''Smiling Men with Bad Reputations'' is the 1971 solo debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Mike Heron James Michael Heron (born 27 December 1942) is a Scotland, Scottish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work in the Incredible String Band in the 1960s and 1970s. Career Heron was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and at ...

of the

Incredible String Band The Incredible String Band (sometimes abbreviated as ISB) were a Scottish psychedelic folk band formed by Clive Palmer (musician), Clive Palmer, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron in Edinburgh in 1966. The band built a considerable following, esp ...

(ISB). Listeners of The Incredible String Band can look here for what would be Heron's influence on future ISB albums. The trademark folk and Celtic style remained intact, but Heron added his own influences of

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

to the repertoire. This, more or less, was his attempt at creating a commercialized sound to his music. Tracks like "Feast of Stephen" are clear evidence that Heron desired to create rock-orientated pieces. Still, Heron had folk pieces with tracks like "Flowers of the Forest", with Richard Thompson on lead guitar. Heron's output would continue to show a trend in this direction for much of his solo career, and his remaining time with the ISB. "Warm Heart Pastry" finds Heron backed by

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Townsh ...

Keith Moon Keith John Moon (23 August 19467 September 1978) was an English drummer for the rock band the Who. He was noted for his unique style of playing and his eccentric, often self-destructive behaviour and addiction to drugs and alcohol. Moon grew ...

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, and

Ronnie Lane Ronald Frederick Lane (1 April 1946 – 4 June 1997) was an English musician and songwriter who is best known as the bass guitarist and founding member of Small Faces (1965–69) and subsequently Faces (1969–73). Lane formed Small Faces in ...

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(as Tommy & The Bijoux). The 1991 reissue features two bonus tracks, with

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...

guesting on "Lady Wonder" and

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

on "Make No Mistake".Smiling Men with Bad Reputations: Credits

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

. Retrieved 17 August 2013.

Track listing

All tracks on the original album composed by Mike Heron. #"Call Me Diamond" #"Flowers of the Forest" #"Audrey" #"Brindaban" #"Feast of Stephen" #"Spirit Beautiful" #"Warm Heart Pastry" #"Beautiful Stranger" #"No Turning Back" ''Smiling Men with Bad Reputations'' was remastered and reissued in 2004 with two bonus tracks:

"Make No Mistake" – 3:09
"Lady Wonder" – 4:20

Personnel

*Mike Heron - Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica *

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various styl ...

- Bass (3,5), Guitar (5), Vocals (5), Harmonium (3,8), Piano (5,8), Viola (5,7), Vocal Arrangement (5), Brass Arrangement (8) *

Dave Mattacks David James Mattacks (born 13 March 1948) is an English rock and folk drummer. Best known for his work with Fairport Convention, Mattacks has also worked both as a session musician and as a performing artist. Apart from playing the drums, he i ...

- Drums (2,10,11) *

Rose Simpson Rose Simpson (born 22 November 1946) is an English former musician. Between 1968 and 1971, she was a member of the Incredible String Band, with whom she played bass guitar, violin, percussion and sang. She later became Lady Mayoress of the Wel ...

- Bass (2) * Richard Thompson - Guitar (2) *

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his disti ...

- Organ (2) *

- Guitar (7) *

- Drums (7) *

- Bass (7) *

- Piano (10) *

- Guitar & slide guitar (11) *

Simon Nicol Simon John Breckenridge Nicol (born 13 October 1950) is an English guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He was a founding member of British folk rock group Fairport Convention and is the only founding member still in the ...

- Guitar (1,5) * Dave Pegg - Bass (1,10,11) *

Gerry Conway Gerard Francis Conway Thomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" ("Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, screenwriter, t ...

- Drums (5,8) * Tony Cox - VCS3 Synthesizer (8) *

Pat Donaldson Fotheringay was a short-lived British folk rock group, formed in 1970 by singer-songwriter and musician Sandy Denny on her departure from Fairport Convention. The band drew its name from her 1968 composition "Fotheringay" about Fotheringhay Ca ...

- Bass (8) * Dr. Strangely Strange - Backing Vocals (6) *

Sue Glover Sue and Sunny were a British vocal duo and session singers operating in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Although sisters, their stage names were Sue Glover and Sunny Leslie. For three years (1969-1972) they were members of British pop group The B ...

- Vocals (5) *Mike Kowalski - Drums (1) *

Sunny Leslie Sue and Sunny were a British vocal duo and session singers operating in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Although sisters, their stage names were Sue Glover and Sunny Leslie. For three years (1969-1972) they were members of British pop group The Bro ...

- Vocals (5) * Dudu Pukwana - Saxophone (1), Piano (1), Horn Arrangement (1) *Gerard Dott - Arrangement (4) *Liza Strike - Vocals (5) *Heather Wood - Vocals (6) *Vemu Mukunda - Veena (6) *Mohana Lakshmipathy - Veena (6) *Vshailendra - Tambura (6) *PR Money - Mridangam & Morsing (6) *Gordon Huntley - Steel guitar (10)

References

{{Authority control 1971 debut albums Albums produced by Joe Boyd Elektra Records albums