Clive Palmer was only in the Incredible String Band for one album before departing, and to most rock and folk fans vanished off the radar screen after leaving the ISB. However, the banjo player-singer did surface in the early 1970s as the leader of C.O.B., an acronym for Clive's Original Band. On their first album, Spirit of Love (1971, CBS), the C.O.B. trio was completed by multi-instrumentalist John Bidwell and singer Mick Bennett, with some other musicians (including Ralph McTell) lending a hand on some tracks.