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Members include Mike Heron (born December 12, 1942, Glasgow,Scotland), vocals, guitar, sitar, organ, dulcimer, harpsichord, recorder, harmonica, percussion; Robin Williamson(born November 24, 1943, Glasgow, Scotland), vocals, guitars, sitar, oud, flute, gimbri, sarangi, chahanai, whistle, bass, violin, piano, organ, percussion. Other members includeGerald Dott, (joined, 1972), clarinet, sax; Graham Forbes,(joined, 1974), guitar; Jack Ingram, (joined, 1973), drums; StanLee, (joined, 1973), drums; Malcolm LeMaistre (joined, 1970), bass, vocals; Christina McKenzie, (joined, 1967, left, 1970), violin, keyboards; Clive Palmer, (joined, 1965, left, 1966) vocals,guitar, banjo; Rose Simpson, (joined, 1968, left, 1970), bass,percussion.

The Incredible String Band were one of the most engaging groups to emerge from the esoteric 1960s. Comprising the duo of Mike Heron and Robin Williamson, its sound was haunting Celtic folk melodies augmented by a variety of Middle Eastern and Asian instruments. In The British Invasion,Nicholas Schaffner describes them thusly, "Take two exceptionally talented purveyors of traditionalmusic from Scotland, immerse them in an underground cauldron of occult secrets, Eastern spells,and LSD in Swinging Sixties London, and you have an approximation of what The Incredible StringBand were about."

Mike Heron was a member of several rock bands in England in the early 1960s, while RobinWilliamson and Clive Palmer played as a bluegrass and Scottish folk duo. Heron was asked to joinas rhythm guitarist, and the trio began playing as The Incredible String Band. The band was spottedat a club by Joe Boyd, who was opening a British wing of Elektra Records. The trio gave Boyd ademo tape of mostly American bluegrass standards with a few original songs at the end. Boydrecalled to Melody Maker, "[The original songs] blew up my mind. Immediately I forgot aboutbluegrass and started planning an album of original material."

The Incredible String Band, released in 1966, featured mostly original numbers enthusiasticallyplayed in American and Celtic folk styles. Following the album's release, Williamson spent severalmonths studying music in Morocco, and Palmer left the band to travel to Afghanistan. For the StringBand's second album, The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers of the Onion, exotic touches such as theMiddle Eastern oud or Indian sitars and tambouras began to permeate the Incredibles' sound. Theband's lyrics also became more whimsical; highlights include Williamson's tale of insomnia, "NoSleep Blues," and Heron's amorous "Painting Box."

The press raved about The Incredible String Band. A Melody Maker review of a liveperformance in 1967 stated, "Their songs, backed by guitars, sitars, gimbri, drums, rattles, andbattery-driven mini-organ, range from the beautiful to the bizarre and from weird to whimsical. Yetthey are all impressive individually in one way or another and the Incredibles are two of the mostoriginal and exciting songwriters on any scene."

Flirted with Commercial Success

The 1968 album The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter was Incredible String Band's briefflirtation with stardom. Although the music was less commercial than its predecessor, it reached thetop ten in the British album charts and was also the group's highest Billboard chart placing inAmerica. The songs became less structured, as the opening "Koeeoaddi There," which changedtempo frequently as it cascaded joyously with sitars and jaw harp. The album's centerpiece, "A VeryCellular Song," was a suite of short pieces sewn together with the folk song "Bid You Goodnight."

For Wee Tam and The Big Huge, The Incredible String Band was augmented by Williamson andHeron's girlfriends Licorice McKenzie and Rose Simpson. The group also began to electricallyamplify its instruments. This expanded lineup performed at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, but dueto circumstances was not one of the band's most memorable performances. The Incredibles' slot wasoriginally to be Friday night after Joan Baez, however, due to heavy rain, the band opted not toperform. Manager Joe Boyd recalls on the String Band web site, "I [told them], 'you don't knowwhat's going to happen - you may never get on stage' but they wanted to wait for the rain to stop andso someone else went on - Melanie - who triumphed in that slot and wrote 'Candles In The Rain'about that exact moment! ... It sort of haunted me, that moment because I should have pushed - justdragged them to the stage and said 'forget the amps, just play acoustically.' ... We ended up goingon the following afternoon after Canned Heat in the baking sun. People were ready for somethingheavy and loud and they came on and just - died."

At the turn of the seventies, The Incredible String Band began to lose some of its momentum.The album Changing Horses was not as engaging as the band's previous collections, and the group'seclecticism became a liability rather than an asset. A 1971 concert review in Melody Maker statedthat, "Curiously, although Mike Heron and Robin Williamson have been together with varioussatellites since before the days of [British psychedelic club] the U.F.O., when they first really madetheir name, the moods and form of their music, far from coalescing and solidifying, have fragmentedand become even more diverse.... They have always been a band eager to draw on all sources, butthis eclecticism, I think, is being taken too far."

Eclecticism Toned Down

Joined by bassist and pantomimist Malcolm LeMaistre in 1971, The Incredible String Band'sproject entitled U was a well-received stage show that did not translate as easily to record. The bandmade the transition to electric rock 'n roll in 1972. Mike Heron explained the change in sound toMelody Maker, "[When the band first started], we couldn't have a big orchestra ... so the way to doit was to colour a song ... we learned to play a basic amount of a certain instrument to give the colourof that instrument to a song. Now what we tend to do is use slightly more conventional instrumentsand try to get the music, since we're slightly more technically advanced now than nine years ago....We don't use quite so many weird instruments now."

In 1974, following the album Hard Rope And Silken Twine, The Incredible String Banddisbanded. Both founding members had prolific solo careers; Heron's took him in a rock direction,while Williamson explored his Celtic roots. For several years the band was seen as a datedanachronism. Recently, with the resurgence in interest the psychedelic 1960s as well as "world"music, The Incredible String Band's music has been rediscovered by new audiences won over byits mystical charm.

by Jim Powers

Incredible String Band's Career

Formed in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1965; recorded first album Incredible String Band forElektra, 1966; appeared at Newport Folk Festival, 1967; appeared at Woodstock Festival, 1969;recorded Be Glad For The Song Has No Ending for Island, 1970; appeared in film Rehearsal, 1974;disbanded, 1974.

Famous Works

Recent Updates

August 10, 2004: The Incredible String Band's albums, Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending and Liquid Acrobat, were re-released as a double album. Source: Billboard.com, www.billboard.com/bb/releases/week_6/index.jsp, August 11, 2004.

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