Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
34 years on...., 2 Jul 2002
By A Customer
The Big Huge is a classic 60s album which has lost nothing over the years. Thousands of CDs later I still find myself regularly plucking to from the shelf to play and it still has the same magic, mystery and sweetness it did 34 years ago. "Maya" must be one of the greatest 60s tracks of all time, full of everything the 60s represents, and alone warrants the purchase of this album - it still confounds with its mystery, complexity, urgency and depth, and showcases the distinctive lyrics, musicality and imagination of the unique duo of Heron and Williamson. The lovely movement through twittering birds, from "Maya" into the gentle "The Greatest Friend" is typical of the whimsy of the music and the album progresses through wonderful liturgical harmonies ("The Mountain of God"), magical poignant flutes and strings ("Douglas Traherne Harding", "The Circle is Unbroken", "Lordly Nightshade"), and ever charming, often nonsensical ISB lyrics. This is a beautiful, affirming, gentle, mysterious album and more polished than some of the other ISB offerings. I think it is the ISB at their best, and without doubt a desert island disk.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Seasons They Change", 20 Mar 2001
This album catches exactly the heady, psychedelic days of 1968, when this album was released. It is a showcase for Roger Williamson's long, rambling, chemically-influenced narrative poems with their frequent change of metre, tune and subject matter! Brilliant! Listen to the opening track "Maya" to see what I mean. Conversely the other half of the duo, Mike Heron, writes songs that are more structured, Dylanesque in content. "The Greatest Friend" is refreshingly simple after the heady production of "Maya", featuring just guitar and harmonica. The Incredibles were compotent musicians who always liked experimenting with new and obscure ethnic musical instruments. As can be expected on any 1968 album, there is a sitar in evidence,but also gimbris(whatever they are!)Also typically of the time, there is the gratutious 16 second song - "The Son Of Noah's Brother". Pity, I would have liked this song to be developed further. Although all the songs on this essential album are enjoyable, highlights for me include "Lordy Nightshade" - a gentle, lilting dream of a song that will have your feet tapping and "Iron Stone". This is a sing about finding a meteorite. Unusual subject matter, but this powerful song will have you looking at meteorites in a completely different light from now on! To sum up, if you love the heady music of the flower power era,if you like surreal lyrics that give you cause for reflection and most of all, if you want an album of songs that you will still be singing in 30 years time, turn out the lights, burn a joss stick and put on "The Big Huge" . I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
half a Heaven sandwich, 16 May 2007
Buy it with the other half. Essential but get both albums or at least treat them as one, as they were intended - that's 'Wee Tam and the Big Huge'. (Scottish for: ' Little Thomas and the Very Large'). NOTE re other review - it's ROBIN Williamson.
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