Incredible String Band - The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (LP)

The 1968 release of The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter, the third International String Band album, was met with wide acclaim, both critically and commercially, reaching # in the UK. Sitar, oud, panpipe, jaw harp, water harp, penny whistle, chananai, harpsichord and gimbri merged with traditional folk instruments in a multi-tracked musical extravaganza. This audacious aural experience proved to be heavily influential on the band’s contemporaries. The surreal imagery of the song lyrics and the group’s use of exotic instruments put bustles in many hedgerows, as Robert Plant attests: “The one thing we always wanted to do in Led Zeppelin was to finish off the show with the String Band’s ‘A Very Cellular Song’ (from THBD).” On standout tracks like Robin Williamson’s “The Minotaur’s Song” and Mike Herron’s afore-mentioned “A Very Cellular Song,” lyrics and instrumentation combined to create a unique listening experience. Again, as Robert Plant succinctly noted, “The Incredible String Band was t