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REASON TO BELIEVE (Artists from M to Z)
Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters
Originally UK released December 2005 - "Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal: An Island Anthology 1967-1972" by VARIOUS ARTISTS is 3CD Clamshell Mini Box Set with Three Themed Compilations in Mini LP Card Sleeves with 48-Page Booklet on Universal/Island 9822950 (Barcode 602498229507) and breaks down as follows (all catalogue numbers are UK):
1. Supernatural Tales - ART (on "Supernatural Fairy Tales", December 1967 UK LP on Island ILP 967 in Mono. Band featured Bassist Greg Ridley of Spooky Tooth and Humble Pie, Guitarist Luther Grosvenor of Spooky Tooth and Mott The Hoople (as Aerial Bender) ad Deep Feeling, Mike Harrison of Spooky Tooth and Solo LPs and Michael Kellie of Spooky Tooth, Baker Gurvitz Army and later The Only Ones)
2. Paper Sun - TRAFFIC (A-side of the 7" single released May 1967 in the UK on Island WIP 6002)
3. Harpsichord Shuffle - WYNDER K. FROG (WKF is a pseudonym for Mick Weaver - on "Out Of The Frying Pan", September 1968 Stereo LP on Island ILPS 9044 in Stereo)
4. Rainbow Chaser - NIRVANA (A-side of their third 7" single released March 1968 in the UK on Island WIP 6029)
5. Pearly Queen - TRAMLINE (on "Moves Of Vegetables Centuries", January 1969 2nd UK Stereo LP on Island ILPS 9095 - a cover of a Traffic song - also appeared on the "You Can All Join In" Island Records sampler LP in March 1969. Band featured Micky Moody, guitarist later with Juicy Lucy, Snafu and Whitesnake)
6. Sunshine Help Me - SPOOKY TOOTH (A-side of the 7" single released 1968 on Island WIP 6022. Also featured on the Stereo album "It's All About" on Island ILPS 9080)
7. Dusty - JOHN MARTYN (on "The Tumbler", his 2nd album released December 1968 on Island ILPS 9091 in Stereo)
8. Meet On The Ledge - FAIRPORT CONVENTION (on "What We Did On Our Holidays", January 1969 UK 2nd Stereo LP on Island ILPS 9092)
9. A Song For Jeffrey - JETHRO TULL (on "This Was", their debut album from October 1968 on Island ILPS 9085)
10. The Carpenter - CLOUDS (on "Scrapbook", their July 1969 UK Debut Album on Island ILPS 9100)
11. I Keep Singing The Same Old Song - HEAVY JELLY (Stereo mix taken from the Island Records label sampler album "Nice Enough To Eat" released in 1969 on Island IWPS 6. The Mono Mix was released as the A-side to the UK 7" single on Island WIP 6049)
12. Black Mass: (Electric Storm In Hell) - WHITE NOISE (on "An Electric Storm", June 1969 UK Debut Album on Island ILPS 9099 in Stereo)
13. Over The Green Hills (Part 1) - FREE (on "Tons Of Sobs", their March 1969 UK Debut Album on Island ILPS 9089 in Stereo)
14. Worry - FREE (as per 13)
15. Giants - QUINTESSENCE (on "In Blissful Company", their November 1969 UK Debut Album on Island ILPS 9110 in Stereo)
16. Queen Of Scots - AMAZING BLONDEL (on "Evensong", November 1970 UK album on Island ILPS 9136 in Stereo)
17. Feelin' Alright - TRAFFIC (An 'Alternate Version' from the double-album "Dave Mason Scrapbook" released 1972 on Island ICD 5 (Mason wrote the famous song). The original mix of this DM tune is on the 1968 "Traffic" album on Island ILPS 9081)
18. Sing Me A Song That I Know So Well - BLODWYN PIG (on "Ahead Rings Out", July 1969 UK Debut LP on Island ILPS 9101 in Stereo)
19. A Sailor's Life - FAIRPORT CONVENTION (on "Unhalfbricking", July 1969 3rd UK Album on Island ILPS 9102 in Stereo)
1. A New Day Yesterday - JETHRO TULL (on "Stand Up", August 1969 UK 2nd LP on Island ILPS 9103)
2. No Time To Live - TRAFFIC (on "Traffic", September 1968 UK album on Island ILPS 9081)
3. Three Hours - NICK DRAKE (on "Five Leaves Left", July 1969 UK Debut LP on Island ILPS 9105)
4. Lost In My Dream - SPOOKY TOOTH (on "Spooky Two", March 1969 UK 2nd LP on Island ILPS 9098)
5. Stormbringer! - JOHN and BEVERLEY MARTYN (on "Stormbringer!", February UK 1970 album on Island ILPS 9113 - String Arrangements by Paul Harris)
6. Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal - DR. STRANGELY STRANGE (on "Kip Of The Serenes", July 1969 album on Island ILPS 9106)
7. Notting Hill Gate - QUINTESSENCE (A-side of a UK 7" single released January 1970 on Island WIP 6075)
8. Banks Of The Nile - FOTHERINGAY (on "Fotheringay", March 1970 LP on Island ILPS 9125. Features SANDY DENNY and members of FAIRPORT CONVENTION)
9. Wild World - CAT STEVENS (on "Tea For The Tillerman", November 1970 LP on Island ILPS 9135)
10. Painted Chariot - THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND (on "Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air", 1971 LP on Island ILPS 9172)
11. Cat Food - KING CRIMSON (on "In The Wake Of Poseidon", May 1970 LP on Island ILPS 9127. It's credited in the booklet as the A-side 7" single edit (at 2:47 minutes) but it plays the full album version at 4:54 minutes)
12. Groon - KING CRIMSON (non-album track, B-side to the March 1970 UK 7" single of "Cat Food" on Island WIP 6080)
13. The North Star Grassman And The Ravens - SANDY DENNY (on "The North Star Grassman And The Ravens", September 1971 LP on Island ILPS 9165)
14. Suite In C (Including Turnham Green, Here I Am And Others) - McDONALD & GILES (on "McDonald & Giles", 1970 LP on Island ILPS 9126. Ian McDonald (Saxophone and Keyboards) and Michael 'Mike' Giles (Percussion, Vocals, Writer and Arranger) were with KING CRIMSON. The track also features STEVE WINWOOD on Keyboards)
15. The Siege Of Yaddlethorpe - AMAZING BLONDEL (on "Fantasia Lindum", 1971 album on Island ILPS 9156)
1. Knife Edge - EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER (on "Emerson, Lake & Palmer", their November 1970 debut album on Island ILPS 9132)
2. Thunderbuck Ram - MOTT THE HOOPLE (on "Bumpers", June 1970 UK Double-Album Label Sampler on Island IDP 1. The mix on this double differs to the original version on the album "Mad Shadows" from 1970 on Island ILPS 9119)
3. Northern Sky - NICK DRAKE (on "Bryter Layer", November 1970 2nd LP on Island ILPS 9134)
4. Thru The Night - THE ALAN BOWN (on "El Pea", exclusive to the October 1971 double-album label sampler on Island IDLP 1)
5. Dark Dance - ROBIN WILLIAMSON (on "Myrrh", 1972 album on Island HELP 2. Robin Williamson is from THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND)
6. I Am The Walrus - SPOOKY TOOTH (on "The Last Puff", a cover version of The Beatles classic released 1970 on Island ILPS 9117)
7. Glistening Glyndebourne - JOHN MARTYN (on "Bless The Weather", an instrumental on the November 1971 LP on Island ILPS 9167)
8. Fire And Water - FREE (on "Fire And Water", June 1970 3rd album on Island ILPS 9120)
9. See My Way - BLODWYN PIG (on "Getting To This", April 1970 2nd album on Chrysalis ILPS 9122)
10. See The World (Through My Eyes) - VINEGAR JOE (on "Vinegar Joe", their UK Debut Album from April 1972 on Island ILPS 9183. Both ELKIE BROOKS and ROBERT PALMER shared Vocals in the band)
11. Peace Train - CAT STEVENS (on "Teaser And The Fire Cat", September 1971 LP on Island ILPS 9154)
12. Watercolour Days - CLOUDS (on "Watercolour Days", 1971 LP on Chrysalis ILPS 9151)
13. The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys - TRAFFIC (on "The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys", November 1971 UK LP on Island ILPS 9180)
14. Song For Suzie - HEADS, HANDS & FEET (on "Head, Hands & Feet", 1971 LP on Island ILPS 9149. The band featured ALBERT LEE on Guitar)
Not surprisingly the box's artwork (as well as the CD labels) uses the famous 'pink' Island colouring and the 48-page booklet is both a joy to look at and a fascinating read. Compiled by reissue heroes MARK POWELL and remastered to stunning effect by PASCHAL BYRNE (Audio Archiving) - you get three and a half hours of audacious scope and at times hippy nonsense. There's a small history of the label - then each artist is lined up (in alphabetical order) with a very detailed biography by Powell - and all of it peppered with loads of album sleeves and period photos. And the remasters are fabulous...
Some might argue about the choices and the alignment of the songs (Robin Williamson gets a one minute instrumental yet a whole page of Biography) - but time after time you're hit with the sheer diversity of British Rock bands - Traffic, Jethro Tull, Spooky Tooth, Blodwyn Pig and ELP. And how good it is to see bands like Clouds, Vinegar Joe, Quintessence, Fotheringay and Heads, Hands & Feet get an airing. The 11-minute McDonald & Giles "Suite In C" is a complex Prog masterpiece. And it's clever of the compilers to include four rarities/exclusives by Heavy Jelly, The Alan Bown, Mott The Hoople and Traffic from the compilations "Nice Enough To Eat" (November 1969), "Bumpers" (June 1970, 2LPs), "El Pea" (October 1971, 2LPs) and the Alternate Mix of a Traffic song on the Dave Mason double-album "Scrapbook". In fact, Island's first label sampler from March 1969 "You Can All Join In" is featured on this 3CD Box by 6 tracks of its original 12 - they are "A Song For Jeffrey" by Jethro Tull, "Sunshine Help Me" by Spooky Tooth, "Pearly Queen" by Tramline, "Meet On The Ledge" by Fairport Convention, "Rainbow Chaser" by Nirvana and "Dusty" by John Martyn. The "Nice Enough To Eat" LP Sampler has four entries - Tramline, Heavy Jelly and Blodwyn Pig (all on CD1) with Dr. Strangely Strange and their Box Set title song on CD2. Those entry-into-another-world Island Records budget LPs are pictured on Page 8 (see below) as is a July 1994 CD compilation called "Folk Routes" which gathers up obscuro's like "Siege Of Yaddlethrorpe" by Amazing Blondel on CD2. Speaking of Sampler LPs - it amazes me that Universal haven't done either "Bumpers" or "EL Pea" as 2CD Deluxe Editions with shit tons of Bonus Tracks? How many of us oldies-but-goldies knew those Budget LP innards by heart - great memories.
Singer-songwriter stunners include the mighty Folk-Rock giants of John Martyn, Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, Cat Stevens and the boys from The Incredible String Band - all sounding gorgeous and alive as they slink across your speakers with renewed fidelity (Danny Thompson's sliding Double-Bass playing being the hero contribution on many of them). Rockers and Progtastic types like FREE, MOTT THE HOOPLE, JETHRO TULL, SPOOKY TOOTH and ELP are beloved for damn good reason (their entries illuminate why - check out Spooky Tooth's fantastic "Lost In My Dreams" on CD2 which sounds staggeringly contemporary even today). The Blues Rock of the long-forgotten and commercially unsuccessful TRAMLINE featured Vocal and Harmonica from John McCoy (future Manager for Claire Hamill and Chris Rea) and more famously - the ace guitarist Micky Moody who would later grace Juicy Lucy, Snafu and Whitesnake. Featured here (and the opening track on their second and last album - the frightfully named "Moves Of Vegetable Centuries" - disbanded by early 1969). Tramline's cover of Traffic's "Pearly Queen" also showed up on the first Island Records budget sampler LP "You Can All Join In" in March 1969 (I proudly own a nice copy of 'Join In' with its 14 Shillings and 4d Sticker, Pink Eye Logo Label and Island's Bands on the Front Cover artwork - check out a grinning Ian Anderson in the Back Row and a studious be-hatted Steve Winwood in row three stood beside the cool shades of Dave Mason author of "Feelin' Alright" - both no doubt thinking of getting it together in the country).
I'd admit that I find the Acid-Psych-Folk of the Box Set's namesake Dr. Strangely Strange a wee bit twee - but you gotta love the mad making hay of their "Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal" track. It is followed by things-are-great in the meditation sessions of "Notting Hill Gate" by Quintessence - a catchy fuzz-guitar 45 (if you can image such a thing). And is there any melody-loving music fan that can resist the gorgeous Fotheringay entry "Banks Of The Nile" - eight-minutes of exquisite soldier-sadness narrated by the warmth of Sandy Denny's lovely voice. With its Non-LP flipside, the King Crimson 45 is a cool inclusion too - even if the A-side is miscredited as the Single Mix when in fact it plays the Full Album Version of "Cat Food". A favourite - the near twelve minutes of Traffic's "Low Spark" is an awesome thing to behold (lyrics from it entitle this review).
So much to discover, re-visit and delight in. "Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal: An Island Anthology 1967-1972" is a fantastic reminder of a time when musically anything seemed possible - and on the evidence legally declared here - it clearly was. And in 2026 - over 20 years on - can we hope for Volume 2 please...
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