I Looked Up

I Looked Up

Track Listings

1. Black Jack Davy

2. Letter

3. Pictures in a Mirror

4. This Moment

5. When You Find Out Who You Are

6. Fair as You

I Looked Up,The Incredible String Band,Hannibal,British Folk,British Folk-Rock,Folk & Traditional,Folk-Rock,Pop,Rock

Changing Horses / I Looked Up
Average customer rating:

Very musical

Begging To Differ . . .

It really starts with Blackjack Davey!

Changing Horses / I Looked Up
Incredible String Band
Manufacturer: Collector's Choice
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
British Folk | Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
General | Folk | Styles | Music
General | Rock | Styles | Music
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Wee Tam / Big Huge

5000 Spirits / Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending/Liquid Acrobat as Regards the Air

U

Earthspan/No Ruinous Feud

ASIN: B00006BC51
Release Date: 2002-09-10

Tracks:

Big Ted
White Bird
Dust Be Diamonds
Sleepers, Awake!
Mr. & Mrs.
Creation

Tracks:

Black Jack Davy
The Letter
Pictures In A Mirror
This Moment
When You Find Out Who You Are
Fair As You

Product Description

Disc 1: Changing Horses:
1. Big Ted
2. White Bird
3. Dust Be Diamonds
4. Sleepers Awake
5. Mr. & Mrs.
6. Creation

Disc 2: I Looked Up:
1. Black Jack Davey
2. Letter
3. Pictures In A Mirror
4. This Moment
5. When You Find Out Who You Are
6. Fair As You

Format: CD

Customer Reviews:

Very musical.......2006-06-24

Hopefully those who get these two CDs in a single set will be able to appreciate this music without worrying much about which song is on which CD. I am used to hearing some of these songs at the end of a 2-record set called `Relics of the Incredible String Band.' "This Moment" seemed like the perfect ending for that attempt to capture the joys of existence in songs. "I just want to tell each one of you that each note, it is different from any before it, each note, it is different, it's now." Getting more songs after that is like Richard Brautigan trying to come up with 186,000 endings per second for the novel A CONFEDERATE GENERAL FROM BIG SUR. "Fair As You" is a nice, soft, flutey ending, stating the impossibility of having a song which is as fair as you. The eleven minutes penultimately placed between those two songs provides the sentimental message, "`When You Find Out Who You Are' beautiful beyond your dreams." I think that message is sentimental, but my mood might be influenced as much by the spirit in which these songs are sung and float in my memory. Some of their themes might make you feel like you are in church, and if you like `Sleepers, Awake!' you should probably get up on Sunday mornings and see how the church choir is doing. Modern peer to peer filesharing habits are like the chorus of `Dust Be Diamonds:' "buy for a million and sell for a dime." These are the songs by the Incredible String Band that I heard first, because I did not discover the group until 1970, and everyone I knew then was moving so much, no one had a complete collection of anything. If you never heard the Incredible String Band, starting with this set might be good enough so you'll never forget them.

Begging To Differ . . ........2004-12-31

I have just read the other review for this item and, sometime after the fact, thought I would put a completely opposite point of view. While I Looked Up is okay, and nothing more (neck and neck with No Ruinous Feud in the Least Enjoyable ISB Album Stakes), Changing Horses is a near masterpiece that pays repeated listening. It is obviously not in the same league as such monumental classics as Wee Tam & The Big Huge, Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, etc., but that does not diminish its plus points:
1. Big Ted: whimsical, amusing, take it on its own terms and be entertained.
2. White Bird: a prolonged joy. Not as rambling and unfocused as it seems if the original Indian music is listened to. Sheer beauty. So uplifting it's almost painful!
3. Dust Be Diamonds: more whimsy, slight but still enjoyable.
4. Sleepers, Awake!: I just love this song.
5. Mr. and Mrs.: the low point of the album but not as low as some critics would have you believe. Quite tolerable.
6. Creation: possibly Robin Williamson's finest ISB related hour. A masterwork without a doubt!

It really starts with Blackjack Davey!.......2002-11-22

SO GLAD to see the Incredible String Band CDs released again! The only potential drawback is nabbing two ISB albums, not always on the same level.

As much as I love The Incredible String Band, "Changing Horses" is one of those releases that I spun over and over, and each time it left me flat. While I wouldn't call it horrible music, it comes off as a long studio session in need of some quality editing. Songs like "Dust Be Diamonds" and "White Bird" ring like songs that start off with promise but wind up with nowhere to go.

"I Looked Up," on the other hand, is prime ISB! Blackjack Davey is an upbeat ballad that will spin through your head after just one sampling. On the other end of the mood spectrum, "Pictures In a Mirror," is the chilling narrative of Lord Randall awaiting and experiencing his execution in a hallowed jail. This is the perfect song to play to a room full of friends (friends who, preferably, are unfamiliar with the Incredible String Band!) during a late night blackout (a thunderstorm outside outside helps too!) I've tried it, and it creeps out my compadres without fail!

"I Looked Up" is a solid album all around. If you are new to The Incredible String Band, and want to pick up the best of these double-CD compilations, I recommend "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter/5000 Spirits" combo.

Despite my lackluster opinion of "Changing Horses," this CD is worth the price for "I Looked Up" alone. And, in all fairness, The Incredible String Band went through a lot of phases; some fans like their earlier releases, some prefer the later albums that introduced electrical instruments into the band's repetoire. This combo is a good dose of two sounds of ISB. Who knows, maybe you will find something hep in "Changing Horses" that escaped me?

The Water Gipsies (Original London Cast) with Bonus Tracks
Average customer rating:
The Water Gipsies (Original London Cast) with Bonus Tracks

Manufacturer: Sepia
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music
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Grey Gardens - A New Musical (2006 Original Broadway Cast)

ASIN: B000CNDXH2
Release Date: 2005-12-26

Tracks:

Overture - Orchestra
Why Did You Call Me Lily? - Dora Bryan
Clip-Clop - Laurie Payne
I Should Worry - Dora Bryan
When I'm Washing Up - Pamela Charles
Jane's Prayer - Pamela Charles
Lily's Tale - Dora Bryan
He Doesn't Care - Peter Graves
Castles And Hearts And Roses - Laurie Payne
Peace And Quiet/Little Boat - Laurie Payne
Why Should Spring Have All The Flowers? - Doris Hare
This Is Our Secret - Peter Graves
It Would Cramp My Style - Dora Bryan
You Never Know With Men - Dora Bryan
Here's Mud In Your Eye - Chorus
I'm Not A Jealous Woman - Joan Sims
Finale - Chorus
I'm So Terribly In Love With You - Robert English
I Never Dreamt (You'd Fall In Love With Me) - Lido Dance Orchestra
My Heart Is Saying - Billy Milton
Selections From 'Little Tommy Tucker' - The Million-Airs
You Looked At Me - Olive Groves
My Heart's A Compass - Olive Groves
You Have That Extra Something - Phyllis Stanley
Three Songs From 'Big Ben' - Vivian Ellis
Three Waltzes From 'Big Ben' - Vivian Ellis
Selections From 'Tough At The Top' Part One - Vivian Ellis
Selections From 'Tough At The Top' Part Two - Vivian Ellis
The Music From 'And So To Bed' Part One - Vivian Ellis
The Music From 'And So To Bed' Part Two - Vivian Ellis

Album Description

English composer Vivian Ellis had a prolific career spanning five decades, during which she wrote nearly 70 West End shows. The Water Gipsies was a 1955 collaboration between Ellis and A.P. Herbert. Contains the cast recording of The Water Gipsies plus bonus tracks including early Ellis compositions, many appearing on CD for the first time!

Average customer rating:

A Lesser Album, best for the sweet female voices.
I Looked Sideways
THE LAST ALBUM OF AN ERA FOR THE ISB
Glorious!!!!
"I looked Up" disappointing

I Looked Up
The Incredible String Band
Manufacturer: Hannibal
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

British Folk | Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Hannibal Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00000064K
Release Date: 1994-10-18

Tracks:

Black Jack Davy
Letter
Pictures in a Mirror
This Moment
When You Find Out Who You Are
Fair as You

Customer Reviews:

A Lesser Album, best for the sweet female voices........2005-06-09

`I Looked Up' by the four member The Incredible String Band lead by Robin Williamson and Mike Heron is just a little different from all previous TISB albums, signaled by the change in cover art. The next most obvious sigh that this album is different is the fact that this may be the only TISB album where the majority of songs are by Mike Heron. The third distinction, flowing from the second, is that there is much less fantastical content.

And, if that is what you always liked about TISB, then you may, as I do, feel just a bit let down by this album. That is not to say that when I start a TISB listening jag, as I do about once a year, that I skip this album, the way I often do with `The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion' or `Hard Rope & Silken Twine'. This may be because I am especially fond of the sweet voices from Rose and Licorice which seem to show up a bit more strongly on this album than on earlier releases, but then that may just be that in the absence of other strong qualities, this virtue stands out.

With only six numbers and four out of six being written by the less interesting Heron, this is an album you will probably want to get eventually to fill out a `complete set' of TISB recordings, but you can leave it until you have all the albums which come before it in time.

I Looked Sideways.......2001-07-23

"I Looked Up" is another one of the Incredible String Band's transitional albums, no less a figure than Robin Williamson has described this album as a tentative step towards the more polished electric style of "Liquid Acrobat". The album has a rushed feel, as if it had been recorded as quickly as possible. All in all, with 4 Mike Heron songs and two epics from Williamson, this is an unusual ISB album to say the least. From Heron, we get the first, rather faltering version of his "Black Jack Davy/David", personally I prefer the version on "Earthspan". "The Letter" maps out the future for ISB, with Rose Simpson on bass, and (gulp) Dave Mattacks on drums, Heron fills up the rest of the track with electric guitars, the result being an odd elliptical take on a "rock song" - the lyrics are banal in the extreme, demonstrating the band's [..] move away from mysticism to openness and simplicity. "This Moment" is a favourite song of many ISB fans, melodically related to Leonard Cohen's "Bird On A Wire", it's a nice but somewhat cloying song, Likky's vocals are, as ever, an acquired case and the song is simply too long. Heron's last song is "Fair As You", a lovely underrated song which features a nice duet vocal from Likky and Rose (why didn't Rose sing more?), pure hippy idyll but none the worse for it. Which brings us to the problematic side of album, the songs of Robin Williamson - it seems as if Robin was going through a period of gigantism, following on from the 16 minute "Creation" on "Changing Horses", both of his contributions here sail way beyond the ten minute mark, though thankfully neither are a cringingly pretentious and self-indulgent as "Creation". "When You Find Out Who You Are" is lyrically a curiously didactic piece [...] and musically rather laborious. The old Williamson method of welding together various disparate musical elements leads to a bit of a Frankenstein's monster of a track with lumbering and inexact drumming from Likky, out-of-tune bass from Rose and Mike Heron apparently making it up as he goes along on piano - Robin's on good form though. "Pictures In A Mirror" is simply one of the most extraordinary pieces of music you are likely to hear, I still can't make my mind up about it, at times I think it's an unlistenable, self-indulgent piece of trash, at others that it's an incredibly brave and innovative attempt a new musical form. The track has a dark, Eastern European feel to it, thanks to Robin's gypsy violin and Likky's hammered dulcimer, once again Mike Heron has trouble following things on piano (and who can blame him!) - as for, Robin's vocals, well, they are unique to say the least! Lyrically, the song is a fascinating birth/ life/ death reincarnation epic, the Lord Randall of the songs appears to have no relation to the eponymous hero of the well-known folk song. [....] Overall, an interesting album but not an essential one.

THE LAST ALBUM OF AN ERA FOR THE ISB.......2001-06-11

Originally issued in 1970, I LOOKED UP represents the end of the Robin/Mike/Likky/Rose period of the Incredible String Band. Later that same year would see te release of the 2-lp set U, which would introduce new faces and influences into the melting pot that was the 'sound' of the ISB.

Other than being the last album by this line-up, I LOOKED UP is notable for several other reasons -- for one thing, it was the last album they recorded that was mostly acoustic (I don't consider the occasional presence of a quiet electric guitar to be as poisonous as some might). It also contains two of Robin Williamson's most memorable compositions: 'When you find out who you are' is an insightful treatise on growing older and 'finding' onself -- something we all go through, whether we pay attention to it or not; and the simply amazing 'Pictures in a mirror', which takes Lord Randall through imprisonment, execution, death, darkness and ultimate rebirth, all in less than 11 minutes. Robin's works always tended more toward the mystical than Mike's (with some exceptions on both sides -- neither writer's scope was so narrow as to never wander...), and this song is a sterling example of his mind-stretching perceptions.

Mike Heron contributes some nice tunes as well, although not quite as 'deep', at least in this outing. 'Black Jack David' begins the album, a rousing fiddle tune -- it quickly became a concert favorite. 'The letter' is my least favorite track here, Heron's attempt at a pop song -- but his other two offerings in this set are excellent: 'This moment' is almost Zen-like in its view of reality-as-now; and 'Fair as you' is simply a touchingly beautiful love song, sung as a call-and-response duet with Likky McKechnie. Her child-like voice was one of the ISB's sweetest 'trademark' sounds during the period during which she was associated with the band.

Not their greatest effort, but certainly a fine collection of well-written tunes. With the advent of U, Malcom LeMaistre would come on board, and beginning with LIQUID ACROBAT AS REGARDS THE AIR a couple of years down the road, their sound would turn increasingly electric and (if you can believe it from their early work) 'pop', undoubtedly, to some extent, brought on by pressure from their record companies to become more 'marketable'.

They're back together now, in 2001: Robin Williamson, Mike Heron, and Clive Palmer -- the three original members, from the very first album -- along with Bina Williamson and Dawson Lando (I hope I've gotten his name right! If not, sorry...) from Robin's latest band. We'll see how well they can revive the old magic..!

Glorious!!!!.......1998-09-25

It is hard to imagine that this album was written after the clunkiness of changing horses (though a must have if for "Creation" alone); in this Robin Williamson and Mike Heron managed to sustain the creative spirit that made their first five albums so good. Every song on here is a must have, my favorites being "Pictures in a Mirror" (got to love Robin's gypsy shriek) and "When you find out who you are". This album is an essential for any ISB fan, full of the classic ISB flavor you know and love. If you loved the imagery and magical quality of "The Hangman's Beautiful daughter" you will love this album. Mike Heron was also in fine form when he wrote "This Moment", each chord change is like waves washing over your ears. Every song on here is a trip to another world.

"I looked Up" disappointing.......1998-08-24

At the time of "Changing horses" the ISB unfortunately began to exchange originality for decadence, and increasingly so. This record is an example of this - great songs combined with songs that never seem to end - making it difficult even for a seasoned ISB-fan like me. In fact, only two songs seem to lift themselves out of this pool of sound, and the record starts off with them. Heron's songs "Black Jack Davy" and "The Letter" are among his finest songs, but in the songs that follow even Williamson must have lost track of what he was doing. "This Moment" sounds alright, but the album as a whole suffers greatly from a lack of direction and a tendency to hold on to a format which was so gracefully introduced on "Wee Tam & the Big Huge". In contrast, I must admit that this album seems to have a lot of the original and hard-to-define spirit left. For true fans only.

Tracks:

Black Jack Davy
Letter
Pictures in a Mirror
This Moment
When You Find Out Who You Are
Fair as You

Album Description

Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. Strange. 2006.

Album Details

2006 Issued Japanese Digitally Remastered Limited Edition Issue of the Album Classic in a Deluxe, Miniaturized LP Sleeve Replica of the Original Vinyl Album Artwork.

Music Review:

Music Review

music review

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