The Incredible String Band — Wee Tam and the Big Huge

‘Wee Tam and the Big Huge’ was the fourth album by the highly influential and respected psychedelic folk, world music tinged and mixed musically genre project The Incredible String Band. The album originally appeared in November 1968 some seven months after the bands third album ‘The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter’ which is seen as their most important work and a prime example of 60’s hippy culture.  And while ‘Wee Tam and the Big Huge’ may not be quite as revolutionary or mould-breaking as ‘The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter’ there’s a good and creative selection of songs on offer here.

The eighty six minute long album was originally released in Europe as both a double LP and separate singles. In the US, however, the two discs were released separately as Wee Tam and The Big Huge. For this reissue the album comes in a two CD  full colour digipac form which features all the original artwork, layout and lyrics from the original release along with  concert poster artwork. As well as  new linear notes from the albums original producer Joe Boyd, who’s also helped  remaster the album for this new release. Sadly there are no extra tracks here, but for those who are interested in the out-takes and left over tracks from this period it’s best to pick-up the excellent unreleased  and rare track double cd collection ‘Trick Of The Senses’  which appeared on Hux records last year.

The album is split here into two separate albums with one disc being entitled ‘Wee Tam’ and of course the second being entitled ‘The Big Huge’- there are no great thematically or vast musically differences between either discs; through maybe ‘The Big Huge’ is slightly more approachable, mellow and easier to take for The Incredible String Band virgins. You see the bands sound as a whole is very distinctive, often quirky and very one off in execution & sound- even if you’ve already heard other 60’s folk or psychedelic folk bands The Incredible String Band are very unequal.

On the whole ‘Wee Tam and the Big Huge’ is a slightly more concise, less quirky and  less wondering off in tangents example of the bands songcraft and it’s mix of psychedelic folk wonderings that are littered with world music and mixed genre traits; than say ‘The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter’ which has more of it’s share of more lengthy/ quirky song matter. On the whole through-out  the both discs the songs stick to mainly conventional verse chorus song structures, with track lengths averaging around the four minute mark- but that’s not to say there are not some inventive and highly creative twists, bobs and turns along the way.

A few of my favourite moments, over the two disc come in the form of: the blue grass, country and folk stomp and rock of ‘Log Cabin Home In Sky’ which has great soaring fiddle and acoustic guitar strum backed by the a quirky rattle element.  The buoyant easy listening meets gospel church organ and  flute rising opening of  ‘Air’ which adds in over time delicate strummed guitars and  layers of male and female hippy meets gospel harmonising- with  great, puzzling and cryptic lines like “You Kiss my blood, and my blood kisses me” been sang over the top. ‘Lordly Nightshade’ is an off-kilter and unhinged mixture of flamboyant piano marchs, ragged acoustic guitar strum and hippy whistle – it sounds like a bizarre collision of  a piano played English hymn, folk strum and flamboyant 60’s Psychedelic pop.  Or  the final track  ‘The Circle  is Unbroken’  which mixers hymn  like organ drone, rousing yet emotional  celtic whistle playing and elegant Irish harp playing- which all feels like  a heady, moving yet slightly bizarre mix of different  sonic cultures and times.

So all in all this is very nicely presented and thought-out  reissue of one of the classic Incredible String Band albums. Sure  The Incredible String Band are certainly not a band for everyone, but if you enjoy often quirky and adventurous muilti-genre music with a distinctive folk learning than I strongly advise you to pick this up as it one of the easier entry points into this great bands discography.