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

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by Scottish

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

group

the Incredible String Band The Incredible String Band (sometimes abbreviated as ISB) were a British psychedelic folk band formed by Clive Palmer (musician), Clive Palmer, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron in Edinburgh in 1966. Following Palmer's early departure, Williamso ...

(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 ja ...

). 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). It was released in July 1967 on Elektra Records. The album was recorded following the reformation of the ...

''. 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 Music track, tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto o ...

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

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

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, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

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 Sound Techniques was a recording studio in Chelsea, London that was operational between 1965 and 1976. Housed in a former dairy, it was founded by recording engineers Geoff Frost and John Wood. The studio became well known as the place where ma ...

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an area in West London, England, due south-west of Kilometre zero#Great Britain, Charing Cross by approximately . It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the SW postcode area, south-western p ...

. 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 Esotericism may refer to: * Eastern esotericism, a broad range of religious beliefs and practices originating from the Eastern world, characterized by esoteric, secretive, or occult elements * Western esotericism, a wide range of loosely related id ...

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 Robin Duncan Harry Williamson (born 24 November 1943) is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and storyteller who was a founding member of the Incredible String Band. Career Williamson lived in the Fairmilehead area of Edinbu ...

songs, such as "The

Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (, ''Mīnṓtauros''), also known as Asterion, 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 "par ...

's Song", a surreal music-hall parody sung from the point of view of the mythical beast. Its centrepiece is

Mike Heron James Michael Heron (born 27 December 1942) is a 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 attended t ...

'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 Joe Boyd (born August 5, 1942) is an American record producer and writer. He formerly owned Hannibal Records. Boyd has worked with Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny who was in Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, The ...

, ''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 the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

gimbri The sintir (), also known as the guembri (), gimbri, hejhouj in Hausa language, is a three stringed skin-covered bass guitar, bass plucked lute used by the Gnawa people of Morocco. It is approximately the size of a guitar, with a body carved fro ...

shenai Shenoy is a surname from coastal Karnataka and Goa in India. It is found among Hindus of the Goud Saraswat Brahmin community following Smartha Sampradaya of Kavale Matha or Madhva Sampradaya of either Gokarna Matha or Kashi Matha. T ...

, oud,

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

panpipes 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 ...

and

kazoo The kazoo is a musical instrument that adds a ''buzzing'' timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (itself a membranophone), one of a class of instruments that modify the player's v ...

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 liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...

1967. It shows both musicians with band members Licorice McKechnie 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), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

, ''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 music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', and edited th ...

'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 the ...

'' (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 ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music criti ...

'',

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his radically innovative and avant-gard ...

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 five novels. Career He used to run the Glasgow record shop, distribution company and record label Volcanic Tongue. Journalism His work for ''The Wire'' (for whom he wrote f ...

's book ''England's Hidden Reverse'',

Current 93 Current 93 are an English experimental music group, founded in 1982 by David Tibet. Much of Current 93's early work was similar to late 1970s and early 1980s industrial music: abrasive tape loops, droning synthesizer noises and Tibet's distorte ...

's album cover to their LP Earth Covers Earth,

Devendra Banhart Devendra Obi Banhart (born May 30, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Texas and raised in Venezuela and California. In 2000, he dropped out of the San Francisco Art Institute to pursue a musical career. ...

's '' Cripple Crow'' LP, and Feathers' eponymous debut.

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980. Since then, he has had a successful solo ca ...

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

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

's first album. 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, writer and musician. His television credits include playing Neil in the sitcom '' The Young Ones'' and Ralph Filthy in the sitcom '' Filthy Rich & Catflap'', as well as narrating th ...

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

Neil's Heavy Concept Album ''Neil's Heavy Concept Album'' is a 1984 recording of songs and spoken comedy routines by British actor Nigel Planer, in character as the long-suffering hippie Neil from the BBC comedy series '' The Young Ones''. Production, arrangements and k ...

''.

Track listing

Personnel

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

(on Williamson's compositions),

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

penny whistle The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, a class of instrument which also includes the recorder and Native American flute. A tin whistle player is called a whistl ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, pan pipe,

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, oud,

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

jaw harp The Jew's harp, also known as jaw harp, juice harp, or mouth harp, is a lamellophone instrument, consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or Reed (mouthpiece), reed attached to a frame. Despite the colloquial name, the Jew's harp most like ...

, 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 incl ...

– lead vocals (on Heron's compositions),

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

, guitar,

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-string instrument which consists of String (music), strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board (music), sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set bef ...

Dolly Collins Dorothy Ann Collins (6 March 1933 – 22 September 1995), was an English folk musician, arranger and composer. She was the older sister of Shirley Collins. Born in Hastings, Sussex (now East Sussex), she grew up in an artistic, socialist, ...

– flute organ, piano * David Snell –

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has 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 orchestras or ...

* Licorice McKechnie – vocals,

finger cymbals Zills, zils, or sagat, also known as finger cymbals, are small metallic cymbals used in belly dance, belly dancing and similar performances. They are similar to Tibetan tingsha bells. In Western music, several pairs can be set in a frame to make ...

Richard Thompson Richard Thompson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Thompson (animator) (1914–1998), Warner Bros. cartoon animator in the 1950s * Richard Thompson (cartoonist) (1957–2016), cartoonist who also worked as an illustrator * Richard Tho ...

– vocals on "The Minotaur's Song" (uncredited) *

Judy Dyble Judith Aileen Dyble (pronounced ''Die-bull''; 13 February 1949 – 12 July 2020) was an English singer-songwriter, most notable for being a vocalist and a founding member of Fairport Convention and Trader Horne. In addition, she and Ian McDona ...

– vocals on "The Minotaur's Song" (uncredited)

Chart positions

References

External links

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