''The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter'' is the third

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

by the Scottish

psychedelic folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music, psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of contemporary folk music, folk, but adds musical el ...

group, The Incredible String Band (ISB), and was released in March 1968 on

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

(''see''

1968 in music List of notable events in music that took place in the year 1968. Specific locations *1968 in British music * 1968 in Norwegian music Specific genres *1968 in country music * 1968 in jazz Events *January 4 – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is jail ...

). It saw the band continuing its development of the elements of psychedelic folk and enlarging on past themes, a process they had begun on their previous album, ''

The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion ''The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion'' is the second album by the Scottish psychedelic folk group, The Incredible String Band (ISB), and was released in July 1967 on Elektra Records (''see'' 1967 in music). The album was recorded follow ...

''. Instrumentally, it was the ISB's most complex and experimental album to date, featuring a wide array of exotic instruments. In addition, the album captured the band utilising multi-tracks and

overdubbing Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

. Upon release, the album peaked at number five on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

and number 161 on the ''Billboard'' Top LP's listings in America, becoming the group's highest charting album in both countries.Whitburn, Joel; ''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums'', 1955–1996; p. 366. The album brought critical and financial success for the band, including their first solo tour and a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nomination. It was considered their most ambitious work to date and had a large impact on the psychedelic folk genre.

Background

In December 1967, the band completed their ''Hangman's Beautiful Daughter'' album at Sound Techniques in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...

. For the ISB's developments, they attempted to recreate as vividly as possible a live performance of their compositions. Lyrically, the compositions reflected upon past themes of life, mythology, and religious properties in a free musical structure,

esotericism Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas ...

becoming a consistent anchor in their recordings.Adrian Whittaker (ed.), ''Be Glad: The Incredible String Band Compendium'', 2003, The album features a series of vividly dreamlike Robin Williamson songs, such as "The

Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur ( , ;. grc, ; in Latin as ''Minotaurus'' ) is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "p ...

's Song", a surreal music-hall parody sung from the point of view of the mythical beast. Its centrepiece is Mike Heron's " A Very Cellular Song", a 13-minute reflection on life, love, and amoebas, whose complex structure incorporates a Bahamian spiritual ("I Bid You Goodnight", originally recorded by the Pinder Family). The last part of "A Very Cellular Song", "May the Long Time Sun Shine", is sometimes wrongly referred to as a Sikh hymn or an Irish blessing, but is in fact an original song written by Mike Heron. The album's layered production style employs multitrack recording techniques Joe Boyd, ''White Bicycles'', 2005, and a wide array of instruments from across the world, including

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form ...

, gimbri, shenai, oud,

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

, panpipes and kazoo.

Artwork and title

The album's cover art – which on original LP issues was the back cover, as the front showed just Williamson and Heron – consists of a photograph taken on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

1967. It shows both musicians with band members

Licorice McKechnie Christina 'Licorice' McKechnie (born 2 October 1945) is a Scottish musician. She was a singer and songwriter in The Incredible String Band between 1968 and 1972. Her whereabouts have been publicly unknown since 1987, when she was last seen hit ...

and Rose Simpson, friends Roger Marshall and Nicky Walton, several children of their friend Mary Stewart, and Robin's dog Leaf. Regarding the title, Mike Heron said at the time: "The hangman is death and the beautiful daughter is what comes after. Or you might say that the hangman is the past twenty years of our life and the beautiful daughter is now, what we are able to do after all these years. Or you can make up your own meaning – your interpretation is probably just as good as ours."

Commercial performance

Owing largely to the band gaining much airplay from famous DJ

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

, ''The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter'' was a major commercial success in the UK, staying in the charts for 21 weeks with a peak of number 5. In the US, the ISB always remained underground and the album struggled to number 161 during a two-month chart run. It was nominated for a

in the folk music category.

Legacy and influence

''The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter'' has been widely acclaimed by many critics. It was voted number 406 in the third edition of

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the '' Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by '' The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along w ...

's ''

All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the '' Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by t ...

'' (2000). It appears at number 88 in Joe S. Harrington's ''Top 100 Albums'' and was listed by Keenan in ''The Best Albums Ever...Honest''. In its entry in Robert Dimery's book '' 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'',

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born theatre and film director, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he is regarded as one of the most pr ...

describes the album as "a potent seed of the current 'world music' movement", adding: " 'The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter''revealed a sustained grandeur of vision, lyrics, and musicality that the group were never to approach again … Each track is closer to a suite than a song, as Celtic folk, rock 'n' roll, gospel, plainsong harmonies, near qwaali moments, and North African and Indian sonics all drift effortlessly before the ears." In the February 2016 edition of UNCUT magazine it was placed 98th in the top 100 Albums of All Time. The artwork has been referenced on the cover to

David Keenan David Keenan (born April 1971) is a Scottish writer and author of four novels. Career He used to run the Glasgow record shop, distribution company and record label Volcanic Tongue. Journalism His work for ''The Wire'' (who he wrote for from ...

's book ''England's Hidden Reverse'', Current 93's album cover to their LP Earth Covers Earth, Devendra Banhart's '' Cripple Crow'' LP, and Feathers' eponymous debut.

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following th ...

credited ''The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter'' with influencing the direction of

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ...

's first album. " A Very Cellular Song" was adopted as a closing prayer by

Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Harbhajan Singh Khalsa (born Harbhajan Singh Puri) (August 26, 1929 – October 6, 2004), also known as Yogi Bhajan and Siri Singh Sahib to his followers, was an Indian-born American entrepreneur, yoga guru, and spiritual teacher. He introduc ...

’s

kundalini yoga Kundalini yoga () derives from '' kundalini'', defined in tantra as energy that lies within the body, frequently at the navel or the base of the spine. In normative tantric systems kundalini is considered to be dormant until it is activated ( ...

students during the 1960s. The amoeba section of "A Very Cellular Song" was covered by actor

Nigel Planer Nigel George Planer (born 22 February 1953) is a British actor, comedian, musician, novelist and playwright. He played Neil in the BBC comedy '' The Young Ones'' and Ralph Filthy in '' Filthy Rich & Catflap''. He has appeared in many West End ...

, in character as "Neil the Hippy" from the UK television show '' The Young Ones'', on his 1984 LP '' Neil's Heavy Concept Album''.

Track listing

Personnel

*Robin Williamson –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

, gimbri,

penny whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteri ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

pan pipe A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, oud,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...

, jaw harp, chahanai, water harp,

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

*Mike Heron – vocals,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated ...

, guitar,

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion- stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more tr ...

* Dolly Collins – flute organ, piano * David Snell –

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orc ...

– vocals, finger cymbals * Richard Thompson – vocals on "The Minotaur's Song" * Judy Dyble – vocals on "The Minotaur's Song"

Chart positions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hangmans Beautiful Daughter, The The Incredible String Band albums 1968 albums Elektra Records albums Albums produced by Joe Boyd