Customer Reviews

Wee Tam

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's difficult to write about the music of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron for the simple reason that they pretty much created their own genre. Who will we compare to the Incredible String Band? The sources and reference points of and in their music are many and widespread. Typically filed under "FOLK", the music of The Incredible String Band was and is much more. A few years after the band broke up, Robin wrote of his interest in creating a "fusion" of different musical cultures, traditions and styles. Seen from this perspective, "Wee Tam / Big Huge" must be one of the first fully-realized examples of that fusion.

In a seemingly simple, quiet framework, ISB delivers a dazzling array of ideas about music and about humankind and our perceptions of the worlds in and around us -- what are we and what we are -- with diverse and complete musical authority. How else could you possibly pull off a song titled "Puppies" without being accused of creating kitsch? This is profoundly ambitious stuff. "Wee Tam / Big Huge" allows us to witness nothing less than the patchwork creation of a being in "Maya" who is comprised of the many archetypes of the human race: "businessmen his nervous system, no-hustle men his stomach" and, my personal favorite, "opinions are his fingernails". Here, as throughout this record, small metaphors create greater metaphors, leading to saturated meanings. Throughout, the lyrical content matches the musical innovation. Always poetic and illuminating, I'd question the typical "psychedelic" conclusion: this stuff is too aware and well worked out. Remember: "At bath time the hippies, in chains, they are crossing the hall..."

As a contrast to the long and almost tone-poem-like pieces such as "Maya" and "Job's Tears" and rollicking fiddle tunes like "Log Cabin Home", there are a pair of very short, haiku-like pieces that are as pure as they are beautiful. "Son of Noah's Brother" and the more remarkable, myth-imbued "Yellow Snake" demonstrate that condensed and concise poetry can be as powerful as the more elaborate and extended work.

There is also a sense of the sacred throughout, from the every day in "Air" and the wonderfully inventive "Duck's on a Pond" to the collage of religious and literary phrases that comprise the lyrics of "The Mountain of God". Through a rich mix of musical and cultural ideas, "Wee Tam / Big Huge" makes the monumental accessible, and the miniature profound without ever resorting to cloying sentimentality, cliche or the dead ends of blind faith. This is music of approachable, constant and everyday beauty. Music as easy to love today as it was when the world was new.

When Elektra's US division released this recording in America in late spring/early summer of 1968, they were unsure that it would be marketable as a two-record set, so it was issued as two separate lps. Given the unpredictability of the music market, this was probably a prudent decision -- but I'm glad to see that Hannibal has honored the ISB's original intent and made it available as a reasonably-priced double cd. The two albums should definitely be considered as a whole.

This was the first release I bought by the ISB -- and I was hooked immediately on the exotic melodies, the instruments gathered from all corners of the earth...and the lyrics. I was attending college at the time, and I showed some of the lyrics to my English professor -- he instantly recognized them as songs, but he was very impressed with the quality and depth of the poetry. The songs address a wide variety of topics -- life, love, spirituality, mankind's place in the scheme of things -- and do so with intelligence, insight and gentle wit.

The arrangements on this set are decidedly less complex -- but, I think, just as adventurous -- as those on the preceding recording THE HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER (which came out just 4-5 months earlier). They are perfectly suited to the season of the year -- lighter, less complicated than the darker mood of the prvious album. The lyrics are allowed to dominate.

I think I was a fan from the opening bars of 'Job's tears', the first track. I was mesmerized by the beauty and depth of these songs. Yes, I was at an impressionable age (I was 18) -- but as the years have passed under the bridge, I've found that I can return to these recordings (and, indeed, most of the ISB's work) again and again, still spellbound by the wonder of the music found here. The work has aged well.

Later in their career, the ISB ventured more into electric instruments -- being pushed there, I suspect, by folks at their new label, Island, thinking that perhaps a more electric sound might be more marketable (Island was the home stable to period stalwarts such as Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, John Martyn and Richard Thompson). Some of these later experiments came off well, some less successfully -- but throughout their career, until their demise in the 1970s, the ISB were always interesting.

Williamson and Heron remained individually active after the band split -- Williamson being extremely prolific -- and I was happy to see last year that they're working together again, that the ISB has been reformed. There are tours and new recordings in the works -- I'll look forward to both eagerly. Meanwhile, I know I'll continue to enjoy their catalogue -- especially this set, which is probably my favorite of their many releases.

Hangman's was a classic and following it was certain to be a let-down. But Wee Tam and the Big Huge stand on their own as a classic. They had a minor (In the U.S. ) hit with You Get Brighter, but the band was never as popular as it should have been. This CD holds up quite well over time. I had it, but my home was burglarized and all my CDs were stolen. It's a testament to the quality of this CD that it is among the first 25 or so of the 300-plus CDs that I had that I am replacing. I can't wait for it to arrive. I'll put on my (newly replaced) headphones, drop one of the discs in my (newly replaced) CD player, kick back in my old an ugly (and unstolen) gray recliner and go off on a nicemental excursion. Ah, I can't wait.

`The Big Huge' and the `Wee Tam' are nominally two different albums by The Incredible String Band (TISB) when actually; they were released simultaneously in 1968 as if they were a double album where you could buy the two disks independently. The sense with which the two titles can be combined as `The Big Huge Wee Tam' is one small sign of how these two albums were always supposed to be seen as a single work, in much the same way as Dylan's `Blond on Blond' and the Beatles' `white album' are two phonographs in a single album.

It is due to this title combination that I always considered `The Big Huge' as the first of the two recordings. The second reason is because the first cut on this album, Williamson's `Maya' so completely captures the style and spirit of both albums. It also clearly connects TISB with the style of Donovan Leitch as exemplified in his song `Atlantis'. There must be some name for this kind of song in song writing circles, and I wish I knew it, as it is so distinctive in construction. Basically, it enumerates between eight and twelve things, generally people, in a group where each type serves a particular person or fits a role in the whole. The simplest example of such a song might be the `Do-Re-Mi Song' from `The Sound of Music'. Both `Maya' and `Atlantis' are much more complicated, but fit the same basic pattern.

`Maya' is doubly interesting in that it is almost certainly based on the famous illustration on the frontispiece of Thomas Hobbes' great work `Leviathan' on political philosophy, where the head of the sovereign sits on a body composed of smaller bodies.

This pair of albums may have been the high point of the TISB recording career. At the very least, together with `The 5000 Spirits or The Layers of the Onion' and `The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter', it created a body of work which at the very least insured the durability of the groups modest popularity well into the 21st century. And, I believe it is the last set of recordings they did in the style of original writing they established in `5000 Spirits...' With their next works, I detect definite changes in style and more independence from Mike Heron, as he released a solo album around this time.

I made the observation in a review of `The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter' that many of the songs can be heard as evening entertainment for children on their way to bed. I can strengthen this analogy with this album with the references to Tolkien's fiction in one or two of these songs. Add to this references to A. A. Milne's `Winnie the Pooh' and songs about caterpillars and I rest my case. Very few of their songs relate to that most favorite song subject, romantic love. Much more time is spent on adventure, discovery, tall tales, and nonsense rhymes.

For those of you who may be coming to TISB from encounters with Fairport Convention and The Pentangle, I suggest that TISB is the gold standard of original writing based on Celtic and other world folk traditions. Fairport Convention, especially Sandy Denny may have written some great songs and Jansch and Renbourn of `The Pentangle' are probably greater instrumentalists, but TISB conveys a folkish charm that is truer to the great 1960's counterculture spirit than any other band.

After their ultimate album which is "Hangman's" it seems Heron & Williamson were more relaxed when recording this double album. It doesn't have the genius of its predecessor, but every song it contains is worth listening to, and there seems to be a real flow in the album: the atmospere of high summer is sustained throughout the album.

The album is obviously dominated by Williamson's extended song-poems. Some are great (Ducks on a Pond, Maya) while others seem to lack the strength to carry it through (Job's Tears). Heron's contributions are great fun and sound more like a "normal" pop song would do, but his lyrics are not as imaginative compared to Williamson's - but as the latter has but few equals in that area that is not a shameful thing.

As the album should be listened to as a whole, it does not make sense to take it apart song by song - it is simply a matter of liking it or not. A lot of listeners may be put off by the unusual instrumentation and the even more unusual use of voice, but it has a lot to offer, to say the least.

There is, though, one song I'd like to highlight, and it's "The circle is unbroken". It didn't particularly stick in my mind when I heard it on this album, but it most certainly did when I heard it on the album "BBC Radio 1 Live in concert" - it blew my mind then and it's now one of my all-time favourite songs.

Concluding, this album is a must-own for ISB-fans, on which Heron & Williamson make a great effort to return to the timeless beauty and genius of "Hangman's" - and, although they fail in that respect, it still is a classic in every sense. Hans Wigman

I tell you,they just don't make music that quirky and free and charmingly uplifting anymore.This band is about the farthest thing you could find from todays cookie cutter stlye of music.

This music feels like sunshine on your face on a cold day

I love this album as much as the first time I heard it in 1968, especially the song "You Get Brighter," which had special meaning for me.

This group from Scotland is one of the most original bands from the sixties. There was such a proliferation of quality groups both from the US and the UK during that period that these guys were mostly relegated to a hard core group of fans. Their sound is very difficult to summarize in words. There are shades of the Greatful Dead, Bob Dylan, and British folk music with an overlay of exotic instuments popular in the sixties, like the Indian sitar. The singing is a bit on the strange side, the lead seeming to go in and out of tune, almost like a snake charmer. But the whole ensemble works beautifully, although, listeners beware, they are an acquired taste. Over time, they grow on you. This is a free-spirited group - you can imagine them frolicking in the woods, almost Rennaisance Fair style.

Their almost magical music is not for everyone, but once you get over their initial "weirdness" you can't help loving them if you are a true sixties music fan.

I really like ISB, and I had the Wee Tam album in college and listened to it until I literally wore it out.

I hadn't known that it was part of a double album, released singly in the United States, so I was intrigued to find both available on CD.

Wee Tam is as good or better than I remember it. Going from folk to medieval to bluegrass, using unique instruments, it is evocative of other times and places.

Big Huge was okay, but I didn't find anything outstanding on it.

I'd recommend this definitely for Wee Tam.