Sunday, December 28, 2008

tales of snow and woe



With backing vocals by Orphan Annie - aka, Annie X-Mas - one may be excused for thinking this in fact none other than the Incredible String Band. Not so.

Born in Dublin as a duo comprising Tim Booth and Ivan Pawle in 1967, the good doctors soon became a fully fledged band with the addition of multi-instrumentalist, Tim Goulding and his girlfriend, Annie, signing - almost inevitably, on the enthusiastic recommendation of friend and mentor, Robin Williamson - with the String Band's manager, Joe Boyd in 1969.

Goulding was to exit after their second album in 1970, taking up residence in a Buddhist monastry, and the band soon splintered and folded under the weight of his absence. Phil Lynott would later acknowledge his debt to Booth and Goulding in 1972's "
Tales of a Blue Orphanage"; named after the house owned by Goulding's girlfriend where the original collective practiced and rehearsed.

Tim Booth: vocals, guitar; Ivan Pawle: vocals, bass, keyboards;
Tim Goulding: additional instruments; Orphan Annie: backing vocals.
Produced by Joe Boyd.


DR. STRANGELY STRANGE: FROSTY MORNINGS from "Kip Of The Serenes" LP (Island) 1969 (Eire)

PURCHASE KIP OF THE SERENES REMASTERED
DR. STRANGELY STRANGE REUNION GIG: FEBRUARY 21st, 2009, LONDON

8 comments:

HowMarvellous said...

Never heard of 'em before - this is a charming little nugget though - glad to have been educated.

ib said...

Glad you liked it. I only heard this album fairly recently, after hearing their name dropped somewhat irregularly in association with ISB for the past couple of decades!

Blank Stares and Cricketclaps said...

This is of a pure quality, thanks for posting, i only ever heard Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal before, they are now on my LP radar.

ib said...

Ironically, I haven't heard "Heavy Petting"; or "Halcyon Days". I just got lucky with this LP, I suppose.

I would hazard that "Frosty Mornings" is the best thing on this album - "...Oddly Normal" not withstanding - but they also do a great arrangement of the traditional "Donnybrook Fair", which I seem to recall the Pogues did on "Red Roses For Me".

Anonymous said...

Speaking of the Pogues hint hint...
Thanks for the musics man.

ib said...

Thanks, Roy. Your hint doesn't fall on deaf ears entirely; I used to be a big Pogues fan. I only have "Red Roses" on cassette - somewhere - though, so posting their version of "Donnybrook Fair" is a problem.

Thanks for the comment.

Anonymous said...

There is a Strangely Strange show announced on Gouldings Website.

ib said...

Thanks, Henk! I've added a link to Tim's site and the Holloway Road info.