the hangman's beautiful daughter

The Incredible String Band employed multi-track recording and an array of instruments from around the world to produce this surreal and exotic volume of mystical and psychedelic folk.  The group had established themselves as pioneers of the counterculture with their first two albums, 'The Incredible String Band' and 'The 5000 Spirits or Layers of the Onion' and with their third album, 'The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter', they experimented even further with their eclectic sound.  

The sessions were produced by Joe Boyd and featured Robin Williamson on vocals, guitar, gimbri, penny whistle, percussion, pan pipe, piano, oud, mandolin, jaw harp, chahanai, water harp, and harmonica; and Mike Heron on vocals, sitar, Hammond organ, guitar, hammered dulcimer, and harpsichord; with Dolly Collins on flute organ, and piano; David Snell on harp; Licorice McKechnie on vocals and finger cymbals; and Richard Thompson, Judy Dyble, and Rose Simpson on vocals.  Williamson recalls:   "Back in the 60's, I was one of the first people to have a go at guitar tunings in a big way. A lot of the different instruments that I used with the Incredible String Band I couldn’t play very well, like instruments from Morocco [the gimbri] which I used just to make different noises. I have been fooling around a bit with tunings on the harp too. My harp has thirty four strings with a C on the low end. I tune it traditionally like a piano. But it doesn’t have all the black notes. You’ve got to set that up. It’s built by Triplet an American San Luis Obispo.”

'The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter' only made it to number one hundred and sixty one in the US; but it was nominated for a Grammy for In the UK, it was a huge hit, staying on the album chart for twenty seven weeks and peaking at number five.  Mike Heron says: "The hangman is death and the beautiful daughter is what comes after. Or you might say that the hangman is the past twenty years of our life and the beautiful daughter is now, what we are able to do after all these years. Or you can make up your own meaning - your interpretation is probably just as good as ours."



'The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter'
full album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgQuVeMOyAk


1. "Koeeoaddi There" 0:00  (Williamson)
2. "The Minotaur's Song" 4:50  (Williamson)
3. "Witches Hat" 8:12  (Williamson)
4. "A Very Cellular Song" 10:48 (Heron)
5. "Mercy I Cry City" 24:02 (Heron)
6. "Waltz of the New Moon" 26:50  (Williamson)
7. "The Water Song" 32:00  (Williamson)
8. "Three Is a Green Crown" 34:54  (Williamson)
9. "Swift As the Wind" 42:44 (Heron)
10. "Nightfall" 47:38  (Williamson)

the 5000 spirits or the layers of the onion

The Incredible String Band shrank from a trio to a duo and then expanded their sound with more exotic instrumentation and more musicians for the recording of this eclectic collection of British folk and Middle Eastern music. The band had broken up after the release of their eponymous debut; but Mike Heron and Robin Williamson later reunited without Clive Palmer. They toured together and developed a rivalry that fueled their songwriting. The songs on 'The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion' were composed in a small cottage in Glasgow; and their manager and producer Joe Boyd brought the duo into the Chelsea studio of engineer John Wood to record them on a four-track machine with Williamson on vocals, guitar, mandolin, oud, bowed and bass gimbri, flute, drums, and rattles; Heron on vocals, guitar, and harmonica; Williamson's girlfriend Licorice McKechnie on vocals and percussion; Pentangle's Danny Thompson on double bass; John Hopkins on piano; and Soma AKA Nazir Jairazbhoy on sitar and tamboura.

Boyd said: "Mike and Robin were Clive's friends rather than each other's. Without him as a buffer, they developed a robust dislike for one another. Fortunately, the quality and quantity of their songwriting was roughly equal. Neither would agree to the inclusion of a new song by the other unless he could impose himself on it by arranging the instruments and working out all the harmonies."





The sound was influenced by Williamson's excursion to Morocco. He had brought back several local instruments with him. They helped to provide a unique musical blend that combines their traditional folk with various international vibrations and the mystical lyrics only add to the head trip. 'The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion' features dissonant raga experimentations and acoustic blues transportations that were an influential part of the summer of love and the psychedelic album cover was done by Dutch design collective The Fool.







http://www.mikeheron.co.uk/

http://www.pigswhiskermusic.co.uk/

'Painting Box' 






'First Girl I Loved' 











'The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion'
full album:

Side A

1. "Chinese White"   Mike Heron 3:40

2. "No Sleep Blues"   Robin Williamson 3:53

3. "Painting Box"   Heron 4:04

4. "The Mad Hatter's Song"   Williamson 5:40

5. "Little Cloud"   Heron 4:05

6. "The Eyes of Fate"   Williamson 4:02

Side B

1. "Blues for the Muse"   Williamson 2:49

2. "The Hedgehog's Song"   Heron 3:30

3. "First Girl I Loved"   Williamson 4:55

4. "You Know What You Could Be"   Heron 2:46

5. "My Name Is Death"   Williamson 2:46

6. "Gently Tender"   Heron 4:49

7. "Way Back in the 1960s"   Williamson 3:11

incredible string band

The Incredible String Band came strumming and plucking out of the lowlands with their most straightforward album of eclectic, acoustic grace. This eponymous debut was their only album with the original trio of Robin Williamson, Clive Palmer, and Mike Heron. 'The Incredible String Band' was produced by Joe Boyd, who discovered the band in a club in Edinburgh; and the multitude of stringed instruments provide a traditional flavor to their cosmic freak folk. 'Melody Maker' named it "Folk Album of the Year". The band broke up after recording the album, with Palmer traveling to Afghanistan and India, Williamson leaving for Morocco, and Heron staying in Edinburgh. Months later, Heron and Williamson re-formed the band as a duo.

'October Song' was composed by Robin Williamson

'Everything's Fine Right Now' was composed by Mike Heron

'Empty Pocket Blues' was composed by Clive Palmer

'Good As Gone' was composed by Robin Williamson

'How Happy I Am' was composed by Mike Heron

'Dandelion Blues' was composed by Robin Williamson

'Maybe Someday' was composed by Mike Heron