The Isness is a 2002 album by experimental

Experimental music

Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...

 electronica

Electronica

Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

 group The Future Sound of London

The Future Sound of London

The Future Sound of London is a prolific British electronic music band composed of Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans. The duo are often credited with pushing the boundaries of electronic music experimentation and of pioneering a new era of dance music...

, released under the alias

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 Amorphous Androgynous (except in the US, where it was released as FSOL for commercial reasons). An expanded version was released called The Isness and the Otherness, a two disc special edition containing The Isness on disc one and The Otherness, featuring additional tracks and recordings, on disc two.

The album is the first by FSOL (as Amorphous Androgynous) to delve into psychedelic rock territory, although there are a few solid electronica tracks the majority is more progressive rock than electronica. This has came to mixed reviews with the majority being positive. Some say they had over extended their reach and others seemed to understand what they were doing.

Release mixup

Several versions of the album exist, partially due to several last minute changes of tracklist. Original promotional versions, mastered at Abbey Road studios, were set for release in May 2002. However, the album was put on hold, according to Gaz Cobain, due to an excess of "masculine energy". A second promotional version was released, with a tracklist similar to the final version, but in the same sleeve as the initial version, leading to a number of misleading reviews with incorrect track titles. The final released version of the album matched this second promo, with the addition to the album's short instrumental title track (and a slightly edited version of "The Mello Hippo Disco Show").

Upon the album's release in August 2002, more confusion occurred when the band's American label, Hypnotic, distributed 2,500 copies of the original mix of the album. The album was recalled, but many copies had been bought and still exist as rarities. The mix is significantly different to the final mix: "The Mello Hippo Disco Show" is an entirely different version, "The Galaxial Pharmaceutical" exists as a full track rather than being cut in two, "Guru Song" features lyrics sung by a female vocalist, "Elysian Feels" contains a significantly different breakbeat and is in a higher key, and both "Divinity" and "Go Tell It To The Trees Egghead" feature in slightly longer forms. "Yes My Brother" and "Goodbye Sky" are not present, replaced by "The Lovers" and "The Isness". To confuse matters more, the vinyl version of the album contained an exclusive track entitled "Chawawah", only previously heard on the band's website in 2001.

2004's double disc UK compilation "The Isness & The Otherness" (with "The Otherness" released as its own disc in the US) compiled most of the tracks, plus selected remixes and some exclusive pieces, only missing the Abbey Road mix of "The Galaxial Pharmaceutical", plus "Yes My Brother", which featured in an extended version as "The Prophet" on 2005 album Alice In Ultraland

Alice in Ultraland

"The Witchfinder" was released as a promo-single in 2005. The one-track promo is a radio-only version, which also featured on the song's animated video....

.

Disc one: The Isness

1. "The Lovers" – 6:04
2. "The Isness" – 3:00
3. "The Mello Hippo Disco Show
   The Mello Hippo Disco Show
   The Mello Hippo Disco Show is a single released by Amorphous Androgynous, a pseudonym of The Future Sound of London, in 2002 from the album The Isness...
   
   " – 5:25
4. "Goobye Sky (Reprise)" – 1:14
5. "Elysian Feels" – 4:47
6. "Go Tell It To The Trees Egghead" – 4:28
7. "Divinity" – 7:27
8. "Guru Song" – 2:49
9. "Osho" – 2:14
10. "Her Tongue Is Like A Jellyfish" – 2:34
11. "Meadows" – 3:29
12. "High Tide On The Sea Of Flesh" – 5:27
13. "The Galaxial Pharmaceutical" – 14:32

Disc two: The Otherness

1. "Elysian Feels (Abbey Road Version)" - 6:03
2. "Yo-Yo (Abbey Road Version)" - 4:31
3. "Goodbye Sky" - 4:34
4. "The Lovers (Love is the Lover)" - 7:02
5. "Maharishi Raga" - 4:12
6. "The Band (Divinity)" - 6:02
7. "Rural Green" - 3:43
8. "Chawawah" - 4:03
9. "She Sells Electric Ego" - 6:41
10. "Chinese Whispers" - 1:00
11. "Slomo" - 3:16
12. "The Conga Run" - 5:38
13. "The Ram" - 1:55
14. "Toy Piano" - 1:03

Abbey Road promotional version

1. "Elysian Feels" - 6:03
2. "The Mello Hippo Disco Show" - 4:32
3. "Goodbye Sky (Reprise)" - 1:10
4. "Osho" - 2:14
5. "The Galaxial Pharmaceutical" - 15:03
6. "Yes My Brother" - 0:52
7. "Go Tell It To The Trees Egghead" - 5:31
8. "Divinity" - 7:57
9. "Guru Song" - 3:45
10. "Her Tongue Is Like A Jellyfish" – 2:33
11. "Meadows" – 3:28
12. "High Tide On The Sea Of Flesh" – 5:25
13. "Goodbye Sky" - 4:43

Vinyl version

1. "The Lovers" - 5:52
2. "High Tide On The Sea Of Flesh" - 5:24
3. "The Mello Hippo Disco Show" - 5:49
4. "Divinity" - 7:25
5. "Guru Song" - 2:45
6. "Osho" - 2:12
7. "Her Tongue Is Like A Jellyfish" - 2:35
8. "Meadows" - 3:27
9. "Elysian Feels" - 4:45
10. "Goodbye Sky" - 1:11
11. "Go Tell It To The Trees Egghead" - 4:25
12. "Chawawah" - 4:02
13. "The Isness" - 2:59
14. "The Galaxial Pharmaceutical" - 14:30

Crew

Dougans and Cobain enlisted a large group of friends, famous and not, to help them with the music arrangement and performances; the list reads thus:

• Alex Balanescu, Donovan
  Donovan
  Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
  
  , Clio Gould, Levine Andrade
  Levine Andrade
  Levine Andrade is an Indian born British musician , producer and conductor.-Early life:Levine Andrade was born in Bombay and emigrated to England...
  
  , Sue Monks, Philip Bainbridge, Christene Charly, Gary Lucas
  Gary Lucas
  Gary Lucas is an American guitarist, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, a soundtrack composer for film and television, and an international recording artist with over a dozen solo albums to date. He has been described as "one of the best and most original guitarists in America" ; a "legendary leftfield...
  
  , Stinky Rowe, Baluji Shrivastav, Mikey Rowe, Randy Hope, Taylor Gospel Choir, Chris Margary, Fayaz Virgi, Kevin Robinson, The Cabbage Orchestra, The Major, Sam Pickins, Albert Ross Junior, Sir Daniel Pemberton, Bertie, Sara Gepp, The Vaudeville Stage and Big Screen FX Singers, Catrin Jones, Ben Pitt, Jeniffer Underhill, Vulu Krakovic, Charles Cross, Herb Moon, Merlin Sturt, Wayne Urqhart, Future Sonic Orchestra Limited, Linda Lewis, Joss, Dominic Glover, Anjali Sage, Mike MC Enjoy, Phil Eastop, Kate St. John, Morven Bryce, Helen Binney, Jane Fenton, Christene Jackson, Joanna Archard, Herbie Flowers
  Herbie Flowers
  Herbie Flowers is an English musician specialising in bass guitar, double-bass and tuba. He is noted as a member of Blue Mink, T...
  
  , Sarah Tilley, Mark Eades, GloriaGee, Rechenda Elmhurst, John-Llewelyn Evans, Christine Settle, Jacqueline Goddard, Adrian Osmond, Jon English, Thelma Owen, Alexa Hamilton, Tim Weller, Tom Swift, Dan Swift, and Big Freddy Teddy as well as long-time collaborators Max Richter
  Max Richter
  Max Richter is a German-born British composer.-Biography:Richter studied composition and piano at University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music and with Luciano Berio in Florence. After finishing his studies, Richter co-founded the contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus...
  
  , Philip Pin, Riz Maslen and Richie Thomas. Brian and Gaz are again credited as Stone Freshwaters and The One Man Band Of Cosmos respectively.

Track listing

1. Divinity (Spector Mix) (3:59)
2. Divinity (The Band Mix) (4:34)
3. Divinity (Album Edit) (3:38)

Crew

• Engineer - Stone Freshwaters, Yage
• Producer - FSOL
• Written By - B. Dougans, G. Cobain

External links