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Album Reviews -
August to October 2002
Reviews of wyrd-folk albums
 This
is the archive of album reviews. Reviewed albums may be purchased
using the 'On-line Retailers' section of the Useful Information area. If
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under 'Lord of Misrule' and I'll be happy to help.
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Archived Reviews
Archived Reviews Nov-Dec 2002
Reviews currently
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Synanthesia - s/t
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Review by Mark Coyle
UK 1969
 Wyrd
folk being a description given to a wide range of folk music encompasses many
highly individual albums. Synanthesia are such a band with a sound that
links soft jazzy melodies with folk music, if you can imagine Pentangle and the
Modern Jazz Quartet playing Tudor jazz together it may have sounded like this.
A mixture of delicate acoustic guitar, fluttering flute and shimmering
vibraphone gives the music a distant, late night quality that draws it
soothingly into the background. The first track 'Minerva' has more pace
and energy being a flute driven pean to some deity. 'Peck Strangely and
Worried Evening' is typical of much of the album with it's sublime jazzy haze.
'Morpheus' adds saxophone to the melody and is slightly more unsettling with a
slightly creepy atmosphere. 'Trafalgar Square' is more like the Incredible
String Band with a restrained slightly swinging feeling. 'Fates' has a
hypnotic tumbling quality with mandolin picking out a circular refrain and
excursions into wilder territories as a saxophone bursts out. 'Tales of
the Spider and the Fly' starts with smoky flute and moves into a raga like
melody and blissed out lyrics that sound innocent yet somehow unsettling.
I could see a modern wyrd folk band doing this song particularly well and
bringing out the Indian music qualities with sitar, tambura and percussion.
'Vesta' is a wild eyed but enjoyable acoustic track. 'Rolling and
Tumbling' is a gently jazzy folk track like 'Peck Strangely and Worried Evening'
but with Incredible String Band style vocal track with oboe and saxophone.
'Mnemosyne' is a dark baroque track with oboe and saxophone encircling the
music. 'Auroa' is a lovely but fairly slightly ode. In the last
track we have an unappreciated classic of quite sublime quality, 'Just As The
Curtain Finally Falls' is a very soft folk ballad that combines Incredible
String Band 'Nightfall' type qualities with a mournful, late night melody that
evokes The Sun Also Rises 'Tales of Jasmine and Suicide' or 'Jove Was At
Home' by Dr Strangely Strange. Towards the end a sustained section adds
psychedelic echoes and whirling instrumentation. It draws to a close a
unique album that has little comparison with others but is highly worthy of
praise on it's own. It's consistent throughout and in this you will either
enjoy it from the start and completely or not get it at all. For
the reviewer it is fantastic and returned to regularly, especially late on
strange nights when sleep is out of reach and a spider crosses the floor
thinking itself unseen.
Nature
and Organisation - Beauty Reaps the Blood of Solitude
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Review by Mark Coyle
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UK 1994
Nature and Organisation is a solo project by Michael
Cashmore known for his work with David Tibet's Current 93 and Nurse With Wound.
Both of these bands in their own way evoke a dark surrealism, a dadaesque gothic
feeling of disturbance and romantic decay. Current 93 have often used folk
music to portray this most notably on their album 'Thunder Perfect Mind' which
is referenced here on one track. Nature and Organisation carry on t his
doomed quality, a forlorn romance and evocation of the lost and afraid.
The album commences with a terrifying post-industrial soundscape that has
rarely been matched except by Nurse With Wound themselves or the first album by
Techno Animal. On the surface the imagery on the cover seems to reveal
little, perhaps hinting at darker realms but closer inspection shows Christian
icons in sufferance and the lyrics talk about belief in god. The inside cover
imagery (shown right) relates to mystical roscrucianism and so a daunting
premise is established in the listener. After the harshness of the first
track we are treated to a perfect, defining cover version of Willow's Song from
The Wicker Man soundtrack with vocals by Rose McDowall. This song is the
best version of may found outside the film itself and for many justifies the
purchase alone. The next track is a lonesome folk track of guitar and
violin with spoken whispered vocals that survey some kind of post apocalyptic
landscape and declare an undefined faith that god still walks the land. In
'My Black Diary' a shared dream state is explored with a good synthesizer pad
suspended over guitar and gentle chimes. The album links together often
quite lovely folk music with subtle but unsettling electronics. The vocals
are not traditional in any sense, half spoken, half whispered in either David
Tibet's higher voice or Cashmore's deep baritone. 'Beauty Destroyed'
literally shreds the calmer romanticism and disturbs the flow, no doubt
intentionally. It forces the listener to concentrate with orchestra, power
drills and crashing planes seeming to meet. From here we move into the
delicate
 black
beauty of 'Skeletontongueworld' which is twisted with it's talk of a dark 'wickerfingered'
god. Two short instrumentals of bassoon and violin lead into the epic last
track 'Bonewhiteglory' which returns to the apocalyptic folk sound here talking
about the return of a goddess. The lyrics of the songs are perhaps
deliberately obtuse and intensely personal to the magical experiences of the
writer The album is by turns on different listens beautiful, unsettling,
reassuring and disturbing. It is not an easy album, in its way it is
confrontational and demands the listen give intense dedication to it.
Certainly those people with experience of magic seem to find it relevant but
there is much here for the adventurous folk listener if they are prepared to let
the lyrics wash over them. It is excellently played, wonderfully written
and achieves the purpose it set out to, however to recommend it would perhaps
miss the point. It is an album the listener must chose and find
themselves. For some it may leave them unable to sleep, for others it will
be revelation, the title of the album harks to beauty overcoming darkness and
perhaps the last female spoken vocal of the album sums it up best 'how lovely,
how sad'.
Election
- s/t
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Review by Mark Coyle
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UK 1968
 Although
known as a British band they were in fact decidedly international with only one
member of the short-lived line up from the UK. Trevor Lucas, a folk legend
had come from Australia as had Kerrilee Male. Gerry Conway the drummer was
the UK but other members came from Norway and US but it was in the UK that the
band came together with three members going on to future membership at times of
Fairport Convention. However the sound here is generally US styled folk
rock in similar style to the Mamas and Papas or the Byrds. Jangly guitars
were complemented by organ and a power rhythm section with strings and massed
harmony vocals giving the songs a huge sound. First song 'In Her Mind' has
all these qualities and seems to burst from the speakers. Some tracks such
as 'Nevertheless' sound like a less abrasive Jefferson Airplane with a choral
section. The song writing is very strong and sounds quite American, indeed
it would be easy to mistake this often for some lost San Franciscan epic.
It would be interesting to hear the original demo treatments of the songs as
this may allow the melodies to stand out even more without the massed but
overwhelming instrumentation. 'Violet Dew' merges a dream like vocal start
with a wonderfully exciting folk rock track that sounds like The Trees or Mellow
Candle who would follow. Tracks with a male lead vocal are often quieter,
simpler picked folk with a mournful but warm touch. 'Still I Can See' is a
highly regarded track as it starts with an acoustic medieval sounding magical
start and then launches into the Mamas and Papas sound mentioned earlier.
'Betty Brown' strips things back to a simpler, more traditional feel with flute
and harpsichord. The album's epic and a track that went down best live is
'St Georg and the Dragon' (compiled on the Lammas Night Laments CDrs) which
fuses acoustic folk rock, siren call vocals, massive brass and a traditional
melody line to stunning effect. The sound is massive, like that achieved
by The Hollies on the underrated 'King Midas In Reverse' in the same year.
Flutes, strings, trumpet and trombone swirl around the vocals. The
soloing is excellent and the tracks seems to continually build until it might
burst. In this respect it is also like Simon and Garfunkal's 'The
Boxer' but stranger and more unhindered. At the end we have 'Confusion' a
slow burning atmospheric psychedelic track that is also epic but crawls along
hinting at post-hippy disorientation with eastern sounding guitars and break
down to fragile, damaged sounding vocals. In retrospect we can position
this album as an early folk rock masterpiece that links the early US folk rock
sound with that emerging in Fairport Convention that would use the same electric
power to resurrect British traditional music. For a fan of folk rock
history, non-traditional folk or the fringes of psychedelic pop this is a must
own album.
Heron - s/t
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Review by Mark Coyle
1970 UK
 During
the post psychedelic era for folk music many bands fused together delicate
melancholia with a simple folk basis. Heron like Waterfall, some Magna
Carta and Dulcimer fall into this area. Some would say that it derives
from Simon and Garfunkal but this seems to be less story based than their music
and more introspective. Heron bring guitar, banjo and keyboards such as
acoustic or electric piano to provide a fairly unique, gentle sound that seems
to work late at night or early in the morning as a kind of slightly sad
background music. Looking back we might place it closest in intent to the
music Nick Drake wrote and performed so definitively. If the music doesn't
scale the heights of that unique artists then in truth not much actually does
but this is not to dismiss the merits of the music here. The songs are
performed live in one take and when listening to the album the listener can hear
the call of birds in chorus throughout the songs and especially in segues
between them. This further emphasizes the aforementioned ambient aspect
and gives the music a naturalistic element that they could not have planned.
The songs are fairly consistent, often beautifully written but slight and
seeming on the edge of falling into silence at any moment. As the songs
achieve and maintain a certain quality, sometimes with dialogue at the start and
end it is difficult to pick out individual songs. 'Car Crash' seems
desperately sad, 'The Wanderer' (compiled on the Lammas Night Laments
CDrs) has a fantastic McCartney styled melody framed by electric piano.
Indeed Paul McCartney's simpler songs with The Beatles are a key influence
throughout the album and especially 'Blackbird'. The instrumentation
varies by introducing harmonica or accordion instead of piano on some songs but
these are slightly different shades of the same painting. 'Lord and
Master' is particularly nice and seems to have echoes in modern folk artists
like Cara Dillon. 'Goodbye' is simple and has lyrics which bring out the
sadness even more. 'Minstrel and King' is like McCartney performing
Amazing Blondel. While on the whole the album and it's bonus tracks don't
add up to a classic, it would be a shame if it was lost or underappreciated and
it is well worth investigating further.
Westwind -
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Review by Mark Coyle
1973 UK
Fragile, wispy songs are the
stock of Westwind as described in their album booklet. The first song has
a jazzy , playful quality to a simple ballad with three part harmony vocals,
strummed guitar and a shuffling rhythm. 'Sleepy City' has gentle horn and
flute touches over a lovely late night hushed song. A similar feeling is
achieved on 'Harbour Lights'. 'Love is a funny sort of thing' and 'Home is
where my heart is' are slightly more driven and with a faster tempo but still
stark and simple in instrumentation. Some songs have a whimsical child
like, 70s Radio 2 aspect that may infuriate some listeners such as on 'Sun
Across The Snow' or especially on the atrociously twee 'Sweeney Todd'.
Some songs like 'Goodtimes' are derived from the 50s skiffle song mixed with a
sort of evangelical happiness that is hard to stomach. At these times you
can almost see the band as a guest slot on a BBC Val Doonican special or opening
for The Spinners at a sea side resort. However almost all can be
forgiven by the stunning 18th century styled ballad 'Robin Hill' which evokes
countryside and the rural quite beautifully with a precisely sung female lead
vocal and very simple guitar and strings backing. I compiled this track on
the Lammas Night Laments CDr set and got a lot of people explore this album by
the band only to be on the whole fairly disappointed and this is an example of
the song being better than the band. That the song hasn't attracted a
number of cover versions is surprising given its quality, however it is a
largely unknown treasure for man y to find. In terms of buying the CD,
well when it is good it is excellent but this extends to only about four songs
the rest being too cosy and pleased with themselves for the modern
listener.
Tudor Lodge - Tudor lodge
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Review by Mark Coyle
UK 1970
 The
sole original album from Tudor Lodge was released by the legendary Vertigo label
back in 1970 with a psychedelic fold out sleeve that has made this a highly
desirable album to collect. It has been reissued on CD a couple of times
and is fairly easy to pick up from folk stockists. It is a prime example
of progressive folk, taking in baroque orchestral instrumentation and an
occasional folk rock swagger provided by the rhythm section of Pentangle.
The album mixes originals with well done and delicate cover versions of tracks
like 'It All Comes Back To Me' and Ralph McTell's 'Kew Gardens'. The songs
typically have fantastically recorded acoustic guitars with the purest of female
vocalists or a strong male lead. However each track has been though of
separately and built up with flute, strings, massed choral vocals, oboe and
clarinet giving an expansive, even epic feel to some tracks. So 'The
Lady's Changing Home' has excellent wah wah guitar, choral vocals and a folk
rock beat while 'Forest' plays on gentle nature based lyrics with plucked
strings. Occasionally the album enters the Tudor sounding songs of Amazing
Blondel or the intricate guitar of John Renbourn such as on the instrumental
'Madeline'. A few tracks veer dangerously towards Peter, Paul and Mary
style whimsical folk pop but this is generally kept to a minimum.
'Nobody's Listening' is the kind of hazy folk tracks that accompanied late 60s
UK films about confused youth as they wander around post swinging London.
The best track is the psychedelic epic 'Willow Tree' (compiled on the Lammas
Night Laments series of CDrs) which starts with a surreal orchestral and tom tom
drum arrangement before a beautiful oboe and guitar figure commences with a
medieval melody sounding line. The words in this song are kept to just one
verse allowing for an extended instrumental for much of the track with the oboe
and guitar complemented by piano and ends of a mournful melody of combined oboe
and flute. It is a sublime track that is at the pinnacle of the genre and
this album really is one worth searching for.
SallyAngie - Children of the Sun
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Review by Mark Coyle
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UK 1969
 This
album presents a historical curiosity in that it is the first released
recordings of Mike and Sally Oldfield. Mike of course went on to
international success as a concept musician and Sally became a pioneering
flautist and singer connected with the new age movement. back in 1969 they
were teenagers with a prodigious talent who were attracted to the folk music of
Pentangle. Mike played guitar as did Sally who also contributed lead
vocals and flute. Recording rapidly for the legendary Transatlantic they
were complemented by occasional hand percussion from Terry Cox thereby cementing
the Pentangle admiration. The album is naive, innocent and whimsical.
It has all the hallmarks and tweeness of hippy optimism but has enough
individuality and talent to sometimes break through to something quite
interesting and enjoyable. 'Lady Mary' seems to prefigure the medieval
music that Amazing Blondel and John Renbourn would go on to make with it's
baroque strings and harpsichord. 'Children Of The Sun' has a spooky spoken
word start and a chorus that says that 'Allah is sending Children of the Sun',
it's like some weird cult that possesses children such as that in the Quatermass
Conclusion is singing out. 'Love In Ice Crystals' is an acid casualty
ballad with psychedelic echo in the chorus. The death of the hippy dream
is told surreally in 'Murder of the Children of San Francisco' which may be
connected with the Manson killings in theory or in the hippy shootings.
Some of the other songs get the technique and sound right but don't have such
strong melodies, but they are never less than listenable. This edition
adds some of Mike Oldfield's instrumentals that has been unreleased and some
demos across two CDs. There are similarities to The Moths and especially
to The Natural Acoustic Band, it may have been disowned by the artists when they
moved on but it is within a context and era, and accepted as such works well.
So it's an excellent package and much more enjoyable and of higher quality than
you might imagine.
Miriam Backhouse - Gypsy
Without A Road
Review by Mark Coyle
UK 1977
 This
artist is a now obscure female folk singer whose sole album merged the
traditional with subtle progressive influences. The album was
produced by fellow musician Saffron Summerfield and has a clean, expansive sheen
to the sound. It merges traditional songs such as 'John Riley' with a
number of songs penned sympathetically for her. The album uses members of
the Etheridge family on harmony vocals and guitar and on the lovely first song
'Far Away Tom' they add swooning strings. A highlight of the album
is 'The Farmers Have Gone East' which has gentle guitar and a mellotron (a tape
keying based instrument which foreran synthesizers and was used a lot on
progressive rock records). This brings flute and sustained chords which
are different and very attractive. The song is a mournful lament to
poverty in the farming community and sounds remarkably current in it's lyrics.
'Dark Side of the Moon' is a jaunty folk guitar strummer and doesn't live up to
it's title but this is redressed by 'Keys of Canterbury' which brings the
traditional starkly up to date. The fairly short album is completed by the
title song which has a sweet melody and an air of the wandering traveler.
A classic song on which to finish a beguiling album. It was briefly
reissued on CD by Vinyl Tap records in Yorkshire UK and is well worth looking
out for.
The
Incredible String Band - The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
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Review by Mark Coyle
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UK 1968
 When
considering psychedelic folk music The Incredible String Band are one of the key
defining bands bringing both musical innovation and more surprisingly huge
commercial success. Their albums were regularly in the top ten of the
album charts and this is all the more surprising once you go back and listen to
them. Upon my first listening to the album being reviewed many years ago
after recommendations from a friend I simply could not make sense of it.
The melodies seemed strange, the songs seemed to comprise of bewildering changes
and it seemed hard to comprehend. I sold that album but continued enjoying
more straightforward psychedelia influenced folk music. However as I
progressed I came back to the band and ultimately came to appreciate and absorb
this album, genuinely enjoying it rather than trying to just appreciate its
merits..
It is uncompromising from the
cover onwards which shows the band as part of some medieval hippy commune, it's
says strong this is where we come from. The music is overtly folk music
but with strong elements of eastern melody and instrumentation, church music
with Dolly Collin's (sister of Shirley Collins) pipe organ, Celtic whistles and
pipes and hymn like section and a unique surreal innocent psychedelia. The
album is all acoustic but is inventive and unique in weaving together movements
within each song that once you become used to it is delightful The songs
have simple acoustic folk sections which give way to eastern sitar and
percussion, simple unaccompanied singing, surreal twanging Jews harp and
harpsichord. Robin Williamson and Mike Heron are not afraid to use and
explore their voices, influenced by Indian techniques and old style folk,
however this is rare removed from cliché. Licorice joins the band on 'The
Minotaur's Song' adding chiming finger cymbals and melodies which hint at the
expanded sound to come when she and Rose join in fully on the epic double album
'Wee Tam and the Big Huge'. Adventure and exploration are the new order
here. It is like medieval music remade under liberating influences and
perhaps that is as the cover implies, exactly what it is. Tradition and
the psychedelic era were entwined in a new musical form from which many
musicians would be influenced and genre given impetus.
A casual listener like myself on
the first hearing would find this music potentially chaotic, disturbing even,
ancient and strange. The distance from 1968 to now has only made this
feeling more stark, if it was a curious and complex album then it seems even
more so now. For those young artists who have come to appreciate the
album, it has proven to be pivotal to their own musical journey.
'Waltz of the New Moon' was adopted by pagans, 'Three is a Green Crown' has
received numerous cover versions. Perhaps these new artists saw that
behind the composite of all past musics reinvented for the current there is a
child like simplicity, an innocence that is all too rare now. The songs
often give way to beautiful sections of lullaby. At the end of the album
is 'Nightfall' which is a stunning, simple and devastatingly beautiful ode.
The sitars here carry a gorgeous melody as you leave the album behind to dream
fragments of it's strange but by now wonderful journey.
Dando Shaft -
Anthology
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Review by Mark Coyle
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Original albums UK 1970 - 1973
 This
double CD brings together all three albums by the post psychedelic folk band
from the UK along with bonus tracks and a BBC session. It is therefore a
definitive compilation of their recorded output and has wonderful sleeve notes
in addition. The music is timeless, free flowing folk music that is very
subtly informed by jazz and Bulgarian traditional music. To the listener
these influences aren't obvious but instead produce a freedom to the music that
lets it swing and have complex interactions between hand drums and the
instruments. The sound of the band is unusually rich with mandolin,
guitar, violin, flute, acoustic bass and hand percussion. The dazzling
arrangements take flight as the instruments lock together in daring and ever
developing patterns. The band had the luxury of many good singers and from
the second album onwards could bring a double lead vocal to each song.
They sound like a tighter version of The Incredible String band and have many
similarities with Pentangle with whom they shared many fans. Their songs
range from the fast flowing to the slow ballads and they are equally adept at
them all. The first album is simpler in sound and is more jazzy, a classic
of the time, constantly probing yet developing each song.
The second album adds the beautiful singing of Polly
Bolton who is one of the best folk singers ever and able to ride over the songs
in a totally enveloping way, her vocals on the sublime 'River Song' are
peerless. If the first album evokes the weather and seasons, then the
second and on through the third add a rootless travelogue of the wandering
musician. The third album brings the mid European influences to the fore a
little more and although the songs aren't quite as strong (they're still
wonderful), it emphasizes the pure musicianship of this crafted band.
Their music across all three albums evokes the rural and rustic without ever
being twee or clichéd. It is essential music that really is the pinnacle
of the folk music and in it's charming weaving together of influences into a
composite defining sound is unique. There can be no better package of this
band and if you are a fan of any aspect of 60s folk, then this is a truly
essential and life affirming purchase.
Langsyne - s/t
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Review by Mark Coyle
Germany 1976
 Upon
listening to this album you are struck by how similar it is to the Incredible
String Band on their 'Wee Tam and the Big Huge' paired albums from 1968.
There is that same whimsical acoustic psychedelic folk sound complemented, the
harmony vocals, the surreal lyrics. However this album was made in 1976
and must have sounded very strange in that era. The album moves from
gentle slightly baroque songs that are quite tender with perfect English
pronunciation into sitar based eastern folk instrumentals. These prefigure
a sound that has become very popular in wyrdfolk amongst modern artists a
particular example being Fit and Limo (also from Germany) who did a definitive
and stunning Eastern raga version of The Grateful Dead's 'Dark Star'.
There are no electronic concessions on this album and the gothic graphics on the
cover reinforce the slightly medieval feeling that pervades. The original
album is complemented by a regal ballad "Lady Jane' that maintains the quality
of the album. This is a lovely album that may be difficult to obtain
through normal channels but should be available on a German reissue CD through
such as Rockinworld and Freak Emporium (click
here to go direct to the online retailers section).
Haizea - s/t
Review by Steve Watts
Spain 1968
 ‘Haizea’
(The Wind) are (or were, to be more exact) a five piece folk group from the
Basque Country consisting of Xabier Lasa guitar and flute, Grabiel F Barrena
double bass, C Busto Hondar percussion, Txomin Artola guitar and vocals, and
Amaia vocals.
This album contains seven tracks: six songs sung in
Basque and one instrumental. The CD lasts 39 minutes. Apart from the personnel
and the track list, the inlay card doesn’t give much information (no dates or
track credits, for example) though it does contain the words of the songs in
Basque. The artwork on the cover is whimsically attractive and highly suggestive
of the music.
Musically, think of a very fragile latter day
Pentangle in their less jazzy, folksier moments. On the first four tracks, the
vocals take centre stage with the instrumentation providing unobtrusive, gentle
support. The singing, particularly Amaia’s, is exquisite and so expressive that
even if you are a non-Basque speaker like myself, you seem to understand what is
being said. In contrast, track 5 starts off with lovely psychedelic instrumental
lead-in which fades into the background when Amaia joins in. Track 6, the
instrumental, has echoes of John Renbourn’s guitar work on the twofer ‘Lady and
the Lamp’/’Hermit’ CD, while track 7, which is the most Pentangle sounding track
on the CD, has a long tinkling instrumental interlude.
For non-Basque speakers, here is a very loose
translation of track 3, ‘Urzo Aphal Bat’, which can also be found on ‘Lammas
Night Laments’ - Volume 8.
We have a sad dove in a sad village
You are crying inside the cage
Because you have been abandoned by your beloved
friend
Let your friends console you
Now he is full of sadness
In the world there isn’t anyone sadder than me.
And no-one has been as betrayed by his beloved as me
Love has deserted me
He wants to lay me in my grave
To keep my sad body for the world
So that my eyes smile
For you are so often reflected in my eyes
I am confident that fans of the mellower side of
Wyrd folk will enjoy ‘Haizea’ which is a welcome addition to any Folk or Wryd
folk collection.
Trader Horne
- Morning Way
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Reviewed by Mark Coyle
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Released UK 1970
 Like
many bands before them Trader Horne released an album preceded by a couple of
singles, the band promptly broke up and the album sank. Years later it is
discovered by collectors and found to be high quality and of interest. The
musicians in this band had a pedigree that should not have condemmed the album
unfairly. The female singer Judy Dyble had been the original one for
Fairport Convention on their first album and Jackie McAuley had been a key
member of primal Irish R&B band Them. However here they had both
evolved into crafted folk with a production that should have crossed them over
to the popular music charts. The songs are folk-pop with psychedelic
production touches and like Amazing Blondel are enfused with baroque elements of
early music. Harpsicord, xylophone, auto-harp and organ all help this
album sound different from many. There is a childlike air to many of the
tracks, a fey innocence that is appealing. Some of the tracks have pseudo
mystical themes such as the instrumental 'Three Rings for Eleven Kings' however
this is never taken too seriously. Each track links to the next with a
little short musical segue that provides continuity and reminds of the
marvellous uncompleted 'Teenage Opera' by Mark Wirtz. Stand out
tracks include 'Morning Way' with it's descending chord sequences and dual
vocals and the deeply psychedelic 'The Mutant' with it's treated slightly
unsettling vocals. All of the singles are added back to this enjoyable
reissued CD which has a sleeve that looks like a Monty Python animation out
take.
Justine - s/t
Reviewed by Mark
Coyle
Released UK 1970
 Justine
were a band of five vocalists and two guitarists augmented in recording by
orchestra and further musicians. They sit between the psychedelic
folk-rock sound of LA (Mamas & Papas, Loving Spoonful, Byrds), UK (S F Sorrow or
Piper At The Gates of Dawn) and progressive rock. The five vocalists weave
in harmony providing a rich sound and it is this that binds the album. The
songs are soft early folk rock like Donovan's 'Gift From A Garden To A Flower'
with psychedelic electric guitar and effects. The first track 'Flying'
lives up to it's title with flute fluttering, swooning strings and tight
harmonies. The songs mix the innocent, quirky and strange to heady effect.
The songs are fairly unique in folk as they mix in horns which expands the mix
giving a warmth that folk sometimes finds hard to achieve. In the last
track they create a classic that lives up literally to it's title of 'Amazing
Journey'. It starts with folk guitar, introduces fuzz guitar then wah wah
builds to a crescendo and drops back to a delicate folk ballad within the first
minute. It builds up introducing 'A Day In The Life' style strings and
massed vocals. Towards the end it explodes with a staggeirng number of
layers that Roy Wood in The Move was expert at. Strange effects come in,
wild guitars solo, flutes, horn and strings abound and a propulsive rhythm
section drives the whole thing explosively as the singer moves from folk
whispers into Robert Plant style wails. An excellent track on a most
enjoyable album which shows the link between the earlier psychedelic sound and
the later musical indulgence of progressive rock.
Chris Thompson - self titled
Check or Buy Chris Thompson at Amazon UK
Reviewed by Mark
Coyle
Released UK 1973
 This
album has the unfair distinction of being the lowest sellers on the classic
Village Scene folk label of the early 1970s due to poor distribution. It
is very rare on album and became somewhat legendary as it is one of the few
records which balances it's scarcity with spellbinding quality. Chris
Thompson came from New Zealand and travelled around the world in the late 1960s
before ending up in the UK. He brings to his music a wandering rootless
quality that reminds of Bert Jansch. The psychedelic era was at it's core
about liberation and in Chris Thompson we find this quality meaning people
consistently describe the album as psychedelic when it is not typical of that
sound. The songs are simple circular acoustic folk based with his yearning
vocals weaving over the top. These songs are hypnotic, never
repeating yet evolving and exploring melodic themes. Some of the tracks
are complemented by members of Magic Carpet, an innovative folk-raga band.
The first song an instrumental used sitar and guitar, others used tablas and
eastern percussion and this is where the psychedelic influence is most
prominent. The song writing is every bit as good as Nick Drake or Steve
Tilston with whom the album shares a stark, direct quality. 'London Blues'
has pleading, haunting lyrics about inner city vagrancy which is then explored
on 'Back In The City', an earlier version with sitar and hand percussion.
The CD has excellent notes and has tracks from later albums added back in.
It's a complete and definitive reissue from 'Scenesof' who are to be
congratulated. For fans of folk music and the curious genre of wyrd-folk
it is utterly essential and an album that you will return to throughout your
life.
Tony, Caro & John
Play a track from this album on-line
Check or Buy this album at Amazon UK
Reviewed by
Mark Coyle
Released UK
1972, reissued on CD 2002
 A
review of this reissued album in a magazine said that it is one of the top three
true psychedelic-folk albums of the 60s and 70s along with Stone Angel and Comus.
This is praise indeed and any album would have a hard task in living up to this
billing. The album was only recorded on an ordinary two track that did not
allow for proper over dubbing. Each layer had to be added by playing back
the whole song so far at the right level and playing over the top. It's
therefore amazing that this album does reach the high standards of both sound
and production it does. While it sounds innocent and naive, this is in
large part now wrapped up in it's period charm. It is a simple acoustic
based album and doesn't have the sophistication of the Incredible Sting Band but
it does share a whimsical, genuine otherness and entry into the surreal.
The lyrics are almost nonsensical surreal lysergic (actual or imagined) poetry
which are strange enough to demand attention. The lead singer Tony also
has a hypnotic voice that is interesting to the listener with a working class
accent and intensity that reminds of early 70s solo John Lennon. In his
curious twists of melody and words it sometimes approaches post-Pink Floyd Syd
Barrett. If it had just guitar and vocals it would still have sounded
psychedelic. However chimes, flutes, twanging jews harp, eastern horns and
bass are all added in parts to each track giving an atmospheric lift to already
strong folk songs. At times it sounds like Tea and Symphony or C.O.B..
Some tracks clearly reach above the others, 'Sargasso Sea' has sea birds and
backwards tapes playing over an evocative track while 'There Are No Greater
Heroes' has an almost lucid directness and minimal accompaniment that creates a
genre classic. 'Eclipse Of the Moon' has hand claps and ascending electric
guitar evoking flight and 'Morrison Heathcliff' is a beautiful almost moving but
impenetrable ballad. There are a number of extra tracks on the CD which
has excellent notes from the band and the lyrics. Approach this
remembering it's origin and rudimentary recording and you will enjoy it
immensely, it's an excellent album. You can't help thinking that if the
band had a decent studio and sympathetic producer they would have produced
something with the sonic textures and haunting song writing such as the
immense albums by Forest.
Carolanne Pegg - self titled album
Check or Buy this album at Amazon UK
Reviewed
by Steve Watts
Released UK
1973
 Carolanne
Pegg recorded this solo album (in1973) after leaving Mr Fox (the folkrock group
she had previously founded with her then husband Bob Pegg).
The CD lasts 48 minutes and contains
eleven tracks. The first track is a cover of Judy Collins’ Open the Door. The
rest are self-penned except for Track 10 Man of War which is co-written with H
Weightman. The inlay card contains the words of all the songs though you require
a strong magnifying glass to read them.
Like her work with Mr Fox, Ms Pegg’s
solo music is folk in style and sound rather than being modern renditions of
traditional song a la Steeleye Span and Pentangle. Although Track 5 Fair
Fortune’s Star (which sounds like a long lost Child’s ballad) is reminiscent of
her previous work, most of the songs aren’t. On this album, Ms Pegg uses a
broader musical palette than before, with some songs, most notably Track 6
Clancy’s Song, having an almost country feel to them. Whatever their style, many
of the songs have brooding, melancholy, if menacing, feel to them. This is most
noticeable on Tack 4 The Sapphire. Track 7 The Lady and The Well, and Track 11
Winter People (the outstanding track on the album) and is achieved through Ms
Pegg’s distinctive voice, and singing style (which I’m not going to even try and
describe).
For me, this was not an album that
was instantly accessible; it needed several listening before it started to cast
its spell. But cast it, it did and it’s now one of my favourites. In short, this
is a highly recommended, if not essential, addition to any Folk, Folkrock or
Wyrdfolk collection
Dr Strangely Strange - Heavy
Petting
Check or Buy this artist at Amazon UK
Reviewed by Mark Coyle
Released UK 1970
 This
band were one of many Incredible String Band inspired groups during the late 60s
who wove together folk music with psychedelia. Their first album 'Kip of
the Serenes' is a minor classic and was well known at the time due to tracks
from it appearing on low price compilations. By the time of the second
album the band's sound had progressed. The early songs on the album still
have that whimsical, slightly surreal ISB inspired sound but as the album
progresses it introduces celtic pipes and a driving folk rock edge.
Interestingly this mixture of strummed acoustics and electrics with harmonising
vocals sounds very similar to the Velvet Underground's final album of the same
year 'Loaded' which went on to become a rock classic. With a very young
Gary Moore who went onto fame with Thin Lizzy as well as his own blues and rock
solo career the guitar work is marvellous with searing folk-rock lead soloing.
In 'Jove Is At Home' they find a delicacy that is similar to Synantheseia or
Dulcimer with gentle vibes shimmering in the background. The album lacks
consistency a little moving between styles but the almost whispered vocals and
harmonies do bind it together. Overall an excellent album with some
classic moments and one that has been overlooked unfairly.
Natural Acoustic Band -
Learning To Live
Reviewed
by Mark Coyle
Released UK 1972.
Korean CD reissue 1995
 An
excellent example of progressive folk from the early 1970s with particularly
strong vocals. The female singer had an intense, defined voice that can
border on the screeching similar to the singer in These Trails. The voice
is often quite bewitching but could be off putting for some. The music is
fairly consistent throughout the album and varies mainly in intensity rather
than style from damaged psych ballads to trance like ragas. The mixture is
of twin acoustic guitars playing hypnotic riffs supported by pulsing eastern
percussion and topped off with woodwind instruments. It's like a less
earthy Dando Shaft or a more intense Trader Horne. It often shares an
otherworldly lift off that puts chills down the spine like These Trails or
Carolanne Pegg. Lyrically it straddles optimism from the end of the hippy
era (High In My Head) through to quiet inrospection (Dying Bird). The
highlight for the reviewer is 'Subway Cinderella' which balances all the
elements highly effectively with a delicate guitar refrain, mysterious flute, a
rolling rhythm and soaring vocals. It sounds very similar to Tim Buckley
around 1968. Highly recommended if you can enjoy the voice, if not
it will be wonderful in small doses. This Korean reissue is reasonably
easy to find, I got mine from Rockinworld in the US (see the Useful Information
section of the site'.
Marcus (Rusty Evans)
Reviewed
by Mark Coyle
Originally released US 1970,
released on CD 1994
 This
reissued album seems to have slipped out and been largely overlooked.
Marcus was the recording name for US artist Rusty Evans when working in folk.
He had started with a US hit single in the early 60s and recorded originally as
a rockabilly and country artist. During the early and mid 60s he moved
into pop and folk performing with Bob Dylan and releasing many singles.
However during the late 60s he became attracted to the growing counter culture,
producing many West Coast underground bands such as Freak Scene and It's A
Beautiful Day. He moved into folk music during the late 60s and from the
sounds of the album it seems to be connected to discovering revived paganism or
magical belief. The album is relatively simple psych-influenced acoustic
folk music with many of the elements you might expect, guitar, pattering hand
percussion, flute and subtle effects processing. However the subject
matter seems concerned with reality (Grains of Sand), goddess (Helene), magic
(High Priestess) and changes in society (Children of Acquarius). The album
is simpler and less extreme than Gwydion who worked in a similar area with a lot
of concentration on writing strong songs. These are affectingly performed
by a clearly talented artist. The songs are often best when played simply
with the arrangement kept to a minimum. Therefore the demo included of
Grains of Sand is better than the album version which blows up into folk-rock.
If you enjoy textured late 60s folk then this is a solid purchase that will
surely become more known over time. It has many song writing and
production similarities to Perry Leopold and especially Balaklava era Pearls
Before Swine who were probably a strong influence. In arrangement it has
the progressive acoustic sound of Tudor Lodge or even Book of Am. It
would be interesting to know more about the artist at the time as the lyrics are
evocative of earth mysteries, transformation and magic. I
recommend the album which is available at mid-price and so long as you can
overlook the innocent optimism of the era that comes through in the lyrics you
have a most enjoyable album that I'm sure you'll return to over time.
Waterfall - The Flight of the Day
Check or Buy this artist at Amazon UK
Reviewed
by Mark Coyle
Released UK 1977
reissued on CD 1997
 A
delicate acoustic folk album by a guitar/violin duo. This album is
extremely gentle sublime folk music but with a mournful, melancholic feeling
that pervades all the way through. The arrangements will minimal are
excellent, usually two layers of weaving acoustic guitar overlaid with violin or
guitar (often treated with effects) to supporting the singing. The vocals
are wonderful, two smooth male leads who jointly sing the songs with their
voices working together to fill out the sound. This isn't traditional folk
music but is instead similar to Steve Tilston's early work or the second
Sweeney's Men album. There are also similarities to the simpler songs of
Magna Carta or early Simon and Garfunkel. Stand out songs include 'Rainbow
Lady' and 'And For You' which are stunningly soft and emotional. Although
produced with a sympathetic touch and good useful of stereo it was made on a
four track studio in a living room but you wouldn't know it. Not very
psychedelia influenced but this is folk music liberated by that era to produce
something personal and introspective. Only towards the end on a long
medley does it gain more traditional melodies and a stronger sound.
Definitely an album for late nights or rainy Autumn afternoons looking out of a
window The band made two more which I haven't seen out on CD and I
will be searching these out too.
Various Artists - Hand/Eye 2CD
Buy CD On-line
Reviewed by Kevin M Moist
Released 2002, US
 Here
is an off-the-cuff review of the new Hand/Eye various artists compilation by
Kevin M Moist of the Bruton Town list..
I received my copy of this a few
days back and have been meaning to rave about it both here and elsewhere. An
_extremely_ listenable (not always true w/comps), well
thought-out, and attractively packaged double CD
featuring much of the cream of the contemporary psych/folk crop. All too often
compilations seem to feature cast-off tracks or the equivalent of
aural doodles, so it's even more exciting to find a comp this consistent
over such a length. I've only spun it a couple of times so far, so
individual favourite tracks haven't come to the fore
yet, but immediate standouts include the Peter Scion
trad-sounding (tho I don't know the tune) duet with
"Cynthia", Fit & Limo's avant-kosmische collage, Pelt's gorgeous modal
banjo/guitar meditation, Salamander's improbably apropos cover of "Ghost Riders
in the Sky", Fursaxa's blurry drone, and Tim Renner's own
cuts (both w/Stone Breath and as Timothy the Revelator). But there's so
much obviously quality material spread across these two+ hours that I'm
guessing it'll need some time to properly unfold into my brain. Great great
stuff. Not space here to list all the
included artists, but given the list's preferences
it's worth also noting that the comp also includes Amps for Christ, the
Iditarod, In Gowan Ring, Kemialliset Ystavat, Ring, and Greg
Weeks, all exclusive cuts too as far as I know. Every home should have
one
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