U

The Incredible String Band always thought big. Their greatest ambitions were stunted by the requirements of the vinyl LP, so it’s no surprise that some of their finest work came out as multiple LPs. Wee Tam was divided into two LPs in the U.S., with The Big Huge serving as the second LP. But U was issued as a double set that fit together all the pieces of the ISB puzzle . The songs were again split by Robin Williamson and Mike Heron, with Janet Shankman contributing the sing-along “Bad Sadie Lee” and Christina “Liqourice” McKechnie bringing forth the quiet and tender “I Know You.” Heron’s two-punch of “Light In Time of Darkness/ Glad to See You” reflects the kind of open-flowing songwriting that was also successfully attempted by Tim Buckley. Robin Williamson’s “Robot Blues,” “Puppet Song” and “Cutting the Strings” are nods to a variety of musical styles from honky-tonk blues to ragamuffin folk tunes and elegiac, otherworldly incantations. The fifteen-minute “Rainbow” features soothing flute and piano and ends the album, which served as the soundtrack to their stage show, “A Surreal Parable In Song and Dance.”