a British folk tune. I’ll say that not even two songs into the album I’m already interested in picking this up on vinyl. Oh wow, this tune really bops along at times with a certain psychedelic inflection. This is an incredibly interesting song so far and really makes me excited for the rest of the tunes.
“Painting Box” has a really wonderful baroque sound with the acoustic guitar combined with some folksy ornamentation of the style the vocals are delivered with. The sitar really brings such an unusual sound to this mix. Oh wow, now there’s the flute playing along the arpeggios of the acoustic guitar with the sitar on the opposite side of the soundscape. The chorus vocals are really awesome, so many gentle tones from all of the male and female vocalists in this one. There’s a really nice percussiveness to the bass notes of one of the acoustic guitars – it might even be an upright bass.
“The Mad Hatter’s Song” really leans into the Indian raga styled psychedelia of this one. Oh wow, the vocals are delivered with a British accent of sorts that reminds me of bands like Steeleye Span or even Planxty to some degree. Oh wow, there’s a really lovely delicate flowering sound between the sitar and the accentuations from the acoustic guitar. Holy smokes, things just turned bluesy with some delicious piano lines accompanied by some light jangles from the acoustic guitar and sitar accentuating those bluesy piano lines. Wow, there are so many movements to this song. Oh wow, the combination of the British accent with the raga style singing echoed by the sitar is absolutely mesmerizing. This song gets so incredibly gentle at times and really fluently switches between and incorporates many elements from a number of genres that aren’t commonly combined. Absolutely awesome song.
“Little Cloud” starts out really slowly with the mixture of the two vocal lines that make me sit on the edge of my seat waiting for the song to drop into place. Oh wow, this one is the first one that I’ve noticed features an actual percussion instrument/part in the song with something that sounds sort of like a tabla with a fast-paced rhythm while the acoustic guitar keeps the tune blooming and turning alongside the swirling vocal lines. The song really does a nice job of moving forward throughout. Oh wow, the addition of more jangling percussion instruments at the end of the song is absolutely awesome. Great tune.
Oh wow, “The Eyes of Fate” starts out with some really folksy bluesy acoustic guitar, which is soon accompanied by some vocal lines delivered in a British accent in the style of an Indian raag. Oh wow, when the chords from the acoustic guitar come on there’s a really nice resolution of tension built up. The tension is quickly built back up with the deep droning style of the background vocals that encroach through the song. Wow, this is absolutely awesome. Oh wow, everything really builds up quite nicely to a quick moment of resolution from the acoustic guitar that seem to beckon the background vocals back into the tune. Really awesome.
“Blues for the Muse” has a great, quick and choppy playing from the acoustic guitar, which is lightly accentuated by the sitar in the background while the bass guitar delicately frames the chord progression from underneath. Then there’s a bluesy harmonica on the opposite side of the soundscape that really plays a nice counterpoint to the main chord progression. There’s a really great bluesy sound from the main vocals that are echoed by a deeper, nasally voice split off to the side of the harmonica, which really almost ground both this song and album in some semblance of reality.
“The Hedgehog’s Song” has a really interesting sound to it, because it at first reminds me of some sort of country folk bluesy tune played on the porch in the Mississippi delta area with the playing of the acoustic slide guitar, but there’s an interesting contrast with the Indian sounding drum instrumentation on the opposite side of the soundscape. The vocals really bring about something a more western folk style that sounds something akin to Bob Dylan or other American folk artists of the era. Really great song.
“The First Girl I Loved” has a really sweet, lovely feel from the delicate touch of the quick moving acoustic guitar, along with the sweet playing of the upright bass (with a bow at first, and then plucked later). There’s definitely a really nice storytelling aspect to this one. The delicate yet intricate playing of the acoustic guitar really adds to the sweetness of the vocals and lyrics. There’s a light incorporation of the Indian raag in this one as well that certainly adds to the interesting sound. Really nice tune.
Oh wow, “You Know What I Could Be” the strange, nearly chromatic bass line that gets the song into a certain mood that once again lightly touches that raag style is super interesting. The instrumentation in this one seems to take on more of a baroque approach with acoustic guitars and mandolins, but I think there could be the gimbri in this one too. This one sounds more along the lines of a traditional British folk tune until the very end with a bit of a raga styled breakdown between the flute and the percussion. Really nice tune.
“My Name Is Death” has a really desolate sound at the beginning, undoubtedly trying to summon forth a certain feeling in this one. There’s a really nice, lonely acoustic guitar part that plays alongside and accentuates that really lonely sound from the vocals, which seem to be delivered in more of a traditional British folk style so far, though there’s a notable mixture and/or influence of raga throughout.
“Gently Tender” has an almost celebratory, cheery sound in the instrumentation between the acoustic guitar, the flute, and the eastern drums. I really dig the sound of the vocals in this one – there’s nearly a layer of distortion to them with how close they seem to sound. Oh wow, the instrumentation touches some bluesy raga influenced notes for a quick moment before falling back to that cheery baroque style. I really dig the sound in the folksy storytelling style of the vocals. That raga style humming behind the vocals are super sweet. Oh wow, the end of this one gets pretty overtly psychedelic for a moment with a chaotic cacophony of different instruments and melodies, right until dropping back into the main melody of the song for a nice resolution.
“Way Back In the 1960s” has an incredibly tasty folksy delta blues sort of sound with the instrumentation. It reminds me somewhat of Fairport Convention and/or Richard Thompson. Oh wow, this tune has a really groovy sound, and really has an incredibly interesting sound of reminiscing on the 1960s while being in the middle of the 1960s still. There’s a really nice approach in the instrumentation that really jangles around and ties up the album quite nicely. Really awesome tune to wrap up this awesome album.
Wow, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this album. If you enjoy folk music, especially that of the 1960s, and/or you enjoy psychedelic music, this is definitely one you want to consider checking out. This is album I think I’m going to buy on vinyl. That 50 minute experience went by like a flash – I was really digging the approach and fusion of genres the whole time. There’s a nice mix of British folk, acoustic blues, and Indian raag/raga, all woven together with meandering psychedelia. Really awesome album. If you do decide to give this album a listen, I sincerely hope that you enjoy the experience at least as much as I did.
-A