The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion

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The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion
The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion cover
Studio album by Incredible String Band
Released 1967
Recorded 1967
Genre Psych folk
Length 50:10
Label Elektra / WEA
Producer(s) Joe Boyd
Professional reviews
Incredible String Band chronology
The Incredible String Band
(1966)		 The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion
(1967)		 The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
(1968)


The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion is the second LP by The Incredible String Band, released in 1967. Since recording their debut album the previous year, the band had been reduced to two following the departure of Clive Palmer. The remaining members, Mike Heron and Robin Williamson, produced The 5000 Spirits in a similarly whimsical vein, employing lyrical references to talking clouds and a magic Christmas tree, amongst other things.

The album's lyrics, and the band's various Indian instruments and the striking cover art, lead to it being placed as a psychedelic work. The music itself, however, draws more widely on traditional British folk music.

This was the first IS album to feature Licorice McKechnie, Robin's girlfriend. Subsequently, she would become a part of the band with Rose Simpson, Heron's own girlfriend.

Rowan Williams chose the album's "The Hedgehog's Song" for his 2002 appearance on Desert Island Discs. [1]

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Chinese White" (Mike Heron) – 3:40
  2. "No Sleep Blues" (Robin Williamson) – 3:53
  3. "Painting Box" (Heron) – 4:04
  4. "The Mad Hatter's Song" (Williamson) – 5:40
  5. "Little Cloud" (Heron) – 4:05
  6. "The Eyes of Fate" (Williamson) – 4:02
  7. "Blues for the Muse" (Williamson) – 2:49
  8. "The Hedgehog's Song" (Heron) – 3:30
  9. "First Girl I Loved" (Williamson) – 4:55
  10. "You Know What You Could Be" (Heron) – 2:46
  11. "My Name Is Death" (Williamson) – 2:46
  12. "Gently Tender" (Heron) – 4:49
  13. "Way Back in the 1960s" (Williamson) – 3:11

[edit] Personnel

[edit] External links

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