THE BIG HUGE

The Incredible String Band followed up The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter with a double album (Wee Tam and the Big Huge) which was also released as two single albums - again following a trail blazed by Donovan, who'd taken a similar marketing route with A Gift From a Flower To a Garden.

Whilst Wee Tam showed a gentler side of the String Band than The 5000 Spirits or Hangman's Beautiful Daughter had showcased, things perk up on The Big Huge. The sound is livelier, more varied, and the diverse religious content more apparent, from the opening Maya providing a long sitar-laden exploration of the Buddhist concept to the concluding The Circle Is Unbroken, a sort of response to the classic spiritual Will The Circle Be Unbroken?, whilst along the way it visits quirky territory like Cousin Caterpillar. If Wee Tam was presenting a distinct sound of its own, separate from 5000 Layers and Hangman's Daughter, The Big Huge ends up blending the sound all three together to present a final, definitive statement of the band's most consistent years.

In general, both halves of the double album are more or less on a par with each other; shortly after recording the material the String Band would go on the fateful US tour during which they would be introduced to Scientology, prompting a shift in their worldview which coincided with a shift in their artistic approach and more mixed results.