I can never find T.A.G.C. either (The Anti-Group Collective; an offshoot of Clock DVA...as if that’s a help); if I wanna hear them, mail order is the only option. I mean, where do you look? Under “T”? “A”? “C”? Best just to ask if they have it under the counter, like codeine in Canada.

Compared to something like T.A.G.C., finding C.O.B. is a simple matter--you simply flip through the “C” bin until you realize it’s not there. But you knew that upfront; or at least I did, in my capacity as your trusty tour guide. For the moment, picture before you the magickal, mystickal, C.O.B. Roll those letters around your imagination a bit, and ponder the mantra therein. It was such a truly inspiring moniker that if I were a professional numerologist I could surely deduce the reason they never went anywhere. And so could you. It just doesn’t have the same ring to it as “Rage Against the Machine.” Bands who claim acronyms to themselves seldom live to tell the tale. For every CSN or ELP (who were merely abbreviating their surnames, not quite the same thing) there’s a landfill of KGBs, RMZs, and NKOTBs. Even the dreaded W.A.S.P. barely managed a lifespan much longer than their namesake. Silly buggers.

So who is this mysterious Clive, when he’s home? He’s Clive Palmer (not at all to be confused with David “Oh, he’s gone for a piss” Palmer of Jethro Tull fame, who went on to do orchestrated remakes of various classic progrock LPs which moulder in assorted bargain bins to this day. So what? As long as somebody’s paying, it’s nice work if you can get it...), yes, Clive Palmer, a founding member of the Incredible String Band and a fixture on the UK folk scene for three or four decades now. He split the ISB after their first LP and resurfaced a few years later with C.O.B. to produce two very fine albums, the second of which is thankfully now out on CD. I say thankfully because in their original vinyl they fetch from $100-300.

I can hear you clearing your throat: “what the hell do I care about the price tag on an LP at a record show?” You have a point, I’m always flinging “costs $200” at you; so many of my favorite bands are in that category. Nevertheless, I’m not one of those musty collectors who lust after the artifact and never even play the vinyl--most of this stuff I own only on cassette. Luxury you can afford! I traded tapes in the mail to get it, and for no purpose other than that I wanted to hear the music. I write about it for fun and also to make things a little easier for the next person. (It’s so much nicer when you search the net for information on a band like the Moffs and you find something, isn’t it?) So I toss in the odd price quote not because I think anybody should have to pay that kind of money for a damn record--it’s just a way to gauge just how sought-after this music is by those who know of it. It also works as a reminder to the skeptics that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in their philosophy--i.e., there are so many fanatics in the world chasing so few of these albums that these are the prices the best of ’em do indeed fetch on the open market.

Nah. Forget I said it. You don’t want to know. Keep your money in Dow Jones. Please. *snicker*

Speaking of the magic of the marketplace: I’ll shut up for once, and simply quote from Gregg Breth’s catalog of psychedelic vinyl wonderment (circa 1988), since he’s a fine writer and thereby turned me onto them in the first place. And because he’ll never know. Survey says:

C.O.B.--Spirit of Love THE finest band of the early 70s UK folk fusion scene! Clive Palmer (of ISB fame) and his pals created music of such ethereal trippedoutedness, while managing to refrain from the anxious attack which ISB suffered from, that the final results are of sublime psychedelic proportions, you can feel it weaving spells around you as it plays. This LP is DEEP, and was a sign of things to come. $100

C.O.B.--Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart The creme of the crop...their vision fully realized, this one incorporates middle eastern atmospheres into the scheme and ends up blowing out every other LP of the genre. This record will amaze you for years! It’s so subtle, like a watercolour--you’ll hear new things each time you play it for years! Every track is astounding--you know these guys lived the music & the life it took to create this sound--there’s no way this could be fabricated--it’s true music of the heart! AND--it also has one of the greatest covers to grace any LP jacket (the LP title is the painting--impossible to describe). Put the cover & the music together and you’ve got one of the finest of all the UK LPs! $185

OK, about the only thing I can add is that at least in my own humble opinion, Gregg’s judgment may have been marred by the dollar values and the visuals, because I have both of these on tape. While Moyshe is a fine album in one of the loveliest of genres, it somehow falls flat as a whole. It’s so subtle I can’t even hear it, perhaps; I’ve tried on numerous occasions. (Maybe if you pay $200 for an album you’re obligated to convince yourself it’s a masterpiece?) However, that first one, Spirit of Love, has a misty ambience all its own, and (except for the lack of mideastern influences) lives up to every word of the hype in BOTH reviews! Sad to say, Moyshe is the one that’s in print. Maybe that makes Gregg happy, but it drives me up the wall. If Moyse is out there then surely S.O.L. (shit-outta-luck?) merits reissue as well. It even blows away what ISB were doing at the time. It’s one of my hundred or so top 20 albums, and so mote it be, forever.