Third Ear Band - Alchemy (1969)

British free-improvisation with its roots in the heady, psychedelic days of London's UFO Club.  A year or so on from those days, members of two bands had coalesced into a stable lineup based around percussionist Glen Sweeney, and following an equipment theft after a gig at the Middle Earth decided to start from scratch with acoustic instruments.

Now using oboe, recorder, violin/viola, cello and hand percussion as the core of their sound, the medieval and raga-influenced Third Ear Band were in place, augmented by various other instrumentalists.  If legend is true (the general reliability of the legend-spreader suggesting 'No'), they may have been joined on occasion by a teenaged Genesis P-Orridge for some multi-violin jams.

Even if true, Gen's not on this album, but John Peel is, playing harmonica and Jew's harp, and Peel's encouragement and promotion of the group was instrumental in their modest early success.  The eight tracks on Alchemy, their debut, jam around raga-like structures to hypnotic effect at their most potent.  They were certainly good musicians, and had a good (third?) ear for group improvisation.  At its most unsettlingly atmospheric, such as on Egyptian Book Of The Dead, the album shows a promising talent as soundtrackers who'd become best known for Polanski's Macbeth.

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