The Incredible String Band - First Four Albums 1966-1968 (5CD) Remastered Reissues 2010

In the liner notes to these carefully packaged reissues, all four of the Incredible String Band principals– co-founder Clive Palmer, core duo Mike Heron and Robin Williamson, and Elektra records executive Joe Boyd– offer their insights in separate essays. Three of them mention the smell of patchouli. Such were the times, certainly, but the ISB are loved equally by avant-garde musicians, psychedelia enthusiasts, and those slightly dweeby young gentlemen who hang around music shops on college campuses. The reissue of their first four albums probably put to rest any notion that the ISB were a properly great band, releasing just one true classic, but they were rarely anything less than brave, inspired, and profoundly weird.

These reissues contain no extras or unreleased material, which might call to question their utility, but much of this music has been out of print in the U.S., or at least difficult to acquire, for years (previous reclamations only unearthed odd pieces of the catalog). The remastering was necessary, but my old copy of The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter never sounded too thin or affectless; the new versions offer more space between the instruments and a general clarity, but they're not revelations in the way that many mid-1960s edits are.

The ISB probably weren't the first band to incorporate Eastern modes and instruments into folk music, but they were the first to achieve any manner of noticeable repute doing so. By 1968 the group was selling out venues like the Royal Albert Hall; they played at Woodstock. They had famous fans– Paul McCartney and Robert Plant were public admirers– and they still do: Stephen Malkmus once called ISB "the greatest band of all time." There remain plenty of reasons to think about the ISB in 2010, not the least of which are the raves garnered by the likes of Joanna Newsom and Grizzly Bear. Messy, schoolyard orchestras like Neutral Milk Hotel and the Decemberists owe a debt as well.

The ISB met while playing in folk clubs around Scotland. They started slowly: Their self-titled debut was a mostly guitars-and-voices affair that openly aped Bob Dylan and Donovan. Heron and Williamson would grow to be legitimately adventurous songwriters, but neither is an overbearing personality, and the debut is understated. Gypsy violins ("Maybe Someday") and Celtic influences ("Schaeffer's Jig") hinted at broader vistas, but the self-titled is strictly for completists.

After the debut, Palmer split for the hippie trail while Williamson departed for Morocco, later returning with armfuls of (at the time) exotic instruments. The 5000 Spirits or Layers of the Onion was released during 1967's "Summer of Love", and everything from the album's painfully fried cover to its gently progressive arrangements (sitars, saloon pianos, bongos) reinforces this. Williamson and Heron earn credit as individual songwriters, and each album contains hints of competition. Heron wins 5000 Spirits via "The Hedgehog's Song", a small blues-pop masterpiece, and the fact that the more adventurous Williamson still seems dependent on the facile eccentricity of psychedelia.

Nothing, however, was facile about The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. The band finally earns its name, stuffing complex songs full of dulcimers, gimbris, ouds, and harps. The ISB are pretty easy to figure out, if you want to: Hangman's is their best album, and its centerpiece, Heron's "A Very Cellular Song", is their best song. It's a 13-minute tour de force, and I'd swap the band's first two albums for it to last one minute longer, so completely does it outpace the rest of their catalog. The rest of Hangman's is similarly superior, as everything from the pop gems ("Mercy I Cry City") to the true oddities ("The Minotaur's Song", in which the narrator bellows, "Porridge for my porridge bowl!" and a chorus echoes him, "Porridge for his porridge bowl!") seem richer, weirder, and more fun.

Hangman's showed the band could benefit from excess, and its 2xLP followup, Wee Tam and the Big Huge, tested that. Released the same year as Hangman's, Official Band Girlfriends Rose and Licorice played increasing roles in loosely conceived epics about religion and myth. It's easier listening than Hangman's, with the band blending psych and folk smoothly; sitars rub against guitars without any hint of experimentation. Williamson's monstrous nine-minute jams ("Ducks on a Pond" and "Maya") themselves justify the sprawl, but the band also loses itself in religious imagery ("The Mountain of God") and far-flung melodies.

Many reissues see the involved rally around the idea that it's "all about the music, man" in some sort of arcane attempt to shout down context. The ISB are delightfully aware of their place in history, as everything from their essays to the unmistakably dated 5000 Spirits suggests. The patchouli, it turns out, mattered. But the ISB helped bring Eastern and African influence to folk music, and Hangman's and WT&TBH set the table for some of the conceptual epics we still see today. The Incredible String Band: come for the context, stay for the minotaur's porridge.

Andrew Gaerig, Pitchfork.com

The debut release from the original Incredible String Band trio – Robin Williamson (violin/whistle/mandolin/guitar/vocals), Clive Palmer (banjo/guitar/vocals), and Mike Heron (guitar/vocals) – was also their most simple. It is this minimalism that allowed the natural radiance of the band's (mostly) original material to be evident in the purist sense, and likewise without many of the somewhat intricate distractions and musical tangents that their future work would incorporate. Immediately striking is the group's remarkable and collective prowess on seemingly all things stringed – hence, their apropos moniker. With an unmistakable blend of distinct instrumentation and harmony vocals, the Incredible String Band take inspiration from traditional music on both sides of the Atlantic. Their impish charm and tongue-in-cheek fairytale mythology also add to their folkie mystique. This first long-player – originally issued in 1966 – contains a bevy of songs that, while steeped in conventional folk music, are completely unique. This likewise holds true for the three traditional pieces, "Schaeffer's Jig," "Whistle Tune," and the rare Clive Palmer instrumental solo, "Niggertown." Palmer, formerly of the highly underrated Famous Jug Band, would exit the Incredible String Band after this record, and thus the perpetually rotating personnel that would guide the group for the remainder of its existence began, perhaps aptly, at the beginning. The original songs range from light and airy love ballads – such as the Williamson solo "Womankind" or the understated mischief of "Dandelion Blues" – to the high and lonesome sound of Mike Heron's mandolin-driven "How Happy I Am." There are likewise darker – yet no less poignant – tunes such as "Empty Pocket Blues" and the haunting "Good As Gone." While this album is a tremendous launch pad for potential enthusiasts, be aware that every Incredible String Band recording is also extremely individual and reflects the current membership of the group.

Review by Lindsay Planer, Allmusic.com

In 1967, Joe Boyd had signed the Incredible String Band, who were then down to Robin Williamson, Mike Heron, and Licorice McKechnie, to Elektra. The 5000 Spirits or Layers of the Onion had been crafted in a cottage in Glasgow, but Boyd wanted a proper recording studio to get it on tape. He chose engineer John Wood's Chelsea studio for the sessions. Recorded on a four-track machine, Boyd and Wood proceeded to capture the very best of the dozens of songs Williamson and Heron brought in. Influenced heavily by the era – this was the summer of love, after all – and North African music due to Williamson’s recent trip to Morocco, the set is one of the most ambitious albums in the band’s catalog. The trio were also accompanied by Danny Thompson on bass on seven tracks, as well as Nazir Jarazbhoy on sitar. The standout tracks include “First Girl I Loved” (later covered by Judy Collins and Jackson Browne), and the cosmic folk-blues “The Mad Hatter’s Song.” On this set, British folk often comes up against against Williamson’s fascination with Middle Eastern sounds – check the bowed gimbri hovering and flitting about the acoustic guitar on “Chinese White,” and the hand drums underscoring the acoustic slide guitar on “The Hedgehog Song.” Thompson’s bass and Williamson’s harmonica are the only elements that keep “Blues for the Muse” on the ground – barely a blues at all because of the way it pushes the 12-bar envelope. The brief “My Name Is Death” begins as a one-chord drone before it moves back to a more formally constructed 18th century traditional song. The meld of all ISB’s influences are heard on “Gently Tender,” a beautiful if somewhat anarchic tune where flutes, acoustic blues, hand drums, bass, gimbri, and sitar are all employed. This set stands as one of the true masterpieces in the group's catalog.

Review by Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com

The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter stands as the Incredible String Band's undisputed classic among critics and musicians alike – ask Robert Plant, who touted its influence on Led Zeppelin's first album and general direction. Recorded and released in 1968, the album hit number five on the U.K. album charts, and was nominated for a Grammy in the U.S. It was produced by Joe Boyd, and engineered by John Wood using 24-track technology. Robin Williamson, Mike Heron, and Licorice McKechnie also utilized the talents of Dolly Collins (vocals, flute, organ, and piano), and David Snell (harp). Williamson and Heron employed a vast array of instruments on these songs including sitar, gimbri, pan pipe, oud, chahanai, mandolin, guitars, Hammond B-3, dulcimer, harpsichord, pan pipes, oud, water harp, and harmonica. The songs were much more freeform and experimental. Check Heron’s 13-minute “A Very Cellular Song,” which incorporates elements from a Sikh hymn and a Bahamian spiritual. Using the Hammond, a gimbri, pan pipes, handclaps, and other instruments, it begins on a two-chord vamp that employs a vocal round in five-part harmony, with secular and spiritual lyrics. It’s simply infectious. Other notables include the stellar “The Minotaur’s Song,” with its call and response chorus played on guitars, upright piano, and six-part harmonies. It melds a children's song with a drinking song to humorous and utterly memorable effect. Elsewhere, “Waltz of the New Moon,” employs two-chord drones on acoustic guitar with a meld of Middle Eastern vocal styles and Scottish field songs. “Three Is a Green Crown” is a psychedelic folk song in all its hypnotic droning glory with Williamson’s primitive sitar playing featured prominently. The tender, exotic, "Nightfall,” the album’s closer, is a lullaby, with guitar and sitar accompanying the vocal in whole tone intervals. The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter is the most ambitious, focused, and brilliantly executed record in ISB’s catalog.

Review by Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com

Originally issued as a double LP set in 1968 in the U.K, Wee Tam & the Big Huge was split into two LPs for the U.S. market in 1969 to no avail; they still didn't sell. The music on these two albums is ultimately kinder than the Incredible String Band's earlier albums, their self-titled debut, and The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. While the bandmembers didn't give up their use of many Eastern string and reed instruments, they did employ more conventional Western folk song structures (somewhat), making the ease-of-listening factor much higher. Robin Williamson and Mike Heron, with Rose Simpson and Licorice McKechie, began to move toward the forefront of the collective here, asserting their often complementary but sometimes clashing styles over the gorgeous voices of the two women. The songs on the the Wee Tam half are somewhat stronger, but those on the latter one possess a certain spaciness and childishness that is charmingly anarchic in spirit. What sets these records apart from the previous albums is that here the Incredible String Band accepted their mantle as a band, letting the excess fall by the wayside and actually writing "conventional" songs without giving up either their love for arcane music and quirky humor or the influence of LSD culture that informed their artistic venture from the jump. Wee Tam & the Big Huge is not the innocent journey of a host of lost hippies in love with making weird, wonderful music from the wreckage of the distant past. Instead, the mysticism of the then-present era of the 1960s is fused together with progressive and ancient British Isles folk styles to produce a startlingly focused work. Ultimately, Wee Tam & the Big Huge is the sound of a band coming into its own.

Review by Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com