Formation as a trio: 1965–66 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. Later in the year, the duo decided to fill out their sound by adding a third member, initially to play rhythm guitar. After an audition, local rock musician
Mike Heron won the slot. The trio took the name "the Incredible String Band". Early in 1966, Palmer began running an all-night folk club, Clive's Incredible Folk Club, on the fourth floor of a building in
Sauchiehall Street in
Glasgow, where they became the house band. When Boyd returned in his new role as head of Elektra's London office, he signed them up for an album, beating off a rival bid from
Transatlantic Records. They recorded their first album, entitled
The Incredible String Band, at the
Sound Techniques studio in London in May 1966. The trio broke up after recording the album. In early 1967, they performed regularly at London clubs, including
Les Cousins. Joe Boyd became the group's manager as well as producer and secured a place for them at the
Newport Folk Festival, on a bill with
Joni Mitchell and
Leonard Cohen. The duo were always credited as separate writers, maintaining their individual creative identities, rather than working as a writing partnership. Boyd wrote, "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 Hangman's Beautiful Daughter and Wee Tam and the Big Huge'': 1968 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'' (issued as two separate albums in the US). 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. described how he was inadvertently responsible for their "conversion" when he introduced the band to Simons, who, having become a Scientologist, persuaded them to enrol in his absence. The band's support for Scientology over the next few years was controversial among some fans and seemed to coincide with what many saw as the beginning of a decline in the quality of their work. In an interview with
Oz magazine in 1969, the band spoke enthusiastically of their involvement with it, although the question of its effect on their later albums has provoked much discussion ever since. Their November 1968 album
Wee Tam and the Big Huge, recorded before the US trip, was musically less experimental and lush than ''Hangman's'' but conceptually even more avant-garde, a full-on engagement with the themes of mythology, religion, awareness and identity. Williamson's otherworldly songs and vision dominate the album, though Heron's more grounded tracks are also among his best, and the contrast between the two perspectives gives the record its uniquely dynamic interplay between a sensual experience of life and a quest for metaphysical meaning. The record was released as a
double album and also simultaneously as two separate LPs, a strategy which lessened its impact on the charts. It was on this album that Mike Heron's then-girlfriend,
Rose Simpson, began contributing musically to the band in the studio, with both she and Licorice McKechnie providing backing vocals, organ, guitar and percussion among other instruments. Despite her initially rudimentary skills, Simpson swiftly became a proficient bass guitarist, and some of McKechnie's songs were recorded by the band. In August, they were slotted to play on Friday when all the folk-oriented and acoustic acts were expected to perform. However, the band refused to perform in the pouring rain, so stage manager John Morris rescheduled their performance for the following day. Their open slot was taken by
Melanie, whose showing inspired her song, "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)". The following day, 16 August 1969, at approximately 6:30 p.m., the band played in between the
Keef Hartley Band and
Canned Heat. The crowd was not anticipating the band's performance on a day that featured mainly hard rock acts. For that reason, the group was generally disfavoured and, perhaps more importantly, were not included in the filming of the festival. Over the
Labor Day weekend in 1969, they appeared at the
Texas International Pop Festival, in
Lewisville, Texas. In November, they released the album
Changing Horses, which was generally seen as a disappointment after their earlier work. By late 1969, they had established a communal base at Glen Row near
Innerleithen. In April 1970 they released the album
I Looked Up. The ISB's performances were more theatrical than those of most of their contemporaries. In addition to the spectacle of their exotic instruments and colourful stage costumes, their concerts sometimes featured poems, surreal sketches and dancers, all in the homegrown, non-showbiz style characteristic of the hippie era. In 1970, Robin Williamson, with little input from Heron, attempted to fuse the music with his theatrical fantasies in a quixotic multimedia spectacular at
London's Roundhouse called "U", which he envisaged as "a surreal parable in dance and song". It combined the band's music with dancing by the Stone Monkey troupe, which had evolved out of Exploding Galaxy, the letter U representing a transition from a high level of spiritual awareness to a low, then returning to a final peak of awareness and communication. Although the performance was ambitious, critical response was mixed, with some harsh reviews from critics who had in some cases acclaimed their earlier work. It fared little better in New York, and a planned US tour of "U" had to be cancelled after a few performances at the
Fillmore East. Joe Boyd described the show as "a disaster".
Diminishing returns: 1971–74 After that, the group lasted another four years, although there was a gradual decline in their status and commercial success after 1970. Joe Boyd, whose skillful handling of the band had contributed much to their international success, stopped managing them and returned to the US. The group left Elektra Records and signed with
Island, for whom they recorded five albums. The first was a soundtrack to the
"Be Glad..." film, and this was followed by the eclectic
Liquid Acrobat as Regards the Air, regarded as their best album for some time. The band continued to tour and record. Rose Simpson left in 1971 and was replaced by Malcolm Le Maistre, formerly of the Stone Monkey troupe. Mike Heron took time out to record a well-received solo album,
Smiling Men with Bad Reputations, which, in contrast to the ISB's self-contained productions, featured a host of session guests, among them
Pete Townshend,
Ronnie Lane,
Keith Moon,
John Cale and
Richard Thompson. The following year, Licorice McKechnie left, and was replaced by
Gerard Dott, an Edinburgh jazz musician and friend of both Heron and Williamson who had contributed to
Smiling Men. Williamson also recorded a solo album,
Myrrh, which featured some of his most extraordinary vocal performances. The group's changing lineup, adding Stan Schnier (aka "Stan Lee") on bass, Jack Ingram on drums, and Graham Forbes on electric guitar, reflected moves toward a more conventional amplified rock group. Their final albums for Island were received disappointingly, and the label dropped them in 1974. By then, disagreements between Williamson and Heron about musical policy had become irreconcilable, and they split up in October 1974.
Solo careers: 1974–2014 Williamson soon formed Robin Williamson and His Merry Band, which toured and released three albums of eclectic music with a
Celtic emphasis. Within a few years, he went on to a solo career, moving between traditional Celtic styles and more avant-garde material. He also produced several recordings of humorous stories. In all, Williamson released over forty albums post-ISB. Notable in this output are the Grammy-nominated
Wheel of Fortune (1995, with John Renbourn) and four records on the jazz/classical/avant-garde ECM label:
The Seed-at-Zero (2000),
Skirting the River Road (2002),
The Iron Stone (2006), and
Trusting in the Rising Light (2014). Heron formed a rock group with Malcolm Le Maistre, called first Mike Heron's Reputation, then just Heron, and later released occasional solo albums. Malcolm Le Maistre continued teaching in schools and performing theatre and music, and he released two albums.
Reunion and final separation: 1999–2006 In 1997, Williamson and Heron got back together for two concerts, which were warmly received. This was followed by a full reunion of the original three members plus Williamson's wife,
Bina, and Lawson Dando in 1999. However, they did not recapture the high reputation of the original ISB, playing mostly small venues to mixed critical and audience responses. In March 2003, it was announced that Robin and Bina Williamson had "temporarily" left to pursue other projects and their solo careers. Rumours circulated of an acrimonious split. A long-standing agreement between Williamson and Heron that neither would use the name 'Incredible String Band' without the other's involvement was bypassed by a temporary re-branding as 'incrediblestringband2003'. Heron, Palmer and Dando, and new member Clare "Fluff" Smith, continued to tour regularly around the United Kingdom and internationally. Heron, Dando and Palmer toured the US in 2004. Another live album was released in 2005. Their last concert together was at the Moseley Folk Festival, Birmingham, UK, in September 2006.
Barbican: 2009 In 2009, Heron and Palmer announced a concert entitled "Very Cellular Songs: The Music of the Incredible String Band" at
The Barbican, featuring
Richard Thompson,
Danny Thompson,
Robyn Hitchcock,
Alasdair Roberts,
Trembling Bells,
Green Gartside, and
Dr Strangely Strange. ==Musical style==