Wee Tam and the Big Huge

Infobox Album |
Name = Wee Tam and the Big Huge


Type = Album
Artist = The Incredible String Band
Released = 1968
Recorded =
Genre = Psych folk
Length = 86:48
Label = Elektra / WEA
Producer = Joe Boyd
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dsz1z84ajyvj link]
Last album = "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" (1968)
This album = "Wee Tam and the Big Huge" (1968)
Next album = "Changing Horses" (1969)

"Wee Tam and the Big Huge" is the fourth album by the Incredible String Band, released in Europe as both a double LP and separate single LPs in November 1968. In the US, however, the two discs were released separately as "Wee Tam" and "The Big Huge".

The album is considered by many to be, along with the previous The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, the best work the band ever produced. Along with having very developed and poetic lyrics, the album is rich with eclectic and adept instrumentation and arrangement, with around 15 instruments being played consistently throughout the album, mainly by the two band members Robin Williamson and Mike Heron but also supported on a few tracks by Rose Simpson and Licorice McKechnie.

Williamson explained the title as follows:- "I saw a man with a huge big dog, [and] we knew somebody called Wee Tam, in Edinburgh. It seemed like it was a good idea in terms of one person looking up at the stars - Wee Tam and the Big Huge, just like the vastness of the universe."Adrian Whittaker (ed.), "Be Glad: The Incredible String Band Compendium", 2003, ISBN 1-900924-64-1]

Background

The Incredible String Band were fairly busy in the latter half of 1968. They began selling out large venues like the Fillmore and the Royal Albert Hall. In November of 1968, "Wee Tam And The Big Huge" was released. It was the band's most ambitious album to date, conceived as a double LP. The album reflected an even wider variety of influences than the previous two releases and was packed to overflowing with classic songs.The album was a first for the band in that it was recorded as an ensemble, i.e. with less overdubs than before and much more use of Rose Simpson and Licorice McKechnie, (girlfriends of the two respective songwriters at that time)."Adrian Whittaker (ed.), "Be Glad: The Incredible String Band Compendium", 2003, ISBN 1-900924-64-1]

Track listing

Disc one ("Wee Tam")

Side A
#"Job's Tears" (Williamson) - 6:40
#"Puppies" (Heron) - 5:30
#"Beyond the See" (Heron) - 2:16
#"The Yellow Snake" (Williamson) - 2:04
#"Log Cabin Home in the Sky" (Heron) - 4:00Side B
#"You Get Brighter" (Heron) - 5:44
#"The Half-Remarkable Question" (Williamson) - 5:01
#"Air" (Heron) - 3:12
#"Ducks on a Pond" (Williamson) - 9:17

Disc two ("The Big Huge")

Side A
#"Maya" (Williamson) - 9:24
#"Greatest Friend" (Heron) - 3:30
#"The Son of Noah's Brother" (Williamson) - 0:16
#"Lordly Nightshade" (Williamson) - 5:13
#"The Mountain of God" (Williamson) - 1:51Side B
#"Cousin Caterpillar" (Heron) - 5:15
#"The Iron Stone" (Williamson) - 6:33
#"Douglas Traherne Harding" (Heron) - 6:15
#"The Circle Is Unbroken" (Williamson) - 4:47

References