Dr Strangely Strange - Heavy Petting (Irish Progressive Folk, 1970)

An experimental Irish folk group closely affiliated with the Incredible String Band, Dr. Strangely Strange was formed in Dublin in 1967 by vocalist/guitarist Tim Booth and bassist/keyboardist Ivan Pawle (vocals/bass/keyboards). Soon they teamed with multi-instrumentalist Tim Goulding, an aspiring painter, and began living and rehearsing in a house owned by Goulding's girlfriend, backing vocalist Orphan. Annie (a.k.a. Annie Xmas), which its tenants nicknamed "The Orphanage." After signing with the Incredible String Band's producer and manager Joe Boyd, Dr. Strangely Strange debuted in 1969 with Kip of the Serenes. While on tour with Fotheringay, they enlisted drummer Neil Hopwood, and later in the year appeared on the String Band's Changing Horses LP. After 1970's Heavy Petting, Dr. Strangely Strange began falling apart: Goulding left to enter to a Buddhist monastery, while Pawle and Booth teamed with Gay and Terry Woods for a brief tour. The group soon disbanded, but they reunited in 1973 for an Irish tour, and briefly reconvened again in the early 1980s, Eventually Booth established a second Orphanage which became a springboard for a new generation of Irish rock, helping launch the careers of Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott, Gary Moore and others.
by Jason Ankeny

On their first album, Irish band Doctor Strangely Strange declared themselves to be "strangely strange but oddly normal," and by their time of their second effort, 1970's Heavy Petting, it's possible that "oddly normal" no longer applied. The spiritual cousins of the Incredible String Band, although less rooted in folk traditions, their music flitted around like a butterfly, rarely settling anywhere for long — and certainly never for the length of an entire song. "Gave My Love an Apple," for example, begins as a folk ditty, and then morphs into an extended electric bluesy guitar solo that has little to do with what went before. Childlike in its innocence, the album seems eager to taste all the possible flavors of music in a short span, making it a miracle that it holds together at all, let alone as well as it does. For make no mistake, Heavy Petting is something of a hippie joy. Joe Boyd's production is pristine, and the playing is well above the amateur standard of so many bands of the ilk, even if the frequent left turns of the material — try "Summer Breeze" and "When Adam Delved" as examples — makes things disorienting, but in a good way. If you're willing to expect the unexpected, you'll love it.
by Chris Nickson

Very good progressive folk album. A lot of changes of rythum and styles of music. Nice guitar solos. Sometimes too folk for me.

Includes artwork

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