The Incredible String Band - Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air (Island 1971) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip

Five records! The ISB released five records (including Mike Heron's solo debut) between January 1970 and the appearance of this album late in the following year. By any sane measure, Liquid Acrobat… should be un-listenable for that reason alone. How could this group possibly have anything left in the tank?

Incredibly, (pardon the pun!) their swansong for Elektra in the US and their second for Island in the UK is arguably the finest folk-rock album ever made, and the only one to weave together all the disparate elements of their sound into one seamless, breathtaking whole. Whimsical tracks like "Cosmic Boy" and "Evolution Rag" alternate against the soft but powerful ballads "Here Till Here is There" (with its a cappella opening verse), and "Red Hair". A selection of traditional jigs is counterpoint to the bouncy, reggae-influenced "Adam & Eve", and it's all tied together with a bigger dose of rock ("Dear Old Battlefield", "Painted Chariot") than anywhere else in their discography. It sounds like Heron picked up a pointer or two while hanging out with The Who. The album begins with the only successful pairing of sitar and pedal steel (!) in history, and ends with the by now obligatory magnum opus, but even here, the band outdoes itself. "Darling Belle", which Williamson related to early '70's audiences, "came to me in a dream", ends the set with an eleven-minute series of vignettes, following a woman from childhood to old age. The most masterful of a treasure trove of masterful works from Robin, it is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. If you don't well up with tears after hearing it, throw your stereo equipment away. You're just wasting it! Liquid Acrobat doesn't get the accolades so often accorded to the …5000 Spirits…, …Hangman's…, Wee Tam / Big Huge trinity, but it's more than deserving. If I could sing of only one ISB album, I'd sing of this one! Ochsfan, rateyourmusic.com

Track listing:

A1. Talking Of The End (Williamson)

A2. Dear Old Battlefield (Williamson)

A3. Cosmic Boy (McKechnie/Heron)

A4. Words They Rise And Fall (Heron)

A5. Evolution Rag (Williamson)

A6. Painted Chariot (Heron)

B1. Adam And Eve (Williamson)

B2. Red Hair (Heron)

B3. Here Till Here Is There (Williamson)

B4. Tree (Heron)

B5. Jigs: Eyes Like Leaves (Williamson), Sunday Is My Wedding Day (Trad.),
Drops Of Whiskey (Trad.), Grumbling Old Men (Trad.)

B6. Darling Belle (Williamson)

Produced by The Incredible String Band and Stan Schnier
Recorded at Island Studios and Sound Techniques August 1971