　長らくＣＤ化の待たれていたＩＳＢ最大の問題作。このアルバムをテーマとした奇怪なライヴショーを開催して大赤字を出し、結果としてバンドのコンセプトもこの後は微妙に変化していくことになる。
　シタールをフィーチャーしたラーガ（もどき）から、カントリー、弾き語りのブルース、素朴な女性ヴォーカルのフォーク、大ロックンロール大会と、いったいこのバンドの方向性はどこを向いているのかと聴き手は悩むことになるのだが、そのアプローチは新鮮でピュアである。
　Disc1後半にMike Heron、Disk2前半にRobin Williamson色が色濃く現れ、それをカラフルな（とはいえ、基本はアコースティックな）バンド・サウンドでサンドイッチした構成は、まるでサーカス小屋を覗いてみたような雰囲気で、実に楽しい。といっても、全ての人に推薦することがためらわれるのは事実。
　精神の硬直化を嫌う人々には当然★★★★★。

4人のお客様がこれが役に立ったと考えています

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JHH

Sehr alte CD

2024年2月20日にドイツでレビュー済み

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Dachte nicht das ich diese Platte noch bekommen kann! *****

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B. Marold

High Grade ISB Music. Buy it, in spite of dumb 2005 review.

2005年6月23日にアメリカ合衆国でレビュー済み

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I originally wrote this review over five years ago (now June 2011), based largely on my memory of impressions I had when I listened to this album for the first time, on vinyl, around 1970. I have written over 1200 reviews, and I have rarely come back to one with the impression of "How could I have been so wrong-headed." I revisit all my recordings of The Incredible String Band (ISB) about once every three or four years, and I am in that cycle once more. My current opinion of this album is that for ISB fans, it is like mother's milk. It is better than their second album, which brought them to the attention we colonists. It is not quite as good as their Grammy nominated "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter", but it is as good as "The Big Huge Wee Tam" largely by being different, and in the form of a stage review. I believe it is as good or better than most of the albums ISB did after this one, but I will reserve conclusive judgment until I re-listen to them in earnest. So, all the good things other reviewers have said about this album are true, and if you like any other ISB or Robin Williamson album, you will especially like this one. Here is my original dumb review:

`U' by The Incredible String Band' is, unlike all their other albums, the music for a revue to be performed on a live stage. When it was released thirty-five years ago, it was just two years after the release of The Who's `Tommy', I can recall looking forward to another major effort by a pop group to create an important theatrical work.

I was disappointed. `U' does not even come close to the power of `Tommy'. It does not even come close to The Who's lesser work, `Quadrophenia'. For starters, it's weakness as a dramatic work has nothing to do with the artists' reusing older styles and riffs, as Pete Townsend and The Who have probably made more use of the same chords and phrasings from album to album than anyone else. Certainly they have done it more than anyone else at their rarefied height in the ranks of pop icons.

As an album, `Tommy' had the advantage of starting out as a purely musical work. Everything you needed to understand the story was in the lyrics to the songs. Even the songs borrowed from other composers fit well into the story. In my review of `Tommy', I described the whole plot using nothing more than the songs' lyrics. The Ken Russell movie and the stage production all came later, and needed to add little to the story.

When I listen to `U', I get virtually no sense of story. When I read the recently written CD notes by Richie Unterberger, I don't get a lot of help in understanding the story. My hunch is that the songs and stage business was developed together, so that what we really have is a multi-media work for which the music seems set adrift in the absence of the settings and dances on the stage.

I'm tempted to say that `U' suffers a bit from the unevenness between the talents of Williamson and Heron. `Tommy' was the creation almost exclusively of Pete Townsend and The Who was his instrument on which he played out his songs and story. `U' writing is split pretty evenly between Williamson and Heron, who have some distinct differences in their styles, but I really don't feel any drop in quality when moving from a Williamson to a Heron piece. In fact, in a revue, some variety in style is a good thing.

Another point of difference between `Tommy' and `U' is that `U' has no great singles, while `Tommy' has given us at least two indelible memories of `Pinball Wizard' and `I'm Free'. Not that any `TISB' tunes made a general splash, there are certainly some memorable lyrics from previous albums which always come to mind when I return to them, as I do about once a year when I go on a TISB listening marathon.

I will say that the level of energy demonstrated in the recording makes me wish I could see the stage performance. But, I suspect that is lost to posterity.

If you are a new to The Incredible String Band or this album has simply escaped your attention, I recommend it as a good source of more enjoyable TISB listening, especially with the original four, including the two ladies, Rose Simpson and Licorice McKechnie. They aren't exactly Jacqui McShee, but they are sweet sounding nonetheless.

2人のお客様がこれが役に立ったと考えています

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M. Brown

Not as flawed as suggested; a wonderful collection of music

2002年8月31日に英国でレビュー済み

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Some have said that this is a really flawed work; that it is indulgent and overlong. I don't agree with any of these views. And it's also not true that Mike Heron didn't contribute as much as Robin Williamson (the compositions are split evenly). Perhaps the only slightly weak song is Bad Sadie Lee, which wasn't even written by the Incredible String Band, and although it's very slight, it's still quite fun. As suggested, Robin's finest moments are 'Queen of Love', 'Juggler's Song' (a classic psychedelic number: 'something to blow your mind away') and 'Invocation'. Mike's finest moment is the ten minute piano ballad, Light In Time Of Darkness, which is truly exquisite, and unlike other String Band recordings. The first CD is probably stronger than the second CD, but both are very strong. Overall, it's more satisfactory than the two previous albums (Changing Horses and I Looked Up). It's not a total masterpiece like The Big Huge or The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, but it is one of their richest and most satisfying albums.

12人のお客様がこれが役に立ったと考えています

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Amazon Customer

Prompt delivery

2021年7月21日に英国でレビュー済み

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Wonderful album

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Tim Lukeman

Time in light of darkness & never needed more than now

2019年2月7日にアメリカ合衆国でレビュー済み

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1960s/70s bands that truly capture the rapturous feeling of the era, because they themselves lived it & believed it, have been largely derided & dismissed in the decades since; the Incredible String Band in particular has suffered that fate for much too long. Yet, to listen to the sprawling, joyful, always creative & startling opus that is "U" not only brings that magic flooding back, it makes us wonder why the world ever abandoned it for slick, soulless consumerism & snark.

Granted, "realists" need not apply … and by that I mean the sort of "realism" that defines it as anything & everything that's cynical, fearful, greedy & superficial. Because let's face it, the music & spirt of the ISB demands an openness & trust that too many people today just can't muster; they're too jaded to experience something so transporting without being afraid of what "They" might think … the ubiquitous "They" who play at being hip but are simply more of the same old status quo, just dressed up in trendy trappings.

If this sounds like social critique … well, it is. The ISB not only offered dazzling music, they embodied a philosophy, a worldview that invited listeners to step outside the everyday & see how silly & crippling much of "real" life actually was. More, how much beauty & wonder still existed all around us, there to be savored if we could only remember how to see it.

But first, simply immerse yourself in the music & lyrics. If all you're looking for is a temporary vacation from the grind of the everyday, there's no better place to start. Entertainment alone is good reason for listening, if you listen with an open heart. Yet you may find that what initially seems like the most extreme & absurd — dare I say "unrealistic"? — of what you're hearing actually begins to make more & more sense.

So, this isn't just an exercise in nostalgia, a dreamy trip to a vanished past. This is an invitation to bring the best of that past into the present, into your life — to start thinking about what your life is & what you would like it to be — and there's no better soundtrack for it. Most highly recommended!

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