- Audio CD (11 July 2005)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Rise Above
- ASIN: B0009S4VH6
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 52,799 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
Jubilee Offer: Patriot Classics for £2.50 |
Product details |
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
OK I can't even remember how it was I decided to buy this - may have been guided by pixies - possibly something to do with buying the mellow candle back catalogue. Either way it sounds a bit like the title to this review - here and there you think Jethro Tull or maybe one of the heavier folk acts like Comus. There is much talk of things rustic and yes - I'm not kidding - Pixies are praised (and no not the well known indi band). The band also like to dress up in really ridiculous costumes. They should really be a laughing stock. But they aren't - the laughter stops when the band kick in with astonishing power and suddenly there is every chance you'll be singing "power to the pixies" - something I think passing strangers need to be prepared for.
Its partly the instruments - alongside the jiggy recorders and reedy things Is some seriously old fashioned moog and crunchy power guitar. In fact the band reminds me mostly of Gong - another band that seemed a bunch of daft tab-addled hippies talking about gnomes until you dicovered the music had an ability to achieve astonishing sonic lift off - mainly and unsuprisingly - because they were not if fact merely daft hippies but actually seriously great musicians. Same here - the spirit of Gong rides again. Power to the pixies!
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I agree with many of the comments and comparisons in the previous reviews, though if we're talking Tull it's the 'Songs From The Wood' period or the wonderful but strangely little-known semi-acoustic 'A Little Light Music'; and if we're taking Amazing Blondel it's in their sillier moments, as on the live album 'A Foreign Field That Is Forever England' rather than some of their more serious, earnest work. And the picture on the back of `The Lick...''s booklet is very reminiscent of the raunchy cod-mediaeval cover of Amazing Blondel's first album. There are also very clear echoes of Malicorne and, to a lesser extent, Tri Yann. And it wouldn't surprise me if they're familiar with the incredible Phil Pickett & Richard Thompson rock-mediaeval album `The Bones of All Men'.
But no, the real comparisons are with Gryphon, for the fun use of mediaeval instruments ('Midnight Mushrumps' was their 1974 classic album); and most of all, for the wonderfully crazy hippie poetry (not to mention the gorgeous dress sense!) with a band who were on John Peel's influential Dandelion label, Principal Edwards Magic Theatre -- a bunch of 13 students from Exeter University (their 1969 first album, 'Soundtrack' is the one to get hold of). I would be astounded if the members of Circulus don't have at least a couple of Principal Edwards albums between them. The sound may be different in places; the spirit is just the same.
'The Lick...' has lots of stand-out tracks -- including Marianne Segal's guest track 'Swallow', which is easily of the quality of the rest of the album, just different in feel, though it blends in beautifully. I find Michael Tyack's voice a bit strained in places, and would like to have heard more of Lo Polidoro's voice; maybe I need to hunt down some of her other work. The only thing I'm not struck on is the electronic clicking and clacking in places, though fortunately Circulus don't indulge in this anywhere near as much as another current experimental folk band Tuung do; it's an unnecessary distraction and it doesn't add anything to the music.
Rarely do you hear a band so clearly enjoying what they're doing, and their musicianship is exceptional and inspirational. I'd love to hear Circulus do covers of Barclay James Harvest's `Galadriel' and especially Magna Carta's `Elizabethan'. If you know the songs you'll know why; they would be perfect for this band!
Yes, they sing about pixies, but there's nothing twee about this; in folk memory, the fair folk aren't pretty little things with gossamer wings, they're a powerful part of nature to be treated with respect. And as they sing, `If we don't believe in fantasy we are lost.'
But no, the real comparisons are with Gryphon, for the fun use of mediaeval instruments ('Midnight Mushrumps' was their 1974 classic album); and most of all, for the wonderfully crazy hippie poetry (not to mention the gorgeous dress sense!) with a band who were on John Peel's influential Dandelion label, Principal Edwards Magic Theatre -- a bunch of 13 students from Exeter University (their 1969 first album, 'Soundtrack' is the one to get hold of). I would be astounded if the members of Circulus don't have at least a couple of Principal Edwards albums between them. The sound may be different in places; the spirit is just the same.
'The Lick...' has lots of stand-out tracks -- including Marianne Segal's guest track 'Swallow', which is easily of the quality of the rest of the album, just different in feel, though it blends in beautifully. I find Michael Tyack's voice a bit strained in places, and would like to have heard more of Lo Polidoro's voice; maybe I need to hunt down some of her other work. The only thing I'm not struck on is the electronic clicking and clacking in places, though fortunately Circulus don't indulge in this anywhere near as much as another current experimental folk band Tuung do; it's an unnecessary distraction and it doesn't add anything to the music.
Rarely do you hear a band so clearly enjoying what they're doing, and their musicianship is exceptional and inspirational. I'd love to hear Circulus do covers of Barclay James Harvest's `Galadriel' and especially Magna Carta's `Elizabethan'. If you know the songs you'll know why; they would be perfect for this band!
Yes, they sing about pixies, but there's nothing twee about this; in folk memory, the fair folk aren't pretty little things with gossamer wings, they're a powerful part of nature to be treated with respect. And as they sing, `If we don't believe in fantasy we are lost.'
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Encounter Circulus and something magical unfolds, I fell head over heels for "Clocks Are Like People", and it was high time I sought out their debut album. So here we are, and what a lovely album it is.
On the sleeve the band photos complement the music perfectly, with quirky humour and charm and a glimpse into an endearing otherness. As with the pictures, so musically they are gently pushing back the choking undergrowth and are off exploring lanes not travelled since the heyday of the Incredible String Band and Doctor Strangely Strange. Wading through deep flowers and briars along byways that have never been visited by footpath inspectors, drawing inspiration from classic English prog-rock and folk-rock alongside psych-folk and early music.
"My Body Is Made Of Sunlight" is a completely gorgeous song and the highlight for me, I was delighted to also find their video for it online. I also love the two instrumentals, I'd love to hear Circulus expand upon the ideas in "The Aphid" in a live setting. "The Scarecrow" is another great song, a melancholy pastoral prog-rock piece. Elsewhere there is an irresistable sinuous seventies funkiness, as on "We Are Long Lost". And then there is "Power To The Pixies": completely away with the fairies!
I give this album 5 stars because it deserves 5 on the strength of the tracks I've already mentioned (practically everything, I realise), but must add that I think "Clocks Are Like People" surpasses the greatness of this album (I guess the 5 stars I gave to "Clocks..." ought to be glittering and glowing and being more starlike, to differentiate). For me this album falters ever so slightly now and then whilst "Clocks..." is more accomplished and very strong from beginning to end. As with some other reviewers, I think that the inclusion of "Swallow" doesn't do Circulus any favours, I like the song fairly well but I find I'm impatient to get back to Michael Tyack's whimsical creations. Had I heard "Swallow" on the radio or elsewhere it would have passed me by, I wouldn't be frantically hunting down the album.
Circulus have discovered a doorway - probably in the bole of a tree - through to an otherworld, one we thought was lost, possibly peopled by Arthur Rackham characters, it's familiar and strange and I could happily spend all day there...
On the sleeve the band photos complement the music perfectly, with quirky humour and charm and a glimpse into an endearing otherness. As with the pictures, so musically they are gently pushing back the choking undergrowth and are off exploring lanes not travelled since the heyday of the Incredible String Band and Doctor Strangely Strange. Wading through deep flowers and briars along byways that have never been visited by footpath inspectors, drawing inspiration from classic English prog-rock and folk-rock alongside psych-folk and early music.
"My Body Is Made Of Sunlight" is a completely gorgeous song and the highlight for me, I was delighted to also find their video for it online. I also love the two instrumentals, I'd love to hear Circulus expand upon the ideas in "The Aphid" in a live setting. "The Scarecrow" is another great song, a melancholy pastoral prog-rock piece. Elsewhere there is an irresistable sinuous seventies funkiness, as on "We Are Long Lost". And then there is "Power To The Pixies": completely away with the fairies!
I give this album 5 stars because it deserves 5 on the strength of the tracks I've already mentioned (practically everything, I realise), but must add that I think "Clocks Are Like People" surpasses the greatness of this album (I guess the 5 stars I gave to "Clocks..." ought to be glittering and glowing and being more starlike, to differentiate). For me this album falters ever so slightly now and then whilst "Clocks..." is more accomplished and very strong from beginning to end. As with some other reviewers, I think that the inclusion of "Swallow" doesn't do Circulus any favours, I like the song fairly well but I find I'm impatient to get back to Michael Tyack's whimsical creations. Had I heard "Swallow" on the radio or elsewhere it would have passed me by, I wouldn't be frantically hunting down the album.
Circulus have discovered a doorway - probably in the bole of a tree - through to an otherworld, one we thought was lost, possibly peopled by Arthur Rackham characters, it's familiar and strange and I could happily spend all day there...
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Days of mediaeval future passed
Hang on to your tall hats here comes the seventies not sure which seventies though Circulus draw on the rich veins of the prog folk movement if such thing ever existed if the... Read more
Published on 13 April 2010 by Glynne Callaghan
I wanna go where the envelope will be sent!
A fantastic album of acidised trad folk combined with general acidy-spacey folkrock. If you haven't heard it, you MUST!
Published on 25 Mar 2008 by Mr. C. York
Circulus for a big smile!
As a folk(rock) fan I was well pleased with "Lick on the tip of an envelope" being recommended to me. Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2007 by J. R. P. Wigman
So the Time Machine worked after all!
Somebody had a bit of a surprise when they opened the wardrobe and these odd-looking characters tumbled out. Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2006 by M. R. N. Shackelford
Beyond a joke!
This was a pleasant surprise! As a fan of this type of stuff, I thought this could be a good spoof of bands like Dr Strangely Strange, Amazing Blondel etc. Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2005
Miri it certainly is
If you like your medieval folk music with more than just a hint of psychedelia, then this album is for you. Read more
Published on 22 July 2005 by N. S. Rushton
Nothing to scare the horses (or the pixies!)
Circulus were brought to my attention last year when they were mentioned in a book written by a friend of theirs. Read more
Published on 14 July 2005 by Pe Mortlock
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
