COB A FOLK LEGEND

COB was about three guys living in the middle of nowhere who somehow came up with this magical music,” says Ralph McTell of Clive’s Original Band, the enigmatic folk group whose two brilliant albums are today championed by figures as diverse as Billy Connolly, Johnny Marr and Bert Jansch. But though their spellbinding music may have  acquired legendary status now, in its time it was ignored by one and all.

Their story centres on Clive Palmer, a Londoner now widely regarded as a key player in England’s folk revival. Having journeyed to Edinburgh with his banjo, Palmer fell in with luminaries such as Bert Jansch and Anne Briggs before forming the Incredible String Band with Mike Heron and Robin Williamson. After recording their debut in 1966 he travelled to India and Afghanistan before returning in 1967 to make a still-unreleased LP with Wizz Jones. “Clive was almost like a shaman to us,” continues McTell, who produced both COB albums. “Because of his String Band connection, his travels and so on, many spoke of him in hushed, reverent tones even then.”

Choosing not to rejoin the ISB, Palmer gravitated towards Cornwall, where he met his future COB bandmates John Bidwell and Mick Bennett. Bennett was also a Londoner, and had reached Cornwall by “jumping on a train with no idea what to …

by Richard Morton Jack
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