The Incredible String Band – “Wee Tam and The Big Huge” (1)

Pink Floyd and The Incredible String Band.

The Incredible String Band.

At this point, for me, the story gets very interesting.

You recall, perhaps, that I had a chum at school who had a really hip elder brother, and from him I had learned that the ISB had released an album called “Wee Tam and The Big Huge”, and I think I knew from the start that it was a double LP. The period 1968 to 1970 was a classic one for such things, starting with The Beatles’ “White” album, Pentangle’s “Sweet Child” and Cream’s “Wheels of Fire”, all in 1968, “Ummagumma” of course, the current topic on the Pink Floyd alternation, in 1969, and in 1970 the Byrds’ “Untitled” and the ISB’s “U”. With the exception only of the White album and “U”, all these doubles comprised a studio LP and a live LP. And, of course, there was also in 1968 “Wee Tam & The Big Huge”.

In the very early days of 1972, I was browsing through the LP racks in a record shop in Sheffield UK, I think it was Bradleys or Wilson Peck, when to my shocked amazement I found this:

Yes, the front cover set out the lyrics, and it was an ISB LP called “The Big Huge”! I was utterly at a loss to understand what was going on, but of course I bought it, and was indeed delighted with the music on it. Anyway,this was the back cover: