The Incredible String Band

“The Incredible String Band (sometimes abbreviated as ISB) were a British psychedelic folk band formed by Clive Palmer, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron in Edinburgh in 1966. The band built a considerable following, especially in the British counterculture, notably with their albums The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion, The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter, and Wee Tam and the Big Huge. They became pioneers in psychedelic folk and, through integrating a wide variety of traditional music forms and instruments, in the development of world music. Following Palmer’s early departure, Williamson and Heron performed as a duo, later augmented by other musicians. The band split up in 1974. … In 1963, acoustic musicians Robin Williamson and Clive Palmer began performing together as a traditional folk duo in Edinburgh, particularly at a weekly club run by Archie Fisher in the Crown Bar which also regularly featured Bert Jansch. There they were seen in August 1965 by Joe Boyd, then working as a talent scout for the influential folk-based label Elektra Records. … In July, they released their second album, The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion, accompanied by Pentangle‘s Danny Thompson on double bass and Licorice on vocals and percussion. The album demonstrated considerable musical development and a more unified ISB sound. It displayed their abilities as multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters, and gained them much wider acclaim. … 1968 was the band’s annus mirabilis with the release of their two most-celebrated albums, The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter and the double LP Wee Tam and the Big Huge . … A departure from the band’s previous albums, the set relied heavily on a more layered production, with imaginative use of the then new multitrack recording techniques. The album featured a series of vividly dreamlike Williamson songs, such as ‘The Minotaur’s Song’, a surreal music-hall parody told from the point of view of the mythical beast, and its centrepiece was Heron’s ‘A Very Cellular Song‘, a 13-minute reflection on life, love and amoebas, its complex structure incorporating a Bahamian spiritual (‘I Bid You Goodnight’). Williamson and Heron in this album had added their girlfriends, Licorice McKechnie and Rose Simpson, to the band to contribute additional vocals and various instruments, including organ, guitar and percussion. …”
Wikipedia
BBC: An incredible journey with the Incredible String Band
Forced Exposure
Discogs (Video)
amazon, Apple
YouTube: The Incredible String Band on the Julie Felix Show UK TV 1968, Koeeoadi There, Painting Box, all writ down, Three Is A Green Crown, October Song (Live on Dutch TV 1967), ISB Black Jack Davy
YouTube: The Incredible String Band – Topic – 1 / 131, The Incredible String Band (full album), The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion (full album), Wee Tam and the Big Huge (full album)