ARTIST:
The Incredible String Band


ALBUM:
Wee Tam and the Big Huge


KEY TRACKS:
The Yellow Snake
The Half Remarkable Question
The Iron Stone


"my cousin has great changes coming...wings"


I have been curious for a long time to hear the band that was supposedly "freakier and folkier than mother-fucking Devendra Banhart".  And it is, without a doubt, true!  This Scottish band practically paved the way for psychedelic rock bands with their jangling sitars and erratic drum beats.  Even freakier (and folkier) are the philosophical (and sometimes non-sensical) lyrics that accompany these outlandish melodies.  Did I mention that this group at one point lived communally in a farmhouse when writing music?  So of course, what resulted is quite interesting.   


Wee Tam represents these two very different parallels in songwriting as founders Robin Williamson and Mike Heron pen songs songs both deeply spiritual (The Mountain of God) and oddly eccentric (Ducks on a Pond).  While upon first listen, they don't sound too different from the folk scene today, especially with folk acts like Banhart and Joanna Newsom around.  But when you take to heart the time this band was making music, these compositions were leaps and bounds beyond average songwriting.  As a result, the Incredible String Band were considered the avant-garde along with -and possibly inspiring- The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.  


Wee Tam and the Big Huge represent some of the ISB's best artistry.  I'm a sucker for a good sitar so the use of this particular instrument throughout the album is great.  There are times when the music seems a bit repetitive, but all in all the tracks are so peppy and overtly happy that you don't seem to notice.  Williamson's and Heron's vocals are also a delight to listen to.  Oddly, they sound very similar to John Lennon and on certain tracks the sound is so similar that it's uncanny.


In this case, it was difficult to really listen to individual tracks within the album as a whole since it seemed so cohesive.  Bottom line, and much like the folk acts that have followed them, this particular group didn't make music because it would sound good to everyone.  It sounded good to them and that's all that mattered  Either you appreciate this music or you don't, and whether you do or not is the least of their troubles.  

LISTEN:  THE YELLOW SNAKE  |  THE IRON STONE  |  THE HALF REMARKABLE QUESTION

NEXT WEEK:  AUSTIN CRANE  |  A PLACE AT THE TABLE