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Rating: Nineteen sixty-seven.
The psychedelic, colorful, and feverish Summer Of Love filled with experimentation, colors, and distorted sounds, reaches its roaring apogee.
Distant from the noisy and "electric" glories across the ocean and new "advocates" of Jules Verne and his renowned Voyages Extraordinaire, the Scottish multi-instrumentalists Robin Williamson and Mike Heron, better known as the Incredible String Band, are the creators of an atypical, quirky folk, abundantly acid and freak.
The ensemble's debut (with the self-titled album) happens quietly, softly.
Then, the proverbial turning point.
Turning point.
Creative paroxysm, brilliant artistic paradigm, and vivid manifesto of the British hippie movement, "5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion" amazes and enchants with its "freshness", spontaneity, and originality.
Eccentric, bizarre, and of varied influences, the second work of the extravagant duo, colorful journey around the world infused with oriental spices and acid-lysergic flavors, reveals a sonic fresco shaped and markedly contaminated by global sounds, customs, and folklore.
World Music ante-litteram.
The two versatile Scottish troubadours skillfully blend elegiac litanies, medieval dances, intangible psychedelia, and esoteric perceptions into a unique work that brings forth magical sensations.
Bucolic ballads with a lopsided and uncertain pace, often similar to naive tinted nursery rhymes ("Little Cloud", "The Hedgehog's Song"), and with a distinctly grotesque aftertaste ("Painting Box", "No Sleep Blues") are splendidly adorned with surreal lyrics and spicy embellishments achieved with instruments from the most diverse cultures.
Sitar, tamboura, gimbri, and oud outline, saturated with exotic flavors, evanescent and vespertine landscapes, enigmatic territories, and rarefied atmospheres ("The Mad Hatter's Song", "Gently Tender").
Tribal, warm, and carefree percussion sounds marry marvelously with the effervescent and lively moods that paint the entire work.
Exuberant celebration of life, iridescent sonic collage, and receptacle of delirious visions and spiritual meditations ("My Name Is Death"), "5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion" fascinates and charms; Not just an artistic journey, research, and openness towards distant peoples and arcane traditions but an understanding of the profound and unfathomable human dimension.
A timeless work.
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