After the Incredible String Band retired in the mid-70s, Robin Williamson packed his bags and moved to California, where he formed the prodigiously talented Merry Band, a group of musicians as skilled as Robin himself. And that's seriously skilled. They weren't together for all that long and only made three albums, of which this is the weakest. Having said that, even a weak album from musicians this talented still has many fine moments. Likewise, it's not Robin's best collection of songs by a long way, but that still means they're a lot better than some other songwriters' best. Of the ten tracks, about half really work, while a couple of others seem like throw-aways. There's enough here though to make you wonder what might have been achieved if the Merry Band had stayed together. As musicians, they were quite superb. Given a few more years, they might have eclipsed the String Band ...
![traditional folk music [1980-89]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51IrAVa8sML._AA60_.jpg)
