TS: Pearls before Swine v. The Incredible String Band

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I just got Birdman's Constructive Melancholy collection, and it put me squarely in the PBS fairy camp. I'd love to hear arguments about why I'm wrong/tasteless/etc.

― Keiji, Sunday, 11 September 2005 18:58 (twenty years ago)

ISB by a long ways. Better musicianship, better songwriting, more spirited music, more passion.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 11 September 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

i havent heard much pearls before swine, but ISB is one of my very favorites, esp 5000 spirits... and "keooaddie there" (spelled incorrectly, i think). have you listened to ISB much, keiji?

― petesmith (plsmith), Sunday, 11 September 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)

I've heard their first self-titled album, and I have 5000 Spirits and the Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. It's not that I don't like them, but the silliness is something that rubs me wrong, and is the feature of their music, Tim, I would say betrays them as less passionate and spirited than Tom Rapp. He sounds much more in earnest to me.

― Keiji, Sunday, 11 September 2005 20:11 (twenty years ago)

And Keiji, if you feel that way after "Constructive Melancholy," you'll REALLY feel that way after "Balaklava."

I love them both, both generally I prefer the genius of a genius individual over an incredible group - so PBS wins by a wide margin. (I don't consider them a group really.)

― Dee Xtrovert (dee dee), Sunday, 11 September 2005 20:33 (twenty years ago)

hippies don't fight. take both.

― Beta (abeta), Sunday, 11 September 2005 20:35 (twenty years ago)

PBS guy was from Bottineau, North Dakota, right?

― M. V. (M.V.), Sunday, 11 September 2005 20:36 (twenty years ago)

pearls before swine. much more emotionally involving than ISB for me, though i do like some ISB songs.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Sunday, 11 September 2005 20:43 (twenty years ago)

Only heard the first two PBS albums, and I have a bunch of ISB. Still a hard choice. Rapp's lyrical skills vs. Heron/Williamson's instrumental chops? Hmm. Comparing "One Nation Underground" and "Balaklava" to "Hangman's" and, oh, let's say, "U" or the first S/T ISB (I don't have 5000 Layers and am beginning to suspect I need it) still yields no conclusive result.

I gotta go with ISB here, if only for the fact that I am familiar with and enjoy more of their stuff.

― sleeve (sleeve), Monday, 12 September 2005 01:32 (twenty years ago)

sleeve, i predict you will LOVE 5000 spirits, if you love the first and third albums.

― petesmith (plsmith), Monday, 12 September 2005 01:55 (twenty years ago)

eight months pass...

Pearls Before Swine sound like what I had hoped ISB would sound like (and didn't sadly). Not really interested in "instrumental chops" anyway.

― Unlimited Toothpicker (eman), Saturday, 13 May 2006 15:27 (nineteen years ago)

ISB != ELP

― Keith C (lync0), Saturday, 13 May 2006 16:43 (nineteen years ago)

who said that

― Unlimited Toothpicker (eman), Saturday, 13 May 2006 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

Well they definitely could play, but I think that's the least interesting thing about them and I hardly even notice it. The thing that blows me away about ISB is the strange song structures, the exotic instrumentation and the pagan lyrics all thrown together in what should be a disastrous combination, but somehow they pull it off. PSB sounds more conventional. I need to listen to their first two records more, though.

ISB is a tough nut to crack. I needed to listen to those albums for a while before I could really absorb what was going on.

― Keith C (lync0), Saturday, 13 May 2006 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

I don't really like the vocals in ISB, and overall they sound a bit too Renaissance Faire.

― Unlimited Toothpicker (eman), Saturday, 13 May 2006 18:05 (nineteen years ago)

I love both, but early exposure to the first few PBS records puts me in their camp, definitely. I also think ISB really started to fall off aftter Hangman's Beautiful Daughter.

― electro-acoustic lycanthrope (orion), Saturday, 13 May 2006 20:07 (nineteen years ago)

Wee Tam and The Big Huge are fairly awesome, though.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 13 May 2006 20:11 (nineteen years ago)

i sold my copy of Wee Tam TODAY, Mr Ellison so I would beg to differ.

― electro-acoustic lycanthrope (orion), Saturday, 13 May 2006 20:13 (nineteen years ago)

I like every song on that album, but it's more a situation of loving these beautiful moments that occur, as opposed to just loving the whole thing with the great tracks on 5,000 Spirits and Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. (Shorter tracks like "Air" and "The Yellow Snake" excepted, of course. And I probably love "The Half Remarkable Question all the way through.) They started to ramble. Jesus, you really want to hear 'em ramble, listen to Changing Horses and I Looked Up.

But how great is Warner Bros era PBS anyway? (I only ever had one of those LPs and sold it a long time ago and don't remember it.)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 13 May 2006 20:22 (nineteen years ago)

I think I like One Nation Underground more than Balaklava, by the way.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 13 May 2006 20:23 (nineteen years ago)

About half good half bad. You could make a great CDR (some great tracks--The Jeweller, Rocket Man, These Things Too, Grace Street, The Snow Queen, etc) but taken as a whole the albums are definitely weaker. Tom Rapp's Stardancer on Blue Thumb, though, is nearly the equal of the ESP albums.

― electro-acoustic lycanthrope (orion), Saturday, 13 May 2006 20:25 (nineteen years ago)

xpost--that's not an uncommon opinion!

― electro-acoustic lycanthrope (orion), Saturday, 13 May 2006 20:25 (nineteen years ago)

I think I like One Nation Underground more than Balaklava, by the way.

Me too, it just edges past it though.

― Unlimited Toothpicker (eman), Sunday, 14 May 2006 23:46 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

Pearls Before Swine. just.

― admrl, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 22:47 (eighteen years ago)

i don't really care for either :-/

― jaxon, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 22:49 (eighteen years ago)

really? oh no

― admrl, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 22:54 (eighteen years ago)

Seems like you would be into Pearls at least. But that's cool.

― admrl, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 22:55 (eighteen years ago)

I'm surprised by that too. Both seem right up your alley, jaxon.

― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 22:58 (eighteen years ago)

Oh ISB by like a million miles. PBS are just okay.

― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 22:59 (eighteen years ago)

Don't make us revoke your beard!

xp boo! ;)

― admrl, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 22:59 (eighteen years ago)

jaxon, have you listened to the major label Pearls stuff? There are sooo many songs that might fit into yer love of rural/country-tinged mellow rock.

― ian, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 23:05 (eighteen years ago)

I've enjoyed Clive's Original Band much more than the Incredible String Band. 'Spirit of Love' and 'Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart' are both great.

In short, COB over Pears Before Swine. But 'Balaklava' over Incredible String Band any day.

― J Kaw, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 23:34 (eighteen years ago)

Oh man COB is so great. Recent vinyl reissue of Moyshe McStiff (NOT the Radioactive one) has a whole LP of bonus material.

― ian, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 23:35 (eighteen years ago)

the only PBS i have and have heard is Balaklava. i'm not sure what i expected, but it's just sorta background music for me.

ISB actually kinda scares and annoys me.

but it really doesn't make sense because i love tons of other psych and british folk groups that are influenced by these guys.

― jaxon, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 00:12 (eighteen years ago)

I like Hangman's Beautiful Daughter way more than any PSB album, but I really like almost everything Tom Rapp has released more than other String Band material.

― C0L1N B..., Wednesday, 25 July 2007 00:38 (eighteen years ago)

Jaxon, you should try that Birdman comp of Reprise-era PSB.

― C0L1N B..., Wednesday, 25 July 2007 00:39 (eighteen years ago)

i finally came around to liking 'hangman's beautiful daughter' but i still think pearls are the gr8est

― am0n, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 01:10 (eighteen years ago)

they both rule, i can't imagine picking one over the other.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 01:37 (eighteen years ago)

Both great, peaks and troughs more extreme with the Incredible String Band perhaps.

― admrl, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 01:58 (eighteen years ago)

xpost-otm

― m coleman, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 09:44 (eighteen years ago)

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