Dr Strangely Strange are returning to London this July. They're playing a a full evening (2 sets) at the Plough Inn Walthamstow on Friday 17th July. It's a small venue, so advance tickets are advised. They're 7.00 from this link:
http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=320036&interface=

The Plough is next to Wood Street Station and very easy to get to. Website:
http://www.theploughinne17.co.uk/index.php


Songs Of The Incredible String Band concert 'Very Cellular Song's at The Barbican :The band will also be playing two songs in on Sunday 19th July (tickets are now on sale on the Barbican website) and will probably be playing a short set in their own right on the second stage on either 18th or 19th July (TBC). We hope to see you there. Visit the web announcement HERE

NORTH LONDON GIGS FEBRUARY 2009
Here are some early online reviews:

Dr Strangely Strange
The Gaff, London
21/02/09

The Strangelies were in town for three gigs to celebrate the reissue of their 1969 album 'Kip of the Serenes'. Promising to play the whole album in order, Keyboardist Tim Goulding announced that one track, 'Ship of Fools', had not been played for 38 years, and after tomorrow night's gig, probably never would be again.

Goulding played electric keyboards and harmonium, as well as treble recorder and Stylophone, a recent replacement for the one stolen at a gig in 1970! Tim Booth had even managed to borrow a second guitar to play in the open tunings used on some of the original recordings.

Their famed vocal harmonies were spot-on and they were well rehearsed, though of course it wouldn't be them without the odd mistake with Ivan Pawle and Tim Goulding singing different last lines to one of the verses of the opening 'Ballad of the Wasps' one of four songs they played before launching into the 'Kip' material. New boy Joe Thoma (joined in 1980!) added fiddle and mandolin plus the essential dinner gong on 'Ship of Fools'. It has to be said they are an extraordinarily amiable bunch of chaps, with Goulding's dry wit and Ivan's delightful personality (and where does he get his shirts?) Spreading smiles all round.
Grahame Hood

The gig at the Green Note last night was positively stellar!
What more can I add to that extremely apt description. The guys were completely relaxed and it showed. There's always been a great sense of humour with the Doctors in their music and their banter and it certainly showed last night. Highlights for me included Sign On My Mind, a song which always brings tears of joy to my eyes, and that song of Ivan's about his parents 'The Sailor and The Red Haired Girl'. I'm just a big softy at heart. Guess I'll have to play with Walter and not Denis now that I've admitted that! Sean Kelly made it to both gigs and should have some of his photos available in a couple of days.

The band made a point of thanking Adrian for all of his help in making it happen and I'd like to add my thanks as well. He should receive a "gong" for his hard work :-)

Cheers.....Jimmy Stepek

Online reviews from the ISB Yahoo chat group

It's a bit quiet around here at the moment, but just a quick note to let you all know that you missed a great night at the Gaff on Saturday. The Strangelies were on fine form, despite Ivan's slipping G string, and played the whole of 'Kip Of The Serenes' plus a goodly selection from both 'Heavy Petting' and 'Alternative Medicine', including the ever wonderful 'Sign On My Mind' and one of my personal favourites, 'Ashling'. I'll be off again in a short while, so hopefully one of the other present list members can fill in more details, but I'll post some pics up in a few days time when I get a chance.

Shane Pope

The remastered Kip of the Serenes is a great joy; fantastic sound
quality, correct speed, extra takes, great 'sleeve' notes (positively
encyclopaedic) and Hux were selling it on the night for only £10.00.
Get down to their website now and buy!

Keith Morton

The gig at the Green Note last night was positively stellar!

The Green Note is tiny; basically just a narrow room with a bar at one end and a small stage. The Strangelies (and my memory may not be up to much in this review as the North London tour as it's called has taken its toll on my synapses) were a pared down original three piece as Joe Thoma had to get back to Kenmare, where he is a teacher. With the stresses of performing at The Gaff over with they were extremely relaxed and in good humour and this showed throughout the set.

Author and psycho-geographer Iain Sinclair, with whom they hung out in late Sixties Dalston, opened the event with readings from his new book on Hackney and some bits about Ivan from his Kodak Mantra Diaries (an invaluable Sixties document - get it if you don't already have a copy).

The surgery opened with the Doctors playing Ballad of the Wasps followed by Kip in its entirety, augmented by Deena on brief vocal during Dr Dim & Dr Strange and Adrian on sessions gong during Ship of Fools. A brief intermission followed and they were back to do, in no certain order, Piece of Cod (awesome!), Hames & Traces, James Gang, Sign On My Mind, We Were Young and Sailor. The Invisible Kid was in there somewhere but I can't recall if it was in the first set or not. There may have been others. Full set lists from all three gigs will be on www.DrStrangelyStrange.com when I sort out certain technical difficulties. All the band were on top form at The Green Note but special mention must go to Goulding's whistle and recorder playing which even he was pleased with! It was tip top!

All three gigs were well attended, last night's being sold out entirely, with people from as far afield as Hungary, France and Germany.

If you didn't catch them this time round I really suggest you do on their next tour.

Andy Roberts

The Sun. 20th Feb 2009

Dr. Strangely Strange: Kip of the Serenes
SC

***** Stars

Three hippies, one in a cockerel mask, sit in a circle by a pond with a variety of acoustic instruments.
It's the late sixties and Irish troupe Dr Strangely Strange are posing for their album cover, the latest act to sign for Island Records.
Theit debut turned out to be their only effort for the label (obscurity beckoned) but what a thing of joy it was.
Now remastered and bolstered by extra tracks it left the wooly jumper folk brigade behind with, to borrow the name of their signature song, a "Strangely Strange but oddly normal" exercise in campfire psychedelia.

The Times, London. 28th Feb 2009

Dr. Strangely Strange: Kip of the Serenes
Pete Paphides

**** Stars

Anyone who was disappointed that the reality of Marc Bolan's hippy years in Tyrannosaurus Rex didn't match the idea should hasten to the expanded reissue of this debut set by Dublin's premier late 1960s flower-folk ambassadors. Tim Booth's olive-in-the-mouth enunciation cuts through woodwind to create a record that has acquired no shortage of fey period charm.
(Hux, TS £12.72)
www.timesselects.co.uk/music

Rock 'n Reel Magazine 2009

Dr. Strangely Strange: Kip of the Serenes
Grahame Hood

**** Stars

(Hux Records) www.huxrecords.com

Producer Joe Boyd recalls meeting Dr Strangely Strange and instantly seeing their selling point as being an “Incredible String Band Junior”. Unfortunately, and unfairly, that is how they are remembered. Sure, they used mainly acoustic instruments (two guitars, harmonium, recorder, plus some more obscure ones) and had the semi-obligatory chick percussionist/vocalist (Caroline “Linus”Greville), quoted from lofty lyrical works and had a fondness for changing time and key signatures mid-song, but they were also funny and gentle, musically and lyrically, and that vibe has not only lasted, but matured. Great vocal harmonies too. I’ve had this album for many years, both as CD and cassette, and this remastered version sounds amazing, with every creak and wheeze of Tim Goulding’s harmonium audible. The album’s highlight remains ‘Donnybrook Fair’, a good-humoured nine-minute romp strewn with characters from Irish history and literature, and Ivan Pawle’s setting of the Joyce poem ‘Strings In The Earth And Air’. A stark instrumental version of the latter stands out among the four bonus tracks. The sleeve notes are thoroughly thorough, and it is intriguing to think that what would once have been seen as gentle hippy whimsy forty years ago has quietly evolved classic album status.

Uncut magazine. Feb 2009

Dr. Strangely Strange: Kip of the Serenes
Rob Young

**** Stars

Just what the Doctor ordered: Collector’s Edition of Anglo-Irish acid-folkies’ 1969 debut

Formed around Trinity College Dublin students Ivan Pawle and Tim Booth, plus Tim Goulding and Caroline ‘Linus’ Greville, Dr Strangely Strange’s raggedly philosophical freak-folk often plays second fiddle to The Incredible String Band. This well annotated edition, remastered at the correct speed, should redress that impression. Producer Joe Boyd sat them in a circle and let the tapes run, creating a spontaneous, psychedelic campfire vibe, huffing harmonium, giggles and all. Kip’s lysergic pageant of waking dreams summons an Ireland of wonders: the hubbub of Dublin’s streets; the weird country of “On The West Cork Hack”; Dr Strange dispensing emetics and purgatives for paranoiacs; the multi-panelled depiction of Irish revolutionary history on “Donnybrook Fair”. “Dark Haired Lady” includes a jazz solo for Baroque recorders; misty bells ring out on “Ship Of Fools”. The definitive package of this late 60s Albion dreamtime oddity.

RESONANCE 104.4 FM
An apple a day
February 19th, 2009 · No Comments

We recommend early booking as the last gig sold out a couple of months in advance. Advance tickets 14.00 from the news section on www.huxrecords.com or phone (+UK) 0151 336 6199 between the hours of 10.00 – 22.00 Monday - Friday. No booking fee.