| 1. Job's Tears |
| 2. Puppies |
| 3. Beyond The See |
| 4. The Yellow Snake |
| 5. Log Cabin Home In The Sky |
| 6. You Get Brighter |
| 7. The Half-Remarkable Question |
| 8. Air |
| 9. Ducks On A Pond |
Wee Tam,Incredible String Band,Folk
Average customer rating:
|
Wee Tam / Big Huge
Incredible String Band Manufacturer: Collector's Choice ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00006BC50 Release Date: 2002-09-10 |
Tracks:
- Job's Tears
- Puppies
- Beyond The See
- The Yellow Snake
- Log Cabin Home In The Sky
- You Get Brighter
- The Half-Remarkable Question
- Air
- Ducks On A Pond
Tracks:
- Maya
- Greatest Friend
- The Son Of Noah's Brother
- Lordly Nightshade
- The Mountain Of God
- Cousin Caterpillar
- The Iron Stone
- Douglas Traherne Harding
- The Circle Is Unbroken
Product Description
Disc 1: Wee Tam:
1. Job's Tears
2. Puppies
3. Beyond The See
4. Yellow Snake, The
5. Log Cabin Home In The Sky
6. You Get Brighter
7. Half-Remarkable Question, The
8. Air
9. Ducks On A Pond
Disc 2: The Big Huge:
1. Maya
2. Greatest Friend
3. Son Of Noah's Brother, The
4. Lordly Nightshade
5. Mountain Of God, The
6. Cousin Caterpillar
7. Iron Stone, The
8. Douglas Traherne Harding
9. Circle Is Unbroken, The
Format: CD
Customer Reviews:
SOME OF ISB'S BEST MADE BETTER STILL.......2006-08-06
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.
TISB-Wee Tam/Big Huge.......2006-02-22
Wee Tam and the Big Huge.......2005-08-10
The ISB at their very, very best in this SINGLE album.......2005-06-03
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.
A High Water Mark of the ISB.......2003-12-16
Average customer rating:
|
Wee Tam
The Incredible String Band Manufacturer: Elektra ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000026G3E |
Tracks:
- Job's Tears
- Puppies
- Beyond the See
- Yellow Snake
- Log Cabin Home in the Sky
- You Get Brighter
- Half-Remarkable Question
- Air
- Ducks on a Pond
Customer Reviews:
The Very Best of The Incredible String Band.......2005-06-03
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.
Glorious and Mystical.......2004-10-05
BRILLIANT WORDS AND WORLDS.......2002-05-22
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.
still good after all these years.......2001-12-01
O I REMEMBER IT ALL FROM BEFORE..........2001-11-29
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.
Average customer rating:
|
Wee Tam/Big Huge
The Incredible String Band Manufacturer: Hannibal ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00000064M Release Date: 1994-10-18 |
Tracks:
- Job's Tears
- Puppies
- Beyond The See
- The Yellow Snake
- Log Cabin Home In The Sky
- You Get Brighter
- The Half-Remarkable Question
- Air
- Ducks On The Pond
Tracks:
- Maya
- Greatest Friend
- The Son Of Noah's Brother
- Lordly Nightshade
- The Mountain Of God
- Cousin Caterpillar
- The Iron Stone
- Douglas Tranherne Harding
- The Circle Is Unbroken
Customer Reviews:
The Very Best of The Incredible String Band.......2005-06-03
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.
Glorious and Mystical.......2004-10-05
BRILLIANT WORDS AND WORLDS.......2002-05-22
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.
still good after all these years.......2001-12-01
O I REMEMBER IT ALL FROM BEFORE..........2001-11-29
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.
Average customer rating: |
Wee Tam
The Incredible String Band Manufacturer: Universal ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B000GALE2C Release Date: 2006-09-04 |
Tracks:
- Job's Tears
- Puppies
- Beyond The Sea
- Yellow Snake
- Log Cabin In The Sky
- You Get Brighter
- Half Remarkable Question
- Air
- Ducks On A Pond
Album Description
Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this 1968 album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve featuring one bonus track.. 2006.Album Details
Japanese Digitally Remastered Limited Edition Issue of the Album Classic in a Deluxe, Miniaturized LP Sleeve Replica of the Original Vinyl Album Artwork.Music Album:
