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The Circle Is Unbroken-Trembling Bells and Mike Heron

Venue: The Capstone Theatre
Town: Liverpool
Date: 15/10/13
Website: http://www.mikeheron.co.uk/

A well-respected music magazine recently listed The Incredible String Band as "one of the three most important and influential acts of the 1960's", the other two being, unsurprisingly, The Beatles and Bob Dylan.I am not sure if I would go quite that far but what is beyond doubt is that the ISB were one of the most innovative bands of that decade and certainly did originate what we now know as "acid- folk" or "psych- folk"[or even wyrd- folk].

My introduction to the ISB came in 1970 when, at the tender age of 16, some school friends who were Huge fans of the "Incredibles" turned me on to them [and other esoteric bands like COB, Forest, Dando Shaft and Trees]. Unfortunately, much to my chagrin, I never got to see the ISB live. However, tonight's collaboration between top modern progressive folk band Trembling Bells and the inimitable Mike Heron [and his daughter Georgia Seddon] changed all that.

The Bells first collaborated with Mike on a Christmas single [ "Feast of Stephen"] in 2010 and have since played ISB material live with him. This summer, Mike and the Bells set out on their first fully collaborative tour called "The Circle Is Unbroken "but unfortunately it was brought to an abrupt halt when Mike broke his arm "falling off a rock in Cumbria". Tonight's show at the Capstone Theatre [part of Liverpool Hope University] was the first date of the second part of the tour and the first time that Trembling Bells had played in Liverpool.

All of the members of the Bells are lifelong fans of the ISB and Mike is also a huge admirer of the band. In other words, this collaboration between one of the originators of the psych- folk movement and a band who are one of its foremost current exponents is a marriage made in heaven. I had never seen Trembling Bells live before although I had twice seen their wonderful singer Lavinia Blackwall perform on "The Lady:A Homage to Sandy Denny" Tour, on which, for me, she stole the show with her soaring, crystal clear vocals.

The inspired combination of Mike, Georgia and the Trembling Bells, together with fiddle player John Wilson, brought to life some of the ISB's best-known and best-loved music. The first half of the show consisted [mainly] of songs from 1968's "Wee Tam and The Big Huge", which is frequently described as the ISB's best work. We were treated to superb renditions of "Maya","Log Cabin Home in the Sky", "Air" and "Cousin Caterpillar".Other highlights of this set included Mike's "Spirit Beautiful" from his 1971 solo album "Smiling Men With Bad Reputations" and a theme from the ISB movie "Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending".

We were also treated to two excellent songs from Trembling Bells, "Swallows of Carbeth" and "Wide Majestic Aire" which demonstrated the band's ability to create original music which is every bit as good as their 1960's predecessors.

The first half ended on a high note [literally], when Lavinia and Georgia sang a lovely version of Robin Williamson's "Cold Days of February", accompanied by John's violin.

Somewhat surprisingly, the second half began with an astonishingly faithful version of Syd Barrett's "Chapter 24" from the first Pink Floyd album "Piper at the Gates of Dawn". Amazing, especially as this was the first time that Mike and the Bells had played it live. This was followed by the fiddle-led hoedown that is "Black Jack Davy" from "I Looked Up".

Next was a real treat, "Waltz of the New Moon" complete with a faithful recreation of Dolly Collins' beautiful harp and harpsichord arrangement, courtesy of Georgia and Lavinia.

It was then over to Trembling Bells for their "I Took To You", from their first album "Carbeth", which featured Doug Tielli on trombone.

When Mike returned to the stage it was for "Feast of Stephen", from "Smiling Men" and, of course, his single with Trembling Bells.

As a grand finale we had an amazing version of the epic, thirteen- minute- long prog- folk suite "A Very Cellular Song" from "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" complete with kazoo, harpsichord, bells and whistles and organ [amongst many other instruments]. Mike and the band did full justice to this psych-folk masterpiece.

After such a magisterial performance we had to have an encore. In fact we got three. The first was Mike's "Douglas Traherne Harding" from "The Big Huge"and the second was the delightfully odd "The Hedgehog's Song" from "The 5000 Spirits".

To cap a fantastic evening , we were treated to a gorgeous unaccompanied duet between Mike and Georgia on Mike's "Bright Morning Stars".

This was a really special night, a joyous celebration of life-affirming music and it was clear that the musicians and singers got as much pleasure in performing it as we did in listening to it.

Peter Cowley