Alchemy

"Started in 1968 by percussionist Glen Sweeney and reedist Paul Minns, Third Ear Band was formed from the ashes of a previous Sweeney project, the psych band Hydrogen Juke Box. While generally overlooked in the history of British and improvised music, Third Ear Band developed a distinctive and aesthetically important sound - equal parts Indian, psychedelic, and minimalist - dubbed "electric-acid-raga" by Sweeney. Alchemy, their first release, is a wonderful record. With shorter tracks than found on later albums, Third Ear Band here makes excursions into improvised chamber music ... For those even vaguely interested in the history of innovative music, Alchemy is worth hunting down".

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"Gothic improv landmark reissued ... Even in the musical free-for-all of 1969, no group came weirder than the Third Ear Band, nor was a free festival complete without their hypnotic instrumental incarnations ... A definitive chronicle of this uniquely strange ensemble".