"...Remember It All From Before..."
There are times when you
listen to The Incredible String Band and wonder how we put up with it all – how
we the unsuspecting and nay vulnerable music-loving public didn't just fall
down on the floor in fits of laughter – ridiculing this utter hippy claptrap.
But then you re-hear something like "Puppies" or "The Yellow
Snake" or "Maya" and absolute magic happens – those swirling
Sitar flourishes – those gorgeous complimentary vocal patterns that I defy
anyone else to achieve – and you suddenly remember why TISB is held in such
affection – and in some cases – genuine awe.
Beat Goes On have been
steadily feeding our Acid Folk habit with CD reissues of The Incredible String
Band for a while now (I've reviewed "U" and "I Looked Up"
elsewhere) – and here they come again with the band's 4th album – the double
set "Wee Tam & The Big Huge" unleashed on a Psychedelic world in
the Autumn of 1968. Using the 2010 version as its base – this double-disc doozy
is newly remastered in 2015 to superb clarity. Here are the communes with
cousin caterpillars, sons of Noah and the occasional half-remarkable nature (if
you know what I mean man)...
UK released July 2015 –
"Wee Tam & The Big Huge" by THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND on Beat
Goes On BGOCD 1191 (Barcode 5017261211910) is a 2CD reissue and pans out as
follows:
Disc 1 (44:03 minutes):
1. Job's Tear
2. Poppies
3. Beyond The See
4. The Yellow Snake
5. Log Cabin Home In The Sky
6. You Get Brighter [Side 2]
7. The Half-Remarkable
Question
8. Air
9. Ducks On The Pond
Tracks 1, 4, 7 and 9 are
written by Robin Williamson while Tracks 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8 are by Mike Heron.
Disc 2 (43:13 minutes):
1. Maya [Side 3]
2. Greatest Friend
3. The Son Of Noah's Brother
4. Lordly Nightshade
5. The Mountain Of God
6. Cousin Caterpillar [Side
4]
7. The Iron Stone
8. Douglas Traherne Harding
9. The Circle Is Unbroken
Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9
are written by Robin Williamson while Tracks 2, 6 and 8 are by Mike Heron
"Wee Tam & The Big
Huge" was released as a 2LP set in the UK in October 1968 on Elektra
Records EKL 4036/37 (Mono) and EKS 74036/37 (Stereo). The Stereo mix is used.
The UK artwork has the lyrics for Side 1 and 2 on the front sleeve and Side 3
and 4 on the rear with photos of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron on the inner
gatefold. It was famously issued in the USA in 1969 in different sleeves on two
separate LPs - "Wee Tam" on Elektra EKS 74036 and "The Big
Huge" on Elektra EKS 74037. Alternative artwork of the two American LPs (slight
variants of the original photographs) is featured on Page 2 and 3 of the
booklet.
There is an outer card
slipcase which lends the whole thing a very classy feel and a 20-page booklet
which features the lyrics to all four sides, the poem that came as an insert
with UK originals ("The Head" by Robin Williamson) gets a
pride-of-place centre page spread while JOHN O'REGAN's typically excellent and
insightful liner notes paint an entertaining picture of the group and the
album’s history. But the big news is a beautiful 2015 remaster by ANDREW
THOMPSON that makes pretty tracks like "You Get Brighter",
"Air" and the epic "Maya" sound ethereal and new.
"Wee Tam & The Big
Huge" is probably The Incredible String Band’s most accessible outing –
the music being primarily Acoustic Folk blended with Eastern themes and
instruments like the Gimbri, Sarangi, Sitar and Irish Harp. It opens with the
6:47 minutes of "Job's Tears" where Robin Williamson's Guitar is
quickly joined by the 3rd member of the group – the equally high vocals of
Licorice McKechnie. The instrumental "Beyond The See" has Mike's
Harpsichord and Organ to the fore and sounds fabulous. As the opening acoustic
notes of "The Yellow Snake" mingle with Indian Sarangi sounds – the
audio is startling and is a million miles away from my battered orange label
original on Elektra. The Side 1 finisher "Log Cabin In The Sky"
sounds like the kind of Americana The Band was listening to when they made
"Songs From Big Pink" while Side 2's gorgeous and simple
"Air" is surely a highlight of the whole double album (beautiful
vocal arrangements). The nine-minute "Ducks On A Pond" is probably
the most Traditional Folk tune on here and again has lovely audio as the trippy
lyrics roll by – "...I wear my body like a caravan...gipsy rover in a
magic land..."
The East-meets-West musical
infusion hits you with Side 2's "Maya" where nine and half minutes of
Williamson's Sitar playing makes the track fly – the cool lyrics too rolling
off the Williamson's tongue as Licorice shakes the tambourine. Birds and Nature
open the Bob Dylan sounding "Greatest Friend" where Heron sounds like
he wants to write a classic on the guitar and harmonica but can't quite get
there (it's very pretty though). The rather pointless 17-seconds of "The
Son Of Noah's Brother" precedes the more substantial "Lordly
Nightshade" where "Lordly..." mixes lyrics about Hitler with
Hippies (nice). A churchy organ opens "The Mountain Of God" where the
melody actually apes a hymn. The "Da Doody Da" refrain in
"Cousin Caterpillar" gives the song a sort of Small Faces madrigal
effect. Side 4 ends with a tremendous threesome – the sitar/acoustic battle of
"The Iron Stone" which features that other occasional band member
Rose Simpson on Percussion – Heron's Folky "Douglas Traherne Harding"
(gorgeous audio) and the pure English flute of "The Circle Is
Unbroken". What a ride...
"Wee Tam & The Big
Huge" may be as bats*** as Hamish McLooney who won Madman Of The Highlands
fifteen times in a row - but it's also glorious, unique and damn it - loveable.
So – a very cool reissue from England’s BGO who are (as we drop mushrooms) lining
up the band’s first three albums on Elektra for their next 2CD release - "The
Incredible String Band" (1966), "The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of
The Onion" (1967) and "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" (March
1968).
It just remains for me to
advise you all - in those most ancient of English words - get hippy on yo ass
yo dandelion children...boo ya!
This review and many others like it are part of my SOUNDS GOOD Music Books Series.
Click the link below to get the E-Book on Amazon (over 1750 e-pages of reference and great ideas)...
